Welcome Ellery!

Our new little boy Ellery Standish H. was born on Saturday February 15th at 6:25 in the morning, weighing in at 8lbs 4ozs, 21 inches long, and the picture of health.  He is now 9 days old and has so far been doing lots of great eating and sleeping, minimal yowling, and we couldn't be happier with him.

  Here he is settling in at home on his first night, cozied up to the heat of the wood stove.

And here he is this morning, snoozing in the sun, which of course woke him up right after this picture so he ended up here:

He is very soft and snuggly, and still has that new baby smell.

Emmett is adjusting very well, and handling all of the new developments very cautiously, in true Emmett style.  So far I think he's touched the baby twice, but at least now he will be quite near him, and likes to check on him all the time and make sure he has what he needs.  He is being very helpful fetching and carrying things for his Mom who is often trapped under a nursing baby, and has also been so nice as to read books to us while Ellery is nursing.  He has also fully committed himself to the world of Legos in the last couple of weeks, and so has been spending every possible waking hour obsessively building Lego machines.

So far the transition to life as a family of four has been very smooth, and somehow it feels more balanced to me to have two kids and two parents.  I'm still working on why that is, but I think it has something to do with making space for each other, and understanding that no one person can have all of the attention all of the time.  Of course it has only been nine days. . . and we have had my mom here the whole time to help ease the transition.  So I'll have to get back to you on this idea a later on down the road.  But for now we are hunkering down for the end of winter and looking forward to some sunny spring days soon!

2013 Holiday Open Studio Event! Now With Tsuga Studios Too!

Nick Kekic, of Tsuga Studios, is an amazing third generation glass artist who lives right over the hill from me.  So since our studios are so near each other we have decided to join forces this year for our open studio events in the hopes that those of you that can make it out for one event can try to make it to the other one as well. I promise it will be worth your time, his work is gorgeous, and his open studio events are the only time you can nab great deals on seconds of his work!  Everything in my studio will also be at least 20% off standard retail prices, and sometimes more, so both open studios will also be a great way to get a really great deal on some truly unique handmade gifts!  

Here is a sneak peek of some of the new Rebecca Haas Jewelry designs I'll be offering at my sale, alongside many classic favorite designs.

There will also be lots of one of a kind collage and paper art, including ornaments for your tree, from the Fiddleheads For Fiona Studio! Here's a little peek of some new paper work you can expect to find:

We will be serving some light and belly warming refreshments, (right now I'm thinking egg nog!) as well as some munchies, and lots of good cheer.  Please feel free to plan to stay a while and socialize.  I've been buried under piles of jewelry for too many weeks now!  It's time for some fun!  So please check the top image for time and place info, and I really hope you can make it!

End of Summer Pot-Luck Idea: Baked Hasselback Potatoes

 I made this potato dish for a pot-luck we were invited to this past weekend, and I think they were a hit.  It is kind of like a cross between oven fries and a baked potato.  They are a quite easy, and very inexpensive way to feed a large group.  You slice baking potatoes almost all the way through to the bottom, and the recipe I made them from suggested putting chopsticks on either side of the potato to make sure you don't accidentally go all the way through, which worked really well.  Then you brush them with olive oil, herbs, and sea salt, then bake them for 45 minutes to an hour.  I served them with ketchup, but a fancy aioli like you get a a Belgian french fries place would have been really delicious.  You can find a recipe for them here, although the recipe I used from Cooking Light doesn't seem to be online.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!  We are on vacation in California, enjoying some sunshine and time with family.  I'm not blogging every day out here (I know, I know, I haven't been blogging every day anywhere) but I am posting an Instagram photo every day for our 10 day trip.  So if you want to see what I'm up to follow me on Instagram here!  I'm always late to every tech-party, but I've been really enjoying Instagram recently.  It's such a great way to capture life's daily beauty and special moments in images.

This is My Jam

Actually it's Patty's Jam.  Patty's bacon jam.  You heard me.  Bacon Jam.  Bacon, onion, maple syrup and coffee cooked for hours in the slow cooker until it is the consistency of, well, jam.  Unreal.  We have only just begun to explore the many applications.  Here it is below on a grilled ham and swiss with spinach and roasted red peppers.

Sorry this photo is partly blurry.  I couldn't back away from the sandwich long enough to take a decent picture. I'm not positive that this is the recipe she used, but here is a recipe to check out.

Happy New Year everyone!  I wish you all a beautiful 2013 full of love and inspiration!

Merry Christmas From Campestral And A Joyful DIY!

