Martha Stewarts Handmade [Tapa dura]

Martha Stewart was on a talk show dissing Rachael Ray. Martha said "Rachael's new cook book has repeat recipes that were already published in other books." Many of the craft projects that were in her magazine are now in this new book. Some of the projects are really nice but many of them are geared towards children. I gave the book 3 stars because of the repeats and there are NO patterns!!! If a particular project needs a template,clipart, etc. --- you need to go to the Martha Stewart website to download the pattern. What is going to happen in the future when I want to do a project and the patterns are not available? I would have NEVER purchased this book-- if I knew the patterns were not included in the book.

This craft book has 255 projects to make for various holidays throughout the year. Many of the `crafts' involve ideas such as putting cellophane and candy in clear plastic balls and placing them in a large glass bowl, or putting dollies on top of wrapped packages for decoration.
There are some good ideas; for example how to cover a balloon with glitter, making the popular love knot bracelets (although the bracelets shown are not the thick ones many prefer), felt fortune cookies and many egg dying tips. Sometimes the directions, quite frankly, are awful - almost no directions at all, for instance on how to make a birch basket. One project says use wheat paste, but neglects to tell how to make it or if you should purchase it. Another tells you to download and print spider web templates-where? - There is no recommendation within the project directions itself.
Silhouette templates for windows that appear to be 3-4 feet high are less than  inch large? This book just does not lend much of a helping hand most of the time. An illuminated trick or treat bag, which is a fabulous idea, gives no illustration at all with the very short directions on how to accomplish this task. The so called templates for all the crafts are at most 1" high.

The holidays covered are; New Year's, Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's day, Father's day, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas. There is an index and a section on basic techniques - cutting with a craft knife, using a pom-pom maker, embroidery stiches, etc. A source guide with phone numbers, web sites and some addresses and a buyer's guide are also included.

If you are a beginning crafter, you really need more help than this book will give you. Even experienced crafters might rub their head and eyes in exasperation.

As always, the pictures are lovely and the completed crafts unique and dazzling, but sadly, I wasn't very inspired.

First off, there are a lot of thinsg to buy, many of them pricey and only found at craft stores and second, many of the crafts don't seem very durable, so basically you'd only have them for the one holiday and once you took them down they'd go straight into the garbage, frown.

Her are some examples of these disposable crafts:

Gilded pears - take some pears, cover them with real gold dust. Done. Not only am I skeezed out by the thought of making a perfectly edible food into a non edible art, GOLD DUST is frigging pricey! Not to mention people starving, sorry, it just made me mad, it seems wildy inappropriate right now.

Golden Walnut Ball - Stick walnuts, real ones, onto a ball, spray paint them gold. this one would probably last a holiday or two, but it is again, food being wasted. I grew up in a trailerpark and wasting food bothers me, I know, get over yourself, but old habits and all that.

Gourd Candles - Melt wax into a hollowed out gourd, light it on fire. Okay, okay, there is no directive to light it on fire, and I will admit the candles are pretty and props for the fact that people don't eat gourds (can they be eaten?) but these will be a one-dinner-party attraction and I'm kinda craft-challenged, if I go to the expense and time of making something, I'd like it to be around for more than a couple of hours.

But some of the crafts were genius, for example;

A paper Sail centerpiece for a Thankgiving feast, the pictures show a perfectly pristine craft stick, but I think a dry stick from the garden could work just as well, same with the tiny bucket of rocks - I like that it's easily found and cheap!

Pilgrim Hats and Bonnets - easily made by kids, talk about a real Thanksgiving celebration, you could really get into the spirit of Thanksgiving and everyone could make their own!

Napkin rings made of paper or felt or acorns(I have a few acorns in the yard, the ones the squirrels have missed). There's a big section at the back of the book with clip art for various crafts. Very helpful.

The crafts range in skill level from easy, pumkin pouch party favors (if you can use tape and scissors you're ready for this one) to the expert, pumpkin carving that DaVinci would approve of.

All in all, this is a pretty comprehensive book, I only found a few crafts to try out myself, felt fortune cookies, flower pop up cards and the excellent directions for papier mache. But mostly this is a book for the serious crafters who live next door to a Michaels Craft store.