Martha Demystified
Last fall my daughters school had a magazine sales fund raiser. For a little treat to myself I thought I would subscribe to the Martha Stewart Living magazine. I have enjoyed picking it up in the past and gotten a few good ideas for crafts and decor so I sent in my information with high hopes of all the fun, crafty and adorable creations I would be making this year. I also started devising a plan. I thought about how sometimes Martha Crafts don't quite work out the way they are supposed to. I remembered a few previous attempts at making items found in the pages that ended up costing far more than you would imagine to make. I started to think of how I could attempt an item from each edition that came and then blog about my results. I know I'm more crafty than the average individual so if I could come up with one thing to make I could inform others about how closely my results resembled the ones in the magazine.
As soon as I received the first installment my idea was put on hold. I looked carefully through the pages, searching for some lovely little craft to attempt and I found....nothing. There were a few recipes with ingredients far outside of my weekly grocery budget. There was also a craft or two that I did think would be fun but upon reading the article I discovered it was less of a how to on how to make it yourself as it was an advertisement for where to buy this already made and overpriced object.
I think the closest they came to something I could try for myself was small tables made out of copper pipes. I was not really in the market for small furniture items like that and they also didn't really give detailed instructions on how to. It literally just said you could get hardware stores to cut pipe to the lengths you want. Nothing on how to attach the top (that I assume was just resting on the pipe for the picture) and no information on how to then put the pipe together once you have cut the ends off and no longer have a threaded part to screw pieces too.
I was highly disappointed but I hoped that was just a fluke and the next issue would hold untold treasures. No such luck. I think the best item from that issue was putting a board over your tub to make a tub table.
With Easter coming I had high hopes of all the pretty Easter decorations they would surely share and what lovely died eggs they would give me ideas for. That issue was one of the worst! Sure they had lots of pictures of Easter baskets beautifully decorated but as it turned out they were only photos of some of the favorite baskets they had made up over the years. The only instructions they had for crafts were for a wreath that had coloured eggs attached to a vine wreath. They used a very large wreath for a base and then, in order to get different sized egg shells for decorative effect, they offered a location where you could order hand blown out quail eggs at a cost of $12 for 10! By the time you bought all the supplies to put together the lovely "homemade" wreath you would have spent well over $50. Thanks but no thanks! I could buy one already done that will be less fragile and most likely look nicer than what I manage to put together for half the cost. Also, when I looked for egg dying ideas the only thing listed was an add for the Martha Stewart egg dying app that you could purchase for an extra cost! Really? That's what I already bought your magazine for!
Ever when there is something that I want to try it doesn't usually work out the way the magazine implies it will. The items are usually a lot more expensive than you would imagine and difficult to find the supplies for unless you buy Martha's own branded (overpriced) supplies.
I'm not much for gardening or flower arranging but my mother is quite good at that. I know she has told me numerous times about some of the problems with Martha's planters or arraignments. Many of the plants she groups together are not in season at the same time. Take for example her collection of wildflowers she grouped together for beautiful table centers. It seems like such a great and cheep idea doesn't it? You just go out into the country, collect your free wildflowers and group them together just like she shows. However, my mom has mentioned that one plant will bloom in May, another in June, then some in the fall. These "wildflowers" she wants you to throw together would have to be special ordered from a florist to all be alive at the same time and then you are going to pay HUGE money for them.
I did actually find something to make in the last issue though. I saw a recipe for strawberry pistachio semifreddo. Since I had pistachio ice cream in Paris I have been looking for a replacement I can have here. I was very disappointed by the one I was able to find here. I set to work on this recipe hoping for good results and surprisingly it worked out well, looks similar to the picture and tastes fantastic. The only issue was it was much more complicated to do than the recipe suggests. For one she wants the strawberry puree to be strained. This would I suppose mean there would be less of the fruit incorporated and no seeds. However, have you ever tried to strain strawberry puree? Let me just tell you, it didn't work. I tied and all I made was a mess. I ended up just adding all the puree instead. The flavour was still great but the colour of mine was darker and there were seeds in it. I've never really been bothered before by strawberry seeds so it didn't make much difference to me. That just shows you used real strawberries, in my opinion. It might have been sweeter if I had managed to get juice out but really I found it quite delicious. The other problem though was in getting it out of the container to slice. In the recipe she says to line a loaf pan with plastic wrap and once it's frozen you can just lift it out, uncover and slice. Ya, that didn't work so well either. I spent a while wrestling like a mad woman attempting to pull this frozen block out, my hands stretching and ripping the wrap until I rested the bottom in some warm water for a few minutes so it would loosen up enough to remove. I thought that was a tip that could have very easily been included.
