Fun colors & textures… once green leaves changing to beautiful reds on the Burning Bush… and a warm golden yellow on the Solomon’s Seal. Always fun to see my front yard garden change colors though the seasons.

Unfortunately… the next season is snow!!!

Doing a little cleaning, prepping & getting ready to add wire rings to another batch of soda-fired star ornaments. Planning on having a bunch of these ready for this weekend’s COZY COTTAGE POP-UP… fun for everyone Friday night & all day Saturday!!!

Our latest collaborations are coming together nicely! Wonderful little gouache paintings by Mary Foster are being paired up with my textured picture frames! We have more than a dozen of them ready for this weekend’s COZY COTTAGE POP-UP!!! They’re one-of-a-kind original artworks… and very limited. When they’re gone, they’re gone! The POP-UP starts tomorrow night from 6:00-9:00pm, and then continues all day Saturday from 10:00am-5:00pm. We would love to have you stop by The Cozy Cottage!

Mary Foster’s House : 4144 North Kenneth Avenue, Chicago 60641

And it looks like it’s not just me doing a collaboration with the talented Mary Foster… as metalsmith Amy Taylor has been working on some colorful collaboration pieces with Mary as well. Like this beautiful lady bug brooch… or the morning glory one in the background. All of the one-of-a kind collaborations will be “revealed” Friday night at THE COZY COTTAGE POP-UP… which continues all day Saturday as well. We hope that you might be able to stop by to see some fun artwork by some of My Talented Friends!

4144 North Kenneth Avenue, Chicago 60641
Friday 6:00pm-9:00pm & Saturday 10:00am-5:00pm

So my textured picture frames just came out of the glaze kiln… and I’m totally diggin’ the colors, the textures and how well they’re all playing together! Now I just need to pair them up with Mary Foster’s mini-paintings for THE COZY COTTAGE POP-UP this Friday & Saturday. Always fun to put her colorful gouache paintings in my textured picture frames!

Beautiful ivy climbing the wall showing off its Fall colors…
nicely contrasted with the white trellis.

Looks like my painter-friend Mary Foster has finished her mini-paintings for our latest collaboration project. My ceramic frames should be out of the glaze kiln soon… and then we just need to pair them up! Then we’ll be all ready for the BIG REVEAL this Friday evening for the kick-off of THE COZY COTTAGE POP-UP. We’ll be there on Saturday too… but no guarantee that our collaborations will still be there?! There’s a limited quantity… so it’s gonna be first come, first served!

Here’s some more details…

A little dull & dreary along the lakefront this morning… nice & warm, but a bit on the gray side. Sure, there was a glimmer of hope over Navy Pier… but it quickly dissipated and moved back to cloudy grayness. At least I got a moment or two of color… and another fun bike ride to start my day!!!

Summer is definitely over… Fall is here… and the leaves are already falling! I don’t mind Fall, I kind of enjoy the autumnal colors & the cooler weather. But I would like it to last a lot longer before the cold Winter weather settles in!

My mugs may be food-safe & dishwasher-safe… but they’re not gravity-safe! Always kinda kills me when someone sends me one of these pictures… but in the end… IT’S JUST CLAY!!!