Here we go…. the second month… February… second of twelve…
And another batch of holiday ornaments made by me &  four of My Talented Friends.
Remember, we’ve all signed-on for a Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge.
The plan is for each of us to make a new ornament each month of the year.
We’re two months in… one sixth of the way!!!

My Talented Friend : Cory McCrory
Cory embraces our second month of ornaments with a wonderful batch of textured & constructed ornaments. They’re amazing so far!!! And I LOVE them… so I’m sorry, but there may not be any of these left to share with anyone else after I buy them all from Cory!!!  Ha!!!

My Talented Friend : Sarah Chapman
This month, Sarah takes a more “natural” approach with a beautiful stone and “twig.”
Some stylized wire-work and voila… another beautiful ornament by Miss Chapman.
I’m sure this one will really glisten in the sun… or Christmas lights?!

My Talented Friend : Roberta Polfus
Roberta continued her love affair with porcelain & carving. Her ornaments could make a beautiful Christmas Constellation if you promised someone the “moon and stars.”

My Talented Friend : Amy Taylor
Amy takes another spin on her already popular ADORBS Collection…
this time looking forward to Spring with that one ADORB-able eye!

My Talented Friend : … oh wait, it’s ME!!!
And for my February ornament, I’ve been making some porcelain snowflakes. The stamping is giving them a sort of knit texture. I’m hoping to glaze them with a clear glaze that will make them shine with a very slight cool blue hue.

So there they are… the ornaments of My Talented Friends Cory, Sarah, Roberta & Amy. Be sure to check out their websites. They’re all in the LINKS section in the far right column. And they all have fun Facebook pages too. Find your favorites & follow them everywhere!

And oh, but wait there’s more!!!
Remember, the ceramic folks have a little tougher time actually finishing their ornaments due to kiln firing schedules. So we’re frequently posting the dried greenware versions monthly. And then, once they get glazed & fired, I’ll post the “finished” results here too.

Like this one… a few finished January beauties from Cory McCrory!!!

Well, here’s The Challenge… we’re doing it again!!!
Three years ago Sarah Chapman and I did the Challenge – just the two of us.
It was a tough task to come up with twelve new & different ornaments. One each month. Keeps you on your toes… and we were looking for another challenge to keep us going this year. We struggled with new project ideas. And finally decided to stick with the Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge. But to mix it up this time, we’ve invited three of our other Talented Friends to join in on the Challenge!!!

So, this time around, we have five artists playing our silly little reindeer games. Three ceramic artists and two metalsmiths. The challenge is to make a new holiday ornament each month. Each group has different “struggles.” It’s easier for the ceramic folks to make multiples, but tougher to get them done, fired & glazed in time to post… so you’ll be seeing a lot of greenware ornaments. Finished glaze photos to come as pieces are finished. Whereas the metalsmiths work with materials that are generally more expensive than clay. So they may only make one or two… and in some cases, maybe not even in metal?!

So there will be a few “challenges” within the Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge. And we’ll see how this plays out over the course of the year. Hopefully everyone will keep up with it. I’ll post them here on the blog, as well as on my pottery Facebook page. I plan on making multiples of all of mine… so I’ll have plenty to sell at the Holiday Home Shows!!!

So here we go…. the first month… January… first of twelve…
and your first glimpse at the five “Talented Friends” taking on The Ornament Challenge!
Be sure to check out their websites. They’re all in the LINKS section in the far right column. And they all have fun Facebook pages too. Find your favorites & follow them everywhere!

My Talented Friend : Cory McCrory
If you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you know that I have quite a crush & quite the collection of Cory’s whimsical pieces. She is an amazing handbuilder using paper clay. Her pieces include a lot of textures, colors, and humor. I can’t wait to see these ornaments glazed in bright colors. You know I’m going to need one for my tree… okay, well at least one!

My Talented Friend : Sarah Chapman
An amazing metalsmith and good friend, Sarah is known mostly for her oxidized silver jewelry with an urban-architectural-textured flair. I have quite the collection of Sarah’s work as well. And since we did this challenge together three years ago, I was interested to see where she would take it this time. Looks like she’s going back to her childhood with some traditional “paper cut-out” snowflakes. Except they’re no longer just for paper…

My Talented Friend : Roberta Polfus
Roberta is known for her exquisite carved porcelain pods, urchins and other organic forms. So it’s not a big surprise that her first ornament in the Challenge is miniature versions of her pods. I love them. So sweet. So precious…. and I can’t wait to see where she goes to from here.

