Decorating for the Holidays: Christmas with Martha Stewart Living (Paperback)

~ Martha Stewart Living Magazine (Author) "Nothing animates a blanketed winter landscape, brightens a biting-cold day, or thaws a frosty disposition quite like a snowman..." (more)
Key Phrases: cranberry strands, base garland, basic beads, Wunda Size (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

What would the holidays be without a fresh book from Martha Stewart? Remarkably, she manages to come up with something new every year. Decorating for the Holidays shows off some amazing, almost lifelike snow figures of greenery-clothed polar bears, a full-skirted girl and her lively dog decorating a live tree, and a sharp-nosed, skinny Santa leading a lone reindeer across a field. From there, Martha moves on to instructions for fairly standard, though lovely, wired greenery and fruit wreaths and swags; a set of velvet stockings trimmed in gold and silver ribbon; satin balls and mini-stockings of felt for the tree, and finally to the kind of beautiful beaded ornament that makes it worthwhile to buy the book long before December. The heirloom beaded wreath is utterly gorgeous, the kind of craft project that can consume many months, yet will be enjoyed for years. Martha never neglects edible treats, and offers as a family project a Gothic gingerbread mansion and gingerbread snowflakes and animals for the tree. Don't worry, they'll keep for a while--and she does warn that "gingerbread is meant to be eaten, so be sure to make an extra batch or two." The remainder of the book is dedicated to tabletop ornaments, like silvered pine cones and topiary fruit trees, and to more seductive treats: tuile cookies in the shape of holly leaves, chocolate petits fours, a gingerbread Yule log filled with a creamy semifreddo mixture, and tiny angel-food cakes cut in the shape of stars and piled up on dessert plates. Transitory though the festive season may be, creating beautiful and tasty things to help celebrate it is one of its greatest pleasures. --Barrie Trinkle

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609803360
• ISBN-13: 978-0609803363
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #103,846 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #23 in	Books > Home & Garden > Expert Advice > Martha Stewart
  #89 in	Books > Home & Garden > Crafts & Hobbies > Seasonal

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Can't be trusted once again!, October 28, 1999

By A Customer

I was saddened and surprised to discover that instructions for both of the first two projects I attempted in this book were flawed, one mildly, the other catastrophically. The first project, the beaded wreath gives an inaccurate number of needed bead leaves by at least twenty. However, the template for the fabric covered Christmas ornament is completely unworkable. She instructs using 6 pieces of fabric to cover the ornament yet her template does not have the needed 1:3 ratio of height to width necessary. After ruining lots of expensive velvet fabric following her instructions I finally figured out what was wrong. Until the editors can check on accuracy in the instructions I suggest you pass up on this book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars lots of stuff similar to crafts done in her magazine, October 30, 1998

By A Customer

i like martha stewart, subscribe to her magazine and bought last year's christmas book, but this one is missing something. to me, lots of the ideas i've seen before either in her magazine or on her tv show. some of the ideas were great as usually, but they're not worth the price of the book.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty to look at !, November 29, 2001

By	BeachReader (Delaware) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I have found that Martha Stewart books are to be viewed rather than used as a basis for trying to make anything because her instructions and recipes are often convoluted and/or incorrect. I just do not understand why, with her vast resources, Martha does not hire better and more thorough editors and testers.

So now I just look at her books for the visual pleasure they bring me! That way I avoid any frustration associated with implementation. And this one gave me lots of beautiful things to look at: the fruit wreath, the silvery pine cones, the beautifully done petits fours, the handmade ornaments, the gorgeous cookies.

Even if the directions were perfectly clear, I know I still would not make many of these things...but a gal can dream, can't she?