Creative and Visual Arts Awards 2025 | 7 Best Custom Special Occasion Keepsake Artist 2025 (USA): Heidi Bischmann & LUXlife Memory Preservation Excellence Award 2025 In a world oversaturated with mass-production, the most meaningful gifts are those that create lasting memories while telling a story of the connection between the giver and the receiver. This is an ethos embraced wholeheartedly by Gardensong Arts, a visionary creator of unique wool ornaments that capture special moments in time and preserve them forever. We spoke with Owner Heidi Bischmann to learn more, as Gardensong Arts is named in the Creative and Visual Arts Awards 2025. Based in Wisconsin, Gardensong Arts is a specialist creator of one-of-a-kind keepsake ornaments that capture special moments in its customers’ lives. From bespoke wedding dresses and celebratory graduation gowns to school spirit-wear, custom orders, and its renowned “Little Sweaters”, each treasured item has been carefully designed and handcrafted by artist Heidi Bischmann. For years, Heidi has upheld a longstanding tradition of gifting a bell ornament to each musician in her handbell choir at Christmas. Eventually, she found it increasingly difficult to source unique bell ornaments each year and set out to create her own. One of the first ornaments Heidi crafted for her handbell choir was a sweater depicting a snowman ringing handbells. From here, the “Little Sweater” ornament was born. In 2022, Heidi took a leap of faith and established Gardensong Arts, drawing upon her desire to spend more time on what she loves – gardening, music, and the creative arts – to create her flagship collection of “Little Sweaters”. “The ‘Little Sweaters’ became so much fun to make,” she recalled, “and people would ask for custom designs. ‘Can you make a Santa?’ The answer: ‘Let me try’. So many of Gardensong Arts’ designs have come from special requests for baby outfits, something to commemorate a trip, or even a milestone such as graduation.” Gardensong Arts expanded further over time; in the build-up to her son’s wedding, Heidi began to experiment with designing an ornament of a bridal gown and suit. Using photographs of her future daughter-in-law’s gown for reference, the artist tasked herself with encapsulating every detail of the dress into an ornament standing at less than five inches tall. Today, bridal gown ornaments have become a bestselling product at Gardensong Arts, earning the business its much-deserved LUXlife Memory Preservation Excellence Award 2025. “Each dress is a new challenge to get it just right by adding machine embroidery, rhinestones, and pearls,” Heidi told us. “I have made ornaments to give to brides, bridesmaids, mothers of the bride, and more – each piece a work of art and a lasting keepsake.” Gardensong Arts utilises only high quality merino wool felt sourced from the EU and needle-felting wool sourced from local farms and suppliers in the US to make each piece a unique work of art. Every ornament is machine stitched then adorned by hand with embroidery threads, pearls and rhinestones. The ornaments are carefully crafted with an attention to detail that simply cannot be replicated through mass-production. Over the course of her professional career, Heidi has held roles in administration, human resources, and marketing departments, and has gained the creative, organisational, and graphic design skills necessary to propel Gardensong Arts to thrive. Now that she nears retirement, Heidi’s work at Gardensong Arts will ensure that her creativity does not waver, keeping her actively involved through markets and events in the local community and beyond. While the business’s busiest period is the lead up to Christmas, Heidi maintains that it is never too early to order your loved one a custom Gardensong Arts ornament for a birthday, a wedding shower, graduation, or any other special event. The shop will feature new designs throughout 2026, including “Baby’s First Christmas”, “an Angel of Peace”, and, of course, a new handbell design. Regardless of the ornament’s specific celebration or design, for Heidi the best part of all is seeing the joy her work brings and the smiles it puts on the faces of those who receive it, truly cementing her position as the USA’s Best Custom Special Occasion Keepsake Artist 2025. Contact: Heidi Bischmann Company: Gardensong Arts Web Address: www.gardensongarts.com Photography Dominika Fitzgerald | www.dominikaphoto.com
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