Summer Clip-Art Postcards

Being an avid postcard collector, it is no surprise that I wasted little time downloading the free postcard templates from the August issue of Martha Stewart Living at marthastewart.com. Based on seaside and summer themes, the postcards can be simply made using an elementary craft technique: cut & paste! Click here to download them all and read the instructions.

Martha Bakes...Again!

Today, at a television conference in Los Angeles, Hallmark announced the season-two premier of "Martha Bakes." The popular how-to series, which is part of Hallmark Channel's home block of programming, instructs new and experienced cooks on the finer points of the art of baking, demonstrating techniques and recipes perfected by Martha Stewart, the show's host.

This season, Martha will bake yeast breads, layer cakes, pizza, focaccia as well as the more popular croissant, all filmed in the kitchen at her home in Bedford, New York. Each of the recipes was selected and edited by Martha. Commenting on the series Martha said, "This has always been a passion project for me and to be able to continue offering this incredible curriculum to our viewers is very satisfying. This second season tutorial is quite expansive and features recipes that are near and dear to my heart." The series will debut on September 26.

Markets of New England

When I look back on some of our family trips, some of the best memories stem from the road trips we took to Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire when I was growing up. These states, along with Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, make up a region known as New England bordered by Canada, the Atlantic Ocean and New York State. Overflowing with a unique charm and particular kind of rustic refinement found nowhere else in North America, this northeastern corner of the U.S. is a must-see for anyone interested in antiques, quaint architecture, pastoral landscapes and wonderful, homegrown food. (If you love Martha, you'll adore New England! Martha's entire oeuvre is based on the aesthetics and atmosphere these states are known for.)

I was delighted, then, when I discovered a book called "Markets of New England" by writer and blogger Christine Chitnis, who is a regular reader of this blog, I'm thrilled to report! All of my memories of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire came flooding back as I leafed through its pages. It's a gorgeous guide to the best roadside and off-road markets (50 in total) throughout New England. The pages also feature some of Christine's gorgeous photographs of the places she visited.

State by state, the journey goes something like this: In Massachusetts, make your way up the coast to Cape Cod, where markets feature baskets of blueberries and flats of oysters still dripping with saltwater; hop the ferry to Sustainable Nantucket’s picturesque farm stands; or journey inland to an art festival nestled in the Berkshires. In New Hampshire, attend a lakeside workshop and a market held on New England’s largest town common, in the shadow of a classic white church and steeple. Meander across Vermont during an open studio weekend, or to Maine for a clam festival, a county fair, and craft guild shows. Even tiny Rhode Island has pleasures aplenty: an oceanfront gourmet food tasting, an indie art fair overlooking Narragansett Bay and Newport Harbor. There is so much to explore! I highly recommend this guide to anyone interested in visiting this beautiful region of the U.S. Visit Christine's beautiful blog here. You can order the book here.

New From Martha Stewart Crafts

Martha Stewart Crafts has introduced a new line of supplies that is sure to please the avid crafter! Last night on HSN Martha showcased some of the new products, including a line made for home decorating. Stenciling kits, home decor kits, painting tools kits and a series of new, multipurpose decorative-arts paints all made their debut yesterday. You can read more about the decorative arts paints here. To see the full new line of craft supplies that came out yesterday, click here. (Also, watch for a Martha Stewart yarn collection soon!)

High-Gloss Acrylic 12-pack paint set. Martha Stewart paints work for all surfaces, hold up to indoor or outdoor use and are perfect for all craft and hobby techniques. Whether you're brush painting and detailing, sponging, stenciling or stamping, these creamy, high-performance pigments provide excellent coverage.
Four pack Martha Stewart Specialty Paint Mediums: Crackle, Glaze, Satin and High Gloss. Create exquisite surfaces using specialty mediums that help you take decorating projects to the next level. Achieve satiny finishes, glossy shine and even rustic, weathered effects with these four bottles. From simple stained-wood treatments to extraordinary faux finishes on walls, home decor or furniture, paint mediums give you the power to transform the ordinary into something remarkable.

Martha's "Women With Vision"

Over the years Martha Stewart has clearly become an example of a strong, accomplished and brilliant woman - a role model for many. She has not only created a vast media and merchandising empire that inspired millions, she has lived through and overcome obstacles that threatened her reputation, the company she built and her freedom. Through it all, she has demonstrated a cool resolve and a steady determination. It is her creative vision and her passion that has carried her through good times and bad and kept us all in time with her every step.