My Talented Friend : Amy Taylor
What?… no hinges??? Taking a spin from her already popular ADORBS Collection, Amy came in with an ADORBS-able ornament to celebrate the New Year. I have an ADORBS necklace, and my niece Taylor has an ADORBS necklace that she refers to as her “good luck charm.” Since everyone loves their ADORBS… let’s keep the lovin’ going with an ornament version. And I love how that one green eye totally matches the tree!

My Talented Friend : … oh wait, it’s ME!!!
I’m the fifth artist partaking in the Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge. My ornament for January is a porcelain stamped Christmas Tree. My plan was to glaze it green, but now I’m considering making it a White Christmas after all. For more about my January ornaments… just read the blog post right before this one!

My niece Taylor got a new Taylor for Christmas!!!
Her Grandma & Grandpa (my parents) bought Taylor a beautiful new necklace from “My Talented Friend” Amy Taylor. She makes these wonderfully whimsical necklaces that she calls ADORBS… because they’re ADORABLE!!! I love having an adorable niece…. and I love having talented friends. And I really love when these moments come together!

So cute… so ADORBS.
For more of Amy Taylor’s work, click here for her website.

For those of you who may have missed MUD & METAL this past Saturday, here’s a quick glimpse of the beautiful metalwork by Amy Taylor. She had quite a few beautiful pieces in my dining room!!! If you’re still looking for holiday gifts, be sure to check out her website or shop on her Etsy page.

Website : http://amytaylorjewelry.com
Etsy : https://www.etsy.com/shop/hingedjewelry

Just showing of “My Talented Friend” Amy Taylor… and her amazing metalwork.
She’ll be joining me this Saturday 12/12 at my place for the Second Holiday Home Show : MUD & METAL. Her work is amazing and it would be the perfect holiday gift for that special someone… or yourself for that matter!

She even has these wonderfully whimsical characters…. they’re ADORBS!!!
Each with a different wacky expression. Some wide-eyed. Some smirking.
I love mine. It makes me smile every time I wear him.

Be sure to stop by my place this Saturday, December 12th between 10:00am-6:00pm.
MUD & METAL : A Collaborative Holiday Home Show
1353 West Rosemont #3, Chicago, Illinois 60660 in the Edgewater Neighborhood

And did I mention that there will be a VERY limited quantity of collaboration pieces???… yep, come see what happens when a potter and a jeweler combine forces and work together!!!

Click here for even more of a preview of Amy’s amazing work.

So much fun playing with my friend Sarah Chapman at the “One Of A Kind Show” yesterday at the Merchandise Mart. I’ll be there helping her again today in Booth #2118. Stop by to see a lot of her wonderful jewelry creations. If you can’t make it, click here to check out Sarah’s website for more beautiful metalworks!

And how much fun to see that Sarah’s earrings made it onto the official One Of A Kind poster!!! A great surprise for all of us… even Sarah didn’t know before she got there!

If you live in the Chicagoland area, and would rather shop in person…
skip the online sale tomorrow morning!!!

Mark your calendar for NEXT Saturday, December 12th and my Second Holiday Home Show. We’re only a couple weeks away from Christmas so it’s the perfect time to check some names off your holiday gift list. “MUD & METAL” will feature my pottery, as well as beautiful, handmade jewelry by my friend Amy Taylor. There will even be a few collaboration pieces merging both MUD & METAL!!!

Click here to see more of Amy Taylor’s beautiful metalwork.

Always fun to see the uber-talented Sarah Chapman. Tonight was her Trunk Show at the Lillstreet Gallery. Beautiful metalwork… and an incredible hot fudge & marshmallow sundae afterwards with Sarah. oops… did I mention the EXTRA hot fudge too???

Click here to see more incredible metalwork on Sarah’s website!

If you couldn’t make it to “Art In The Garden” and therefore you missed the tiled collaboration pieces I did with Cory McCrory. This weekend is your second chance!

Missed the “Garden” so come out to the “Barn.”
I’ll have the remaining collaboration tiled mirrors with me at ART IN THE BARN.
Great colors, great whimsy, great textures. It’s always fun to collaborate with Cory…
and these mirrors are going fast!!!

The collaboration pieces I’m doing with Cory McCrory are coming together nicely. I’ve been laying out the tiles to create mini-ClayQuilts. So many colors, textures, flowers… and even some words along the way!!! Once I get them all laid out, I’ll give them all a final “edit”… switch a tile, rotate a tile, tweak ’em a bit before I call them done!

And then I still have to glue them all in place so they can dry in time for the “Big Reveal” this weekend at ART IN THE GARDEN in Glenview.

I love when a plan comes together!!!