Martha at Macy's

Martha Stewart's new line of housewares has hit the shelves at Macy's department stores across the United States. Preliminary reviews are excellent! Custom-designed display cases showcase a variety of beautiful towels, bed linens, cooking and baking supplies, dishware and furniture in small 'boutiques' inside the Macy's stores. The 'Martha Stewart Collection' is available exclusively at Macy's and is a more upscale line than the 'Everyday' collection of similarly branded goods available at Kmart stores. The quality of the Martha Stewart Collection is of a higher standard and the cost, therefore, is also higher but is still reasonably priced.

Below are some examples of some of the products that have caught my eye. You can view the complete line by visiting macys.com and doing a search for "Martha" in the space provided.

I need this red apron! And that blue tea kettle is just... Well, I want it.

A melamine bowl set and a shocking green collander set. I love the vivid colors of this collection.

Boxes of cake mixes and a sleek recipe box.
A non-slide stainless steel mixing bowl set and a 'scent neutralizer bar' for use after chopping onions or garlic.
Coral spray cotton percale sheets and faux-boix patterned towel sets.

Restaurant Feedback Cards

Aun and S. are a husband and wife team who run a happy little blog called Chubby Hubby (see the links section) which has become my new favourite place on the web, with recipes, fantastic tips for food photography and lots of interesting observations about the restaurant business from an international perspective, discussions on design and essays on marriage and travel. I am, quite frankly, addicted to it.

One of the little gems I discovered on the site were these glorious restaurant feedback cards, which the couple had given to their friends as Christmas gifts as a means of (potentially) enhancing the restaurant-going experience. The intention was to create a tongue-in-cheek gift for friends with a good sense of humour.

The result was a little something they named “Feedback: Calling Cards for Discriminating and Opinionated Diners”. They created four different calling cards, printed (as you can see) on cream/off-white cardstock with a cutlery logo in four different colors. Two of the cards provide the user the chance to offer a restaurant either positive or negative feedback, depending on which words on their cards they cross out. This is the text on these two cards:

“Wow! What a disappointing / fantastic meal. Truly, I’m amazed. I’m definitely telling my friends and never / definitely coming back here again.”

“Hi, I just wanted you to know that the service in your establishment is staggering good / bad.”

With just a swift stroke of one’s pen, the diner can tell a restauranteur what they did or didn’t like about his or her restaurant. A third card is entirely positive, giving the diner a chance to tell a restaurant which menu item they enjoyed most:

“Thanks for the great meal. The appetizer / main course / dessert was particularly good today.”
And, of course, we left a line for our friends to fill in their names because if you feel the need to leave a comment, you should always have the courage to take ownership of your opinion.
The fourth card is meant to be used on fellow diners, perhaps one you admire from afar:

“Hi there! I love your shoes / eyes / smile / appetite. Would it be a little too forward to ask if I could join you for dessert?”

Each box has 80 cards, 20 of each design. Labels were also made for the tops and bottoms of the boxes. It was really, really fun designing these and we’ve been happy with the response from friends.