 Happy Christmas Eve everyone!  I have already had my post-Christmas-busy-season-crash, which was marked by almost one full day of sitting around in my pajamas and staring at the wall.  I also managed to squeeze in a quick cold too, and now I'm back on my feet and ready to take on some much ignored (not so fun) life administration and (fun) projects.  Here is a quick little holiday decorating DIY that is simple and quick enough to do with little helpers, as long as you keep them away from the X-Acto knife.  Here is what you'll need:

 You could actually just use scissors instead, if you want to make it more kid-friendly.  And the paper is a sheet of card stock with a layer of book pages glue-sticked to each side.  If you want to be holiday appropriate you could use a sheet of Christmas carolling music, or a holiday themed book.  

 Now just write your letters on your glued book page paper.  You can do any word you want, or you could do your family members' initials, or 2012, or 2013, or anything that grabs you.  And you can get the kiddos involved here.  Mine was very helpful.

   Next you are going to cut out your letters, either with scissors or with your Ex-Acto like so:

Now if you want to be neat about it you can erase all of the pencil marks from around the edge of your letters.  It took me two tries to write a decent J, so I had to do some erasing.

Now all that is left is punching a hole, or poking a hole with a thumbtack or nail, and stringing through a loop of some kind of string to hang them with.  You could also hook them on one long piece of cord together to make a garland to hang on your mantel or in a doorway.  And you're done!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you out there, and may your days be merry and bright!

New Work For This Weekend's Open Studio, (Plus Coupon Codes For Online Shopping!)

I'm really looking forward to my open studio this Sunday.  I've been busy making lots of new work, and I can't wait to get people's reactions to it.  Also, my studio really needs cleaning, and the only time it seems like I can motivate to do a good job is to first invite over everyone I know.  Here is a little sampling of some of the new work I'll be offering this Sunday.  And remember, everything will be 20% off retail price, PLUS 20% of the profits will be donated to Emmett's preschool, The Little School in Weston, VT.

 I hope you can make it to the Open Studio, which is This Sunday, the 9th, from 11-5 (or later), 256 Haywood Rd, Chester.  But if you don't happen to be in rural Southern Vermont,  or those hours just don't work for you I am offering a 20% discount on my everything on both of my websites from now until the end of the day on the 9th.  Just enter the coupon code OPENSTUDIO when you check out on both www.rebeccahaas.com and www.fiddleheadsforfiona.etsy.com!

Merry

This year Emmett is finally old enough to get into some of the rituals of Christmas, which is really fun.  And we are in the middle of perpetrating the Santa Claus story on him too, which is really odd and hilarious.  "Well, you see, there's this guy, with a red suit, some flying reindeer, and a sleigh. . . "  Poor kid looks pretty confused (rightly so) about the whole Santa scenario.  

But mythical stories aside, we went out and chopped down an actual tree (by "we" read "TH" when it came to the chopping down part) this weekend, wrestled with getting the lights to work, and managed to trim the tree as a family.  Emmett LOVED it.  He kept saying: "we're decorating the tree!!" and racing back to the ornament box to hang yet another ornament on the same heavily drooping branch.

It was pretty darn cute.  And it made me feel so happy to hang so many homemade ornaments or ornaments made by friends, folks like Jeni from Odette NY, Nick from Tsuga Studios, and Sasha from What, No Mints? And we still use the little origami paper light covers that my friend Mohammed taught us all how to make at a tree trimming party in our old Brooklyn apartment.  It's so special to hang all of our ornaments with a personal story, and now we even have a few beauties made by Emmett, and I'm sure there will be many more to come!

So we are enjoying the holidays so far, in our quiet way.  I'm still working like a dog (don't know why people say that, since our dog does is not exactly the picture of industry) but am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  And luckily I enjoy my work (perhaps preferred with a little more moderation) and feel very happy with the idea that so many people out there will be exchanging one of my pieces with a loved one this holiday season.  That is pretty amazing.

 I hope you all can steal a moment or two every day to stare at your tree, preferably with a glass of something bubbly in hand.  Tis the season!

Wreath Decorating

 Carolyn and I went to a wreath decorating class in Chester last week, and now I have a wreath up next to my door at the earliest point in the season ever.  The lovely woman who was running the seminal foraged all kinds of natural items from the woods and fields for us to use.  There was also ample gold and silver spray paint on hand to add a little sparkle, because sometimes you just have to spray paint something gold.

Thankful

A quick photo recap of Thanksgiving with friends.  So thankful to have them, and that they are here for the weekend.