Hallmark Ornament Trees for Christmas

Published May 8, 2018May 3, 2018

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Visiting Kansas City meant we got to see the Hallmark Ornament Trees at the Hallmark Visitor Centre in Kansas City.

Seeing the trees close up meant we could admire the wealth of detail in each tree and I hope you can enjoy some in our post today as we celebrate Thankful Thursday with Brian’s family grateful that we managed to see such gorgeous handiwork. We posted on our visit to Kansas City here too.

[Check out our Hallmark Christmas tree movie. It is at the top but not everyone sees it there so I will add it at the bottom of the post. It has a vintage-y filter!]

The History of the Hallmark Ornament Trees

Each of these artificial christmas trees was created by the staff at Hallmark for their founder J C Hall. The tradition started with everyone creating a special card and evolved into what is now a magnificent display and the Hallmark Christmas trees are known the world over.

The tree was revealed in the days before Christmas each year, and I bet the excitement was intense. Imagined Mr Hall’s delighted reaction to the unveiling of each year’s tree. For 17 years the tree was a tradition, it only stopped when Mr Hall died in 1982.

This is a christmas tree in ceramic

This tree certainly made a huge impression on me. The work involved is immense and it is truly a labour of love for Mr Hall. How can anything so inventive capture the spirit of Christmas. The magical cookies and angels were breathtaking and I got as close as I could to see the wealth of fine detail. I wish they had a book of photographs of all the details of the trees.

Check out this out this Dough Craft Christmas tree

It is as far away from realistic christmas trees as you can get. This is ‘dough craft’ and wow, just check out the details. Dough is actually a difficult medium to capture details with, but the artists really rocked the medium.

If you look at our recipe at the end of this post you can see what goes into making dough. Then imagine how you might go about creating one figure.

The Schneeberg Collage Tree

This tree is, quite simply, beautiful. It was created by Robert ‘Bob’ Schneeberg for J C Hall. His collages were used on many of Hallmark’s finest greetings cards. It was almost impossible to capture the beauty of this tree, so I went for some of its lovely detail.

The Hallmark Crazy Patchwork Tree

As an enthusiastic but not very good quilter I thought this was the most breathtaking tree. The colours are perfect, the labour involved must have taken forever! Look at the ribbons, the tiny flowers and the little dachshund and the pieces of lace. The more I look, the more I see!

Visiting the Hallmark Visitors Centre

We loved the visit. The centre is not large but captures perfectly the pioneering history of Hallmarks Greeting cards, the exquisite ornaments and the creative artists who design such treasures for the world’s foremost greetings card company.

There is a tiny gift shop with a nicely curated selection of fun mementoes for all ages too. Well worth a peek!

I hope you enjoyed our glimpse into this magical world that Hallmark artists created. I feel so lucky to have been able to visit Kansas City and see it for myself.

Marjorie for the
Dash Kitten Crew

Salt Dough Recipe:

A basic dough is made from flour, salt and water. Vegetable oil is added as this makes the dough much easier to work.
Knead for 10 minutes then cut into shapes or whatever your imagination inspires.
Bake in an oven for C150/F300 for 30 minutes and allow to cool before painting with poster or acrylic paint.
Varnish if required.
Children must be supervised for their own safety.

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