101 Reasons To Be Thankful

Posted by Blueprint

We've got one more addition to our current 100 Reasons to Be Thankful: You, our loyal blog readers. Your generous comments -- read by all on staff yesterday -- provided a bright spot in an otherwise gray day. (For those of you who haven't heard yet, the print magazine will cease after our Jan/Feb issue.) It means so much to us that you cared as much as we did. Rest assured that we will continue Bluelines and our website, Blueprintmag.com. In fact, we want to make it bigger and better, and would love to hear what you have to say. What have you loved? What have you not? What would you like to see more of?

So, please continue to come here for fresh, fun, new ways to design your life.

Comments

[liz]

I'm DEVASTATED to find out there will be no more magazine! I LOVE it and so do all my friends- single or married, house or apartment, kids or pets, male or female. PLEASE bring it back-there is nothing else out there like it! Whatever you do, DON'T fold it into a wedding magazine. That's so unfair to people who loved the magazine but don't have a wedding in their future. (Unless Martha in all of her infinite power can somehow make gay marriage legal, several of my friends who love Blueprint won't be purchasing wedding magazines anytime soon.) Congratulations to all who made the magazine as unique and wonderful as it is, and "powers that be"- please reconsider!

[Rebecca]

I'm so sad that Blueprint is being discontinued. This is my favorite magazine. I feel like the magazine is written specifically for me. The articles are precisely the information that I need and want at this point in my life and the magazine is so enjoyable to read. Please reconsider the cancellation. I love how different this magazine is from everything else that's out there right now. I don't think that you gave it a chance - I only ever saw it at Borders - never in the airport or supermarket.

[Rachael]

I just found out blueprint is cancelled and I seriously can not believe it. Blueprint is one of the most, if not the most, creative magazines I have ever read. Each and every page was displayed with artistic style. The ideas were not only beautifully photographed, but also user friendly. I literally jumped for joy whenever a new issue arrived in the mail knowing I would be inspired and entertained. There is no other magazine for younger readers that includes unique ideas without advertisement overload. In addition, the combination of fashion and decorating helped set Blueprint apart. Whoever made this decision is making a huge mistake and I hope it is not too late to change the outcome. Bluelines is good but it cannot replace the actual magazine. I plan on doing whatever I can to bring Blueprint back in it's original form.

[keri]

I am so sad to hear that Blueprint is not being published anymore!!! I dont really like the idea of wrapping it into wedding, kids, or any other publication. MAYBE Living, thats the only one I would consider sticking with... I dont buy Living regularly, its a little too focused on cooking and homey projects and such for me. Thats why Blueprint was so perfect!! I have already had my wedding and am not interested in kids, so those dont seem like very good options for me. I wouldnt buy either one because Blueprint would surely just be a couple pages in each one, not enough to justify buying a magazine otherwise full of kid stuff or wedding stuff.... I think the 20-something market is really lacking smart magazines. Maybe Blueprint could go to a digital only format?

[fefe]

so what happens to my subscription? i have it until november 2009????

[Ashley]

I am so sad to hear this- Blueprint fills a gap that no other magazine since Sassy could fill- I think ending the print magazine is a mistake! I love it.

[susan]

I, too, and certainly not your "targeted" audience at 42 with three teenage daughters. My girls and I love Blueprint and really look forward to receiving it in the mailbox! The talent and energy of all of you behind this magazine always inspire and impress us. Thanks so much for all you do and have done. I sincerely hope you can make this work in some form. This was so new and fresh, there hasn't been anything like it!

[decor8holly]

You will be greatly missed. Can you combine Kids and Blueprint somehow into a quarterly issue? That would be fantastic!

[bethany]

I appreciated the mix of topics...design, DIY and fashion...no other magazine put clothing into the mix...this is where I thought Blueprint stuck out.
I don't see the the Blueprint reader taking to the Weddings magazine.
Good luck to everyone at Blueprint, you are all very talented.

ps: someone please start a good style/fashion blog (not gossip, not celebrities, not only high fashion).

[Stacy]

Oh I can't tell you how sad and disappointed I am. I have been a reader of Martha Stewart's magazines since Spring 2000 when I picked up the very first baby issue - I was then pregnant with my first child. I have every publication (except Weddings) since then.

Blueprint has become my most favourite magazine of them all. I stopped reading fashion mags years ago and it's just so nice to get the bit of fashion and beauty in Blueprint mixed in with all of the other things I'm interested in like cooking, design, crafting, etc. and without the tiresome celebrity that's in all other fashion and beauty mags.