Now Martha is highlighting other women who have inspired us, engaged our intellects and helped to change our lives. Her latest television special "Martha Stewart Presents: Women With Vision" showcases a roster of high-profile women who have influenced business and the arts. Martha spoke to Marissa Mayer, a Google executive who is the youngest woman on the Forbes "50 Richest Women in the World" list, Emily Rafferty, the first female president of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, and Elizabeth Diller, a visionary New York architect whose firm helped design the city's High Line as well as parts of the new Lincoln Center. (Click on their names, above, to see clips from the interviews and read about their work.)

At Martha Moments I also intend to highlight women with vision and you will see a few of these women in the coming weeks. While none of them are on the Forbes list, they are women I know personally who have turned their passions into professions and I'm excited to be able to showcase their talents here. Stay tuned!

August's Bounty

Although as I write this I'm still waiting for my subscription copy to arrive, I could simply not resist the August issue of Martha Stewart Living when I saw it on the newsstand today. The subheading, "dig into summer" seemed to say exactly what I was thinking as I was walking along the sunny street, hungry for lunch. Once I peeked inside, there was no going back. This issue is primarily food centric, but how wonderful that is, considering the incredible bounty of produce this time of year. (Everything - with the possible exception of chocolate - tastes better in the summer.) It is loaded with incredible recipes that capitalize on the best of the season. There are also features on a casual summer beach house, crafting with seashells, collecting vintage baking manuals, and creating a garden that is virtually wilt-proof.

There are a few changes in the publication to note also: the "What's For Dinner" column, with its detachable recipe cards, is now closer to the front of the magazine and the dessert feature on the last page of the magazine has been replaced by an essay that will focus each month on a life well-lived.

Martha takes us to Skylands and shows us how she brings the outdoors in by creating sumptuous moss gardens in her collection of faux-bois planters.
New spins on a summer classic: fruit salad.
Using seashells to embellish everything from mirrors to flower pots.
Great summer pastas, loaded with harvest vegetables for seasonal flavours.

The editors take us foraging at Skylands in Maine and come up with some great recipes using edibles found growing in the forests that surround Martha's summer home.

Martha Moments on Facebook

Hi everyone! Martha Moments is now on Facebook, so please join to share in the fun. I only just started the group, but I think it might be a great way for the readers of this blog to connect, to share Martha Moments with each other, recipes, ideas, tips and how-tos! I will be the moderator of the group and only non-spam, clean, supportive and positive posts will be allowed. I will also be archiving some of the finer points of the blog design, including the headers (year by year) some of my favourite screen captures, as well some of my personal photographs that I have taken for the blog. Let's meet each other "face to face" as it were. Click here to join the group.

Remembering: Martha Stewart Baby

Last week, one of my colleagues temporarily left her position at work to embark on the incredible new journey of motherhood. Her excitement (her anxiety too) got me to thinking about a new mother's search for the best advice possible on the new experience of motherhood. After all, a new little human that you helped create is looking to you - and only you - to nurture her, love her and teach her absolutely everything! I immediately remembered my collection of Martha Stewart Baby magazines and how truly timeless and beautiful they are.

As with all of Martha's special issue magazines, I have every single copy of the Baby magazines, which began publishing in 2000 and printed its last issue in 2003. It was a short lifespan for such a lovely series of special issues but I cherish them as an essential component of my Martha Stewart publication catalogue. Below are all of their covers with a brief synopsis of the contents. Collectors can occasionally find these issues on eBay and they are worth the hunt!

This was the first Martha Stewart Baby, a special issue that published in 2000 on newsstands and through phone order only. It was not part of a subscription service. The premise of the magazine is to teach expectant mothers about babies and their needs, as well as provide a wealth of inspiration for them: making memory books, preparing the healthiest meals for a mother-to-be, decorating the nursery for a boy and for a girl, all about baby food and the history of lullabies. Martha also writes an introductory letter in this issue and also contributes an article about being pregnant with her daughter, Alexis.

