So excited to add two new Cory McCrory ornaments to my Christmas tree this year! Such an adorable addition to my handmade ornament collection! Cory makes amazing pieces handbuilt with paper clay, great textures, fun colors… and always a dash of whimsy!!! I mean… who doesn’t need a chicken and a bunny on their tree?!

And they’re BELLS too!!! That Cory McCrory thinks of everything!!!

So here are my finished ornaments for The Kevin Bushell Foundation. They will be used as gifts for those who donate to the Kevin Bushell Foundation. You can get more information on the website – click here.

Live the Kev Life… Do Good, Impact Others, Create Change.

A quick overview about The Foundation…
The Kevin Bushell Foundation was created by Kevin’s family, fellow sailors and friends after his life was tragically cut short August 21, 2017. Kevin was assigned to the USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) when his ship was hit by the Alnic, an oil tanker in the Singapore Strait. Kevin and nine of his fellow sailors were killed. This tragedy has caused unimaginable pain for our family and for everyone that knew and loved Kevin, including all the sailors that survived this tragedy. We felt right away that this grief and pain must be directed in a positive way. Kevin would want us to remain united as a family and positive in our lives. I believe that we, as his family, have the responsibility to live fully in the face of our loss. Our goal is to honor and keep his memory alive and make a difference in the lives of the people around us by awarding scholarships to Gaithersburg High School students and to donate funds to the teachers and students at Goshen Elementary School.

After painting the anchor logo onto the clay, I started to cut them out to make individual anchor ornaments. Trying my best to keep the logo crisp & clean, and the ornament thin & lightweight… without breaking or smudging! Okay, so there “may” have been a few clay casualties along the way!

FYI – I’m making a few extras…

Working on some special holiday ornaments commissioned by the Kevin Bushell Foundation. So I’ve been making ornaments based on the stylized anchor from the Foundation’s logo. I decided to use a stencil and blue underglaze to “paint” the anchor logo onto the ornaments. When these ornaments are done, the Foundation will be using them as part of their fundraising efforts for local students, schools & teachers.

Special thanks to Scott Hayner from United Graphics for creating the stencils for me to use on this very special project!

So I’ve been working on a little commission project… making some very special ornaments for a very special cause… and getting a little “weighed-down” by the process!

Just a few wheelthrown ornaments looking for their forever home…
err, forever Christmas Tree!!!

HUGE THANKS to everyone who made it to The Cozy Cottage Friday & Saturday! We had a great time seeing everyone… err, well their safely masked eyes & foreheads anyways?! So much fun hanging out all day with a couple of My Talented Friends. Thanks to everyone who came to The Cottage!

Also found some time to add wire rings to my newest batch of double star ornaments… getting ready for next weekend’s MY HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS HOME SHOW!!!

Mark your calendars… next Saturday 11/20 & Sunday 11/21.
More details to come…

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!!!

Another batch of Christmas ornaments headed into the bisque kiln… and then some quick glaze accents and into next weekend’s soda kiln!

Working on another batch of wheelthrown Christmas ornaments… throwing off-the-hump again. Waiting for these to dry-up just a bit before I stamp some patterns on them.