Blueprint was a magazine that took a few issues to warm up to but it got better and better to the point that I now keep several on my bedside table and I leaf through them all regularly for inspiration. Blueprint has opened me up to a whole new world of young,hip, talented crafters. While I'm a bit older than the target audience (35) I still loved Blueprint and looked forward to each new issue. I'm so sad that the next will be the last. I sincerely hope they change their minds about it's cancellation.

You all did a wonderful job.

[HaNa]

I just received my January/February issue of Blueprint. I am so sad and distraught with the fact that I will not be getting this magazine any longer. (I loved it so much that right before all of this, I had just extended my subscription for another three years.) Out of all the magazines that are out there that cover subjects like fashion, how-to-do, recipes, shopping, organizing--Blueprint is simply one of the best. It is elegant, well-designed, smart, detailed...I thought for sure that it would be a magazine that would be around for a long time. I don't know the exact situation with the company or what the executives were thinking, but they have made a BIG mistake. I heard that Blueprint will be published as a part of MS wedding? I don't know about anyone else, but I stopped reading wedding magazines after my wedding. Why do they think that would be a good idea? Blueprint should be a magazine of its own (not a website) and if anything, they should be publishing every month. I just feel that they were that good. I don't want to read any other magazines!

[Sarah Humphreys]

Hi guys:
Sarah here, editor in chief of Blueprint. Thank you for all your comments and suggestions. Brilliant. Know that the Blueprint editors are all reading these, and we're showing them to the executives, too. Happy holidays. We so so so appreciate your support.

[Natalie]

I am also sorely dissapointed in the discontinuation of Blueprint. Every time I got a new issue in my mail box I jumped onto my sofa with a cup of tea to pour through the issue with glee. I am surprised that MS found that it was mismarketed – there is a whole world of urban professional single 20s/30s modern stylish women who crave good design and projects. I should know, I am one, and I know most of them on the east coast. I am a commercial interior designer and like most of my artsy colleagues, we adore resourceful, affordable, creative design. Although we design professionally – in our personal lives we are working with a budget, as we save for our first homes and our master’s degrees. I think the biggest challenge we have is staying stylish and making a wonderful environment on a savvy and cost conscious budget. And Blueprint is the ONLY publication I have seen that offers that – Domino is very pricey with beautiful door knockers for $1,200 a pop. Dwell is high design in pretty glossies, which is beautiful but not practical for most of us. The other Martha Stewart publications I found to be too country & traditional, or too time consuming (for those professional wives that can devote their entire days to design).

Please consider a quarterly publication, as has been mentioned by some comments. I am not happy to hear about Blueprint being rolled into a wedding magazine. Although I enjoy ideas and articles for new moms and new brides while we are juggling our professional lives (which some of us may be some day, or at least day dream about); I hate that is would be targeted to brides only which would alienate so many readers. What non-bride wants to be caught reading a bridal magazine? Sheesh… Not to mention the gentlemen and married ladies out there that enjoy Blueprint as well!

Blueprint had the perfect balance of DIY, lifestyle, interiors, fashion, trends, and I loved the lists and resources it introduced me to. I loved the organization tips – you should see my re-designed entry way with cubbies and mail boxes! I loved the pull out guides, the cocktail recipes, the 100 lists. I would suggest expanding the website and blog – include more original content. Create links to resources and featured items. In the future, perhaps do interviews with designers – the apparel designers doing the limited run lines at Target, new Green Designers on the scene, & architects and designers doing urban revival projects. I think some new ideas that would be great to include are more on green design/lifestyle/recycling, expanding DIY projects to include more involved projects (refinishing furniture, redoing one’s closet, etc.), and throw in a bit more travel & culture & art exhibits to see & music to buy.

I wish the staff at Blueprint all the best, and I hope you have a happy holiday! Know that you produced a great publication, and I will greatly miss it!

[meimeicrafts]

MAN, what a bummer! I'm not in the target audience at all (36) but I loved this mag. MS Living is a bit much & requires far too much of an investment (time and $) to actually execute many of the projects. That's why Blueprint was refreshing and worth paying for at the bookstore. I cancelled MS Living a couple years ago realizing that the focus had changed from craft projects that are nice and save money to crafy projects that cost you $100 to make that still looked homemade and not in a good way. I agree with the other comment -come out with periodic Blueprint updates in mini-versions! THat would be fab!

[Kimy]

Dear Martha... :(
snif snif snif
I just don't know what to say... this magazine was a ray of light in my mailbox! INSPIRATION for the young women of today...It was simply brilliant, beautiful, fresh... I've stop buying other magazines beacause this one fullfiled my needs in design (beautiful layouts, photographic content too and typographic choices were awsome...), nice craft projects (no granny-like projects), great articles, etc. In other words I just don't know what' I'll read and/or look at any longer! Weddings??? Having a boyfrined with no intention of getting married, I just won't buy the magazine. Blueprint was THE "EVERYDAY with style" magazine I won't exchange it for "The-BIG-DAY magazine". Don't take away my Blueprint... please... Sell it twice the price, I'll buy it, I promess!