This second issue, published in 2001, was the first among a series of issues that readers could actually subscribe to. Inside there are all kinds of ideas for birthday cakes, advice on choosing a name, knitting and preparing baby for winter, decorating a playroom and bedtime rituals that will help baby fall asleep faster, and for longer.
This third issue is all about spring: spring nurseries, what mothers need to know about milk, preparing a changing table, cooking with carrots, swaddling techniques and embellishing baby clothes with embroidery.
Issue number four: more birthday cakes, making costumes for Halloween, creating a nursery based on an alphabet theme, teething, introducing baby to dance and music.
Number five: simple nurseries that can transition into bedrooms as baby ages, children's chairs, cooking with bananas, handmade birth announcements, learning about family traits and genetics.
Number six: decorating birthday cakes, handmade paper mobiles, starting a baby scrapbook, more Halloween costumes, creating a peaceful nursery.
The last issue published in the spring of 2003: green beans, rickrack flowers, little birthday cakes, building a sandbox, learning about your baby's feet. What makes the magazines so beautiful to me is the photography and the nod to nostalgia throughout each issue. There is a definite appreciation for the vintage, the handmade, the lovingly-restored and the prettily-embellished.
I love this photo of Martha holding up newborn Alexis, which accompanies her introduction letter.
A collecting article on baby spoons is truly fascinating.
Little cakes, like these alphabet-block cakes, look so precious and so delicious.
Cake decorating tips help make any of baby's birthdays that much more special.

The Seal Harbor Kitchen

A recent trip to the Home Depot yielded a copy of the Martha Stewart Living cabinetry, hardware and countertop catalog, featuring kitchen and utility-space design solutions for just about all of the work rooms in the home. I immediately fell in love with one particular collection: Seal Harbor. I love its New England charm, with cabinet details reminiscent of a bright and functional coach house near the shore. In the photos shown below, the fixtures were Martha's picks for this collection: the counters are Shoreline Corian, the paint is Gull and the hardware is polished nickel. They all come together to create a clean, neutral, bright and airy feeling to the space. View the entire catalog online here.

Stable rosette details under the countertops add a beautiful charm and sophistication to the space.

With sliding shelf bases in some of the cupboards, every bowl, pan and pot is easy to access.

One nice feature is this tiered cutlery divider in the drawers, which slides back and forth easily for extra storage.This is a craft room outfitted with the Seal Harbor cabinetry: love it!

Martha's Maps on Display

At Skylands, Martha's home in Maine, there is a room that displays her vast collection of antique maps of Mount Desert Island and its surrounding communities, some dating back to the mid-1800s. Now the public will have a chance to view at least half of her private collection as part of a special exhibit at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor called "Charting a Story: Martha Stewart's Map Collection." The exhibit opens Friday, July 8th, and runs until Saturday the 23rd at the Ethel H. Blum Gallery on campus. Martha worked closely with the curator of the exhibit, Rebecca Woods, to choose the most exceptional examples, which chart an evolving landscape of roads, towns and landmarks in Maine over more than a century.

What Does "Living" Mean to You?

Help the editors of Martha Stewart Living celebrate the magazine's 20th anniversary by submitting a comment about an idea from its pages that has meant a lot to you. There is a great page at MarthaStewart.com where you can read other people's comments and submit your own to one of a multitude of 'bubbles' categorized with labels such as inspiring, educational, timeless, creative, innovative and festive. Watch for a special, collectible 20th Anniversary edition of Martha Stewart Living this fall. Who knows - you might see your comment printed in its pages, so click here to have your say!

Special Everyday Food Issue

For the first time ever, Everyday Food will publish a full-size magazine for a special summer issue devoted to the best the season has to offer. It is on newsstands today. Find over 120 quick and delicious recipies for summer standouts, like peach pie and fruity pops, grilled chicken, sticky ribs, burgers, slaw, and potato salad. Plus, summer is made easy with 20 dinners in under 30 minutes, a grilling guide, farmers' market tips, recipes from celebrity chefs (including Martha's summer favourites), outdoor party menus, picnics, and more. Surely one for the collectors!

"Cakes" Book In The Works

It was announced last week that Martha signed a five-year book deal with longtime publisher Clarkson Potter. MSLO will release 12 new titles to its already impressive collection, through 2016. The books will focus primarily on cooking, crafting and organizing. Among the new titles in the agreement is Martha Stewart's Cakes, which will make the perfect companion piece to Martha Stewart's Cookies, Martha Stewart's Cupcakes and Martha Stewart's New Pies and Tarts. To see a list of Martha Stewart titles, click here.