Tag: martha stewart (page 4 of 4)

December 3, 2009 / 1 Comment

On the 3rd Day of Christmas…

On the 3rd day leading up to Christmas…I bought myself a surprise! The new Martha Stewart Living Christmas edition has hit the shelves here in merry ole England! I ventured out into the rainy day that was creating not puddles but lakes everywhere and after purchasing my treasure I safely tucked it away in my bag and headed home for a hot cup of tea and my first of many flip throughs!

She is doing 3 covers this year, but we are getting the A-Z cover here, I really love the one with the bells, it is deliciously 1950’s! What treats lay behind those covers! I have oohed and aghed and then oohed and aghed all over again!

Those pages are filled with the most wonderful cookie, ornament, decorating ideas. There is a sweet section on Santa collectibles, I liked this jolly man driving the car! Not only are there cookies to bake:

there are an A-Z zillion things to make! Vintage looking snowman treat boxes, adorable pinecone elves and cute as can be felted penguins and polar bears!

There is definitely enough in here to keep you busy in the days leading up to Christmas and beyond!

November 22, 2009 / 0 Comments

Crazy Holiday Ideas

I have these crazy Martha Stewart ideas at times, I see something and I think, “Oh, wouldn’t that be the cutest idea, all made, decorated, beautifully wrapped and lined up in neat rows to hand out…”, the idea I am thinking of, are Thanksgiving goody bags, or boxes in this case.

Whether we had Thanksgiving at our house or someone else’s, everyone always left with a bag of goodies, especially (my mom being an original New Yorker before she moved below the Mason Dixon) if cookies had been sent down from New York, you can’t beat a good bakery! Divine cookies with sprinkles or nuts or a little cherry stuck in them; shaped like leaves and hearts and circles, they were a box of pure happiness!I was looking for something this morning and went to the Bake it Pretty website and saw their turkey cupcake picks and that started off my whole wave of crazy thinking. I thought wouldn’t it be cute, if you made little pumpkin bread cupcakes, iced with mountains of cream cheese frosting (in these retro Sound of Music looking liners), stuck in a little turkey pick, whipped up some acorn shaped sugar cookies while you were at it and had everything all beautifully packaged in a box with some bakers twine or raffia tied through the handle, with something cute stamped on the box.

These are my Martha Stewart moments, the ideas that I would be insane enough to do, but will not. I just love the idea of it!

(Images from the Bake it Pretty website)

P.S. I heard my 1st Christmas song of the season on the radio this morning, I did a Charlie Brown Peanut’s dance of happiness!

October 19, 2009 / 0 Comments

Pumpkin Patch Love

I love the festive look of these Pumpkin Patch cupcakes from Martha Stewart. We went pumpkin hunting this weekend and I came back with another pumpkin to add to my collection. He is small with a cute curl of a stem, and has lots of personality!

I haven’t seen any teeny pumpkins yet this year, I love the little munchkin pumpkins! I thought these cupcakes would be perfect with a glass of cold apple cider to wash away those hungry pumpkin hunting appetites. They also would taste just as yummy if you cheated and used a gingerbread cake recipe instead of a pumpkin one, you decide.

Happy Hunting!

Get the Recipe

(Image used copyright Martha Stewart Living)

October 9, 2009 / 0 Comments

Happiness Is….

After a week of dealing with boiler problems, gas leaks, and workman, happiness is: a gingerbread latte, curling up on the couch with the new Martha Stewart Magazine October issue, that my adorable husband surprised me with last night for having to put up with a crazy house all week and listening to the Fleet Foxes. I tell you, it doesn’t take much to make me happy, just the simple things.

If the whimsical cover doesn’t make you want to smile with all the “mushroom” gourds, I don’t know what will! I love her Halloween candy bag idea with the Chinese “jack-‘o-” lanterns, too cute!

(All Images copyright Martha Stewart Living)

October 1, 2009 / 0 Comments

Halloween Countdown

October is here and All Hallows Eve is on its way. This was a time of important decision making in my childhood – what to dress up as was a daily dilemma? One of my favorite costumes was the year I dressed up like my American Girl Doll, Kirsten, we each went as Santa Lucia. My mom pulled out her advent wreath and we put battery powered candles in it. She braided my hair up in rings and with a white tunic and a red satin ribbon, I looked just like my doll. We were costume inventors in our house.

My mom always made the best Halloween packets so everyone always came to our house to be sure to get their treats. You always knew who’s house to avoid, like the lady down the street who always spent Halloween eating candy on her couch, but when you trick-or-treated at her door she gave you a penny and a pencil, I was holding out for the real goods. Pennies and pencils were not handed out at our front door, my mom is the Candy Queen and so her Halloween bags were filled with an assortment of goodies.