So all in all, I have not been impressed with Martha Stewart Living magazine. It now has turned into a giant advertisement for their own products or people that already make lovely little crafts for you to buy. There is some bragging about how great her house, garden, kitchen and skills are but very little to inspire the average person. If you're thinking you would like to pick up this magazine expecting to get some wonderful new summer projects might I suggest you stick to Pinterest. After all, you can already find the good recipes she comes up with on line. For example, http://www.marthastewart.com/978987/strawberry-pistachio-semifreddo
As soon as I received the first installment my idea was put on hold. I looked carefully through the pages, searching for some lovely little craft to attempt and I found....nothing. There were a few recipes with ingredients far outside of my weekly grocery budget. There was also a craft or two that I did think would be fun but upon reading the article I discovered it was less of a how to on how to make it yourself as it was an advertisement for where to buy this already made and overpriced object.
I think the closest they came to something I could try for myself was small tables made out of copper pipes. I was not really in the market for small furniture items like that and they also didn't really give detailed instructions on how to. It literally just said you could get hardware stores to cut pipe to the lengths you want. Nothing on how to attach the top (that I assume was just resting on the pipe for the picture) and no information on how to then put the pipe together once you have cut the ends off and no longer have a threaded part to screw pieces too.
I was highly disappointed but I hoped that was just a fluke and the next issue would hold untold treasures. No such luck. I think the best item from that issue was putting a board over your tub to make a tub table.
With Easter coming I had high hopes of all the pretty Easter decorations they would surely share and what lovely died eggs they would give me ideas for. That issue was one of the worst! Sure they had lots of pictures of Easter baskets beautifully decorated but as it turned out they were only photos of some of the favorite baskets they had made up over the years. The only instructions they had for crafts were for a wreath that had coloured eggs attached to a vine wreath. They used a very large wreath for a base and then, in order to get different sized egg shells for decorative effect, they offered a location where you could order hand blown out quail eggs at a cost of $12 for 10! By the time you bought all the supplies to put together the lovely "homemade" wreath you would have spent well over $50. Thanks but no thanks! I could buy one already done that will be less fragile and most likely look nicer than what I manage to put together for half the cost. Also, when I looked for egg dying ideas the only thing listed was an add for the Martha Stewart egg dying app that you could purchase for an extra cost! Really? That's what I already bought your magazine for!
Ever when there is something that I want to try it doesn't usually work out the way the magazine implies it will. The items are usually a lot more expensive than you would imagine and difficult to find the supplies for unless you buy Martha's own branded (overpriced) supplies.
I'm not much for gardening or flower arranging but my mother is quite good at that. I know she has told me numerous times about some of the problems with Martha's planters or arraignments. Many of the plants she groups together are not in season at the same time. Take for example her collection of wildflowers she grouped together for beautiful table centers. It seems like such a great and cheep idea doesn't it? You just go out into the country, collect your free wildflowers and group them together just like she shows. However, my mom has mentioned that one plant will bloom in May, another in June, then some in the fall. These "wildflowers" she wants you to throw together would have to be special ordered from a florist to all be alive at the same time and then you are going to pay HUGE money for them.
I did actually find something to make in the last issue though. I saw a recipe for strawberry pistachio semifreddo. Since I had pistachio ice cream in Paris I have been looking for a replacement I can have here. I was very disappointed by the one I was able to find here. I set to work on this recipe hoping for good results and surprisingly it worked out well, looks similar to the picture and tastes fantastic. The only issue was it was much more complicated to do than the recipe suggests. For one she wants the strawberry puree to be strained. This would I suppose mean there would be less of the fruit incorporated and no seeds. However, have you ever tried to strain strawberry puree? Let me just tell you, it didn't work. I tied and all I made was a mess. I ended up just adding all the puree instead. The flavour was still great but the colour of mine was darker and there were seeds in it. I've never really been bothered before by strawberry seeds so it didn't make much difference to me. That just shows you used real strawberries, in my opinion. It might have been sweeter if I had managed to get juice out but really I found it quite delicious. The other problem though was in getting it out of the container to slice. In the recipe she says to line a loaf pan with plastic wrap and once it's frozen you can just lift it out, uncover and slice. Ya, that didn't work so well either. I spent a while wrestling like a mad woman attempting to pull this frozen block out, my hands stretching and ripping the wrap until I rested the bottom in some warm water for a few minutes so it would loosen up enough to remove. I thought that was a tip that could have very easily been included.
So all in all, I have not been impressed with Martha Stewart Living magazine. It now has turned into a giant advertisement for their own products or people that already make lovely little crafts for you to buy. There is some bragging about how great her house, garden, kitchen and skills are but very little to inspire the average person. If you're thinking you would like to pick up this magazine expecting to get some wonderful new summer projects might I suggest you stick to Pinterest. After all, you can already find the good recipes she comes up with on line. For example, http://www.marthastewart.com/978987/strawberry-pistachio-semifreddo
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