Wednesday, September 26, 2007

martha, martha, martha

martha has put out a new halloween holiday mag this year along with having a few halloween inspired crafts in the living mag. have you seen these yet? oh martha, i am displeased with your offerings. waaay too many rehashed ideas from previous issues. to save you all some money i am putting up some of the best ideas (some old, some new) featured in the two current issues . seen above is the best and freshest idea she has to offer this year, entitled Harrowing Handicrafts. the spider webs and tatters are made from tissue paper. how to.

from here on out everything below was copy/pasted, not my words. i don't want any of the blame for the dorkish descriptions.


broomstick favors

Give witches-for-a-night a proper send-off with broomstick favors. You need two lunch-size paper bags for each broomstick. Unfold one bag, and push out its base while folding in the left and right sides. Using scissors, cut the bag into thin strips, stopping short of the base. Cut thin strips into the top inch of the second bag. Open both bags, and place the second bag inside the shredded one; fill with candy. Insert a small branch 1 inch into the bag; cinch the tops of both bags, and secure with black twine.




spiderweb eggs
Ingredients
  • 1 dozen large eggs
  • 8 cups water
  • Gray sea salt, for serving
  • Freshly ground black pepper, for serving
  • frozen blueberries

Directions

1. Place eggs in single layer in a large saucepan, and cover with water and blueberries. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Cover; let stand 10 minutes.
2. Using a slotted spoon, remove eggs one at a time, and place on a folded kitchen towel. Lightly crack shell on side with the handle of a whisk or a wooden spoon. Transfer egg to medium bowl; cover with cooking water. Repeat with remaining eggs. Let eggs cool completely in water in refrigerator.
3. Carefully peel shells from eggs. Serve with salt and pepper. Spiderweb Egg How-To: After boiling eggs, remove them to a kitchen towel. Using the handle of a whisk, carefully crack one side of the egg and transfer to a bowl to soak in the blueberry-tinted water they cooked in. Wipe up any spills quickly; blueberry juice stains.




spider picks
With scissors, cut the bugs off plastic spider rings (available at party stores), then puncture their centers with a needle tool (from crafts stores). Insert the toothpick into the hole from bottom; color tip with a black marker. Set out with nibbles, such as mini mozzarella balls.



tissue paper garland
Cutting the strings of shapes won't drive you batty, since the paper comes accordion-folded in its package. With black tissue paper you can craft bats, cats, rats, or witches; orange makes great pumpkins; and white is perfect for skulls and ghosts.

Trace or draw desired design across full width of a package of folded tissue paper; we used a cookie cutter as our guide. Cut along the outline, leaving a bit of uncut fold at both sides so figures connect to one another. You'll end up with several strings of five or six shapes each; tape together for a garland.

11 comments:

  1. Ok, he's not Martha, but he put together the best little autobiography (nevermind, some fabulous childrens' books too) called The World of William Joyce. In it are pics of his self-made holiday decorations, the Halloween stuff being among the best of it.

    He's a Louisiana boy, to boot. Thought it might be of interest to you.

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  2. William Joyce is awesome. Rolie Polie Olie! His books are class. Anyway, I am kind of anti-Martha. She's a megabitch, and not even in an inspiring "gee, I wish I could be half as bitchy as her" way. But I feel for all of you who are disappointed in her Halloween offerings. It stinks to get your hopes up for new ideas only to have them dashed.

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  3. I'm not usually a Martha fan but was kind of flipped out over her line of Halloween stuff at Michael's. Made me wish that I was having a Halloween party. But then again, anything with spiders and creepy fonts on it sends me over the moon. :)

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  4. As for the ideas being rehashed - Martha's books and holiday magazines usually are compilations several years worth of ideas from her mag. I like having them all in one place like that, though. Even if I've seen it before, there is always something I overlooked or forgot about.

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  5. the ideas she rehashed this time around weren't worth being served up as the stale left overs they were, there were only a few decent ideas that resurfaced. she had far better ideas within previous issues that didn't get mentioned in this new compilation. so again, in my opinion, this new editions is quite weak.

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  6. I have been searching all over for that darn craft mag! Thanks for letting me know that I can give up the search!;)

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  7. yes, I agree Martha did not come through for Halloween 07... a special mag for $$ with rehashed ideas.. and not much in her regular magazine Oct. so boo to you MS!!

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  8. Oh, my yes, Martha we are NOT happy with you right now. My own fault lies with not browsing right through the whole damned thing before plopping down like, twelve Canadian dollars or something like that - for a "best of" issue. I feel like I just paid good money for that "clip show" they played before the last episode of Friends. Yeah, ripped off.

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  9. So glad you are back! I read through your archives this spring and couldn't wait for you to return after things got hectic in March. Great blog!

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  10. I picked up Martha Stewart Living maybe three times in the last five years... and even I noticed that everything in that Halloween mag looked awfully familiar.

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  11. I love, love, love you're blog and your house IS way cuter than mine. I wish I had thought of the "craft whore" title!

    K

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