Have a Happy Holiday With Martha Stewart Crafts
Leave it to the Martha Stewart camp — the “McGyvers” of home crafting — to come up with yet another fine book of cut-and-paste ideas.
Martha Stewart’s Handmade Holiday Crafts, 225 Inspired Projects for Year-Round Celebrations, has everything you’ve come to expect from a Martha Stewart book — clearly defined chapters, material listings, instructions, photos and tips.
As with most craft books, there are items in here that you would make, and other items that you wouldn’t. But what I like about this one is that you can adapt ideas for one holiday’s craft to another holiday. For instance, the book shows how to make starburst swizzle sticks and paper-cone party favors for New Year’s Day. Both projects can easily be adapted for Christmas using holiday colors and patterned paper. This repurposing of ideas gets a big “thumbs up” from me.
Many of the crafts are great — and a bit different — for kids as well. A cute one, that again could be used for other holidays, is the Felt “Fortune Cookies” for Valentine’s Day. Using a circle template, colorful felt, glue, a typed or written message and a candy or two, and Ouila! You’ve created a really fun item for parties.
The Hanukkah and Christmas sections are useful as well. With a snip here and a little glue there, paper doilies transform to snowflakes for Hanukkah packages, and holiday cards turn into Christmas ornaments. Bird ornaments can be cut from a cinnamon dough and then baked before painting and then hanging on the tree. And, most impressive to me, two beautiful wreaths are presented: one with poinsettias made from ribbon, and another that lights up with lace bouquet holders (it looks nicer than it sounds).
Sources for materials are listed in the back of the book, as are clip art and templates used for the crafts. Kudos to the editors of Martha Stewart Living Magazine for coming up with another book of interesting ideas.
Holidays included in the book:
- New Year’s Day
- Valentine’s Day
- Easter
- Mother’s Day
- Father’s Day
- Fourth of July
- Halloween
- Thanksgiving
- Hanukkah
- Christmas
Published by Potter Craft, the book is due in stores on September 27. Click here