Now, is the season where I want to make candy apples, I usually cheat and just melt caramel and then dip in apple slices, just as yummy, but not the same teeth almost breaking experience you get at the fair trying to bite into your first candy apple of the season. That first bite is one to be savored and cherished anew each autumn. So here’s to October and blustery days, cold apple cider, candy corn and Indian corn, leaves crunching underfoot, pumpkins and witches and Halloween.

(Click HERE to go to a candy apple recipe from Martha Stewart)

September 30, 2009 / 0 Comments

September Days

September days are coming to a close and fall will definitely be more “officially” on its way. Pumpkin season is upon us and soon it will be Halloween!

I had the windows opened yesterday and when I went to close them in the evening I could smell the first outdoor scent of a fire. It hung in the crisp air and held all the promise of Autumn. I love that smell.

When I was little, I can remember going to visit my grandparents (I was very blessed as I lived near both sets and got to see them often), on the way, there is a dip in the road and you are in a miniature valley. On the hill above stood an old farmhouse, the air would be chilly but still warm in the sun and on Sundays, when you drove past, the smell of burning leaves intertwined with the scent of a ham baking for their dinner, hung in the afternoon air. I love that smell. The air in your nostrils was just permeated with the sweet aroma of ham against the rough almost throat burning taste of leaves in the air and it was intoxicating.

It made me think of a John Updike poem I like:

“The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze.”

John Updike – September

Goodbye September.

(Fall Wreath Image from Martha Stewart)

September 23, 2009 / 0 Comments

Its Getting Cooler Here too…..

I was catching up with some of my Blog reading this morning and when I went to Jennifer Murphy’s Blog, “andothersillythings“, I saw this adorable picture staring back at me and I fell in love! It is getting cooler, but there have been a few days when I am not sure if the weather can make up its mind to completely turn to Fall or to just try and squeeze the last few drops of sunshine and warmth out of Summer.

Yesterday was officially the 1st day of Fall, so we should definitely be heading into the glorious land of crispy leaves crunching under foot, warm cinnamon apple pies and bundling up under the covers.

If you have not heard of Jennifer Murphy, she is a very talented artist and makes the sweetest designs. I loved the collections she did for Seasons of Cannon Falls, I have a few pieces from the series, one of my favorite being a little elephant named “Ellie”.

I have always had a thing for imagining animals as humans, dressing them up like that and giving them human personalities and traits. Her pieces just bring these little creatures to life. They have so much personality, with a vintage feel and they are whimsical and cute! As she says, “Everyone needs a little dose of cute these days!” Isn’t that the truth!

A few years ago, she was on the Martha Stewart show, and did a tutorial on how to make felt pumpkin people, I have included the link below in case you feel the need for a little dose of cute too! Click here to go to Martha’s website with directions and a How-To video.

(the images used are copyrighted to Jennifer Murphy and The Martha Stewart Show)

September 10, 2009 / 0 Comments

Apple Cupcakes for Autumn Days

The weather is so beautiful here today in England. The sun is actually peeking out and there is a nice breeze going. Autumn is coming, you can hear it whispering through the trees. The trees along our common are just starting to turn a delicious gold, along their edges. This is perfect picnic weather.

I would love nothing more right now than some fried chicken, a homemade pimento cheese sandwich and some sweet tea from Chick-fil-A, and then to nestle down on a nice quilt in the sun. If the weather holds we might be doing that this weekend, sans the Chick-fil-A tea. Sadly, they are not in England yet!

I am listening to my “Little Women” soundtrack, it seems to hold the best promise of autumn and winter in its notes. I was in a cupcake mood today and decided to try something new. I came across these cupcakes on the Martha Stewart website and thought they were too cute for words. I like the idea of an apple cupcake, but I think that pumpkin spice would be just as lovely with the cream cheese frosting on top.

My local grocery store is out of marzipan at the moment, so this is a recipe that will have to wait till I go shopping in the bigger village. Until then, I will just dream of Autumn and festive apple topped cupcakes, complete with a smiling worm.

Picture and recipe are copyrighted to Martha Stewart

May 20, 2009 / 0 Comments

Teeth & Fairies & Bears, Oh My!

I have been quite the busy bee at the moment working on banners and embellishing bags and items for the fair. June is almost upon us, so I do not have long before everything must be done. One of the projects I have made is a variation on a pattern I found on Martha Stewart. They are these adorable “Tooth Bears”.

The little bear is made out of felt with a pocket in the front to place your little one’s tooth in to await a visit from the Tooth Fairy. Martha embroidered the child’s name on her bears, but I have decided to simply put “tooth” across their little pockets. I have also changed the suggested stitch you were to use and I have slightly varied their faces.

They were a fun project to create; they are all different, each with their own little personality coming through. So, hopefully my little bears will speak to the right person at the fair and they will all go to lovely new homes, as they were made to support a charitable cause.

I have included the link from Martha Stewart where you will be able to find more information to make your own Tooth Bear (with the pattern template) for your little person or a friend.

Martha Stewart Show

Please note this template is copyright to Martha Stewart Living.