For the guys who worked their ass to get every Blueprint issue on newstands: GREAT JOB... We'll miss your outstanding magazine... the world of edition is saddly cruel :(

[Kim]

Blueprint was a wonderful idea resource for those of us who refuse to buy into mass consumerism and instead want gifts to inspire and projects to make our homes unique. I thought this was Martha's business model as well but apparently the powers that be couldn't make it work. Perhaps some of the Blueprint creativity in the marketing department would have helped? I never saw any cross marketing between the MS craft supplies and her crafty blueprint mag-a lost opportunity if you ask me. Weddings are big business, so I understand the move to focus on that, but this girl would rather have ideas and projects for everyday rather than ideas for just one! Any luck on finding an email for MSLO headquarters so we can share our opinions and ideas?

[amy k.]

jesus!!!
I am SICK!
god, this is such a bummer-you guys have a hot bed of talent over there and I wish you all the best. sad, sad, sad.

sigh.

[Jenn]

just to add another verse to the chorus, although i suspect that the people that matter aren't actually listening, i am extremely upset by the decision to fold this magazine. i buy and/or subscribe to tons of magazines, but blueprint was - by far - my favorite and i eagerly awaited each and every issue and devoured it when it came out.

and, not only that, pretty much all of my friends did too. smart, creative, wired friends with plenty of disposable income that makes us attractive to advertisers. the idea that my generation gets all of our information online and doesn't read or buy print magazines is ludicrous. not quite as ludicrous as the idea that we are all just waiting around for a man to marry us and desperate for a wedding magazine that tells us to plan our so-called perfect day, but pretty close.

i have been a long time fan of martha stewart, her publications and her tv show but all of that ends now. way to burn some bridges, instead of thinking about how the parent company made missteps along the way.

best of luck to all of the writers, editors, photographers, etc. who were just as shocked and saddened by this as your readers. you will truly be missed.

executives and whatnot responsible for this decision, i can only offer you my disdain.

[peggy]

You have GOT TO BE KIDDING. I dive into this magazine the second it hits my mailbox...HOW CAN YOU DISCONTINUE IT???? I'll contribute a column from North Carolina! What can we do, anything?

[Brooke]

I am so sad to hear of this news. It is unfortunate that this magazine was not given more of a chance, or more publicity. I only ever saw ads for it in other MSLO publications, but aside from brides-to-be, most 20-somethings don't read other MSLO publications. I think if Blueprint had been marketed more towards 20-sometimes via other advertising methods, it would have sold more copies and it would continue circulation.

This was the perfect magazine for women of my age group (27) who can't quite keep up with the Martha Stewart Living crowd but who still want to make a home for themselves with style and smarts. (I subscribed to MSL for a year but most of the ideas or advice were just beyond my means or outside of my realm of interest.) The magazine world will be losing an amazing publication. My sincerest apologies to those of you who are you losing your jobs out of this decision. Know that you have done an amazing job and inspired many people.

[chris]

A blog and website does not equate nor does it surpass a magazine. Another post was right in stating that it is inconceivable that Blueprint folds while Body and Soul thrives. This must be bizarro world.... I just recently subscribed to MSL and was going to enter my subscription to Blueprint - which I purchased faithfully on the newsstands. Sorry, but you just lost a customer - when my MSL expires, I won't renew it. If you people like blogs so much, don't you even venture out in the blogging world to see how popular this one magazine was?

[Ashley]

No!! I love Blueprint!!! Just ask my poor husband.

I felt that this was the only magazine that ever inspired me! And since it raised the bar for all magazines... I find it so difficult to get into them.

I'm a newlywed who would otherwise have no need for a wedding magazine. However, I'm also a wedding photographer... so it's not such a stretch for me to keep buying them. All of my friends that I got hooked on Blueprint aren't going to have a need for more wedding magazines, though.

This is so dissapointing!!

[Ryan P. Mack]

Very sad to hear the news about the print magazine. I agree with the others above that the choice to print future Blueprint content in Weddings is an odd choice and one that I hope with all of the feedback here from your loyal readers will be reconsidered. Living would be a much more logical place for a Blueprint section.

Best wishes to all whose jobs were affected by this.

[Lee]

How very disappointing to hear that the magazine will no longer be published! After waiting so many months between the charter issue and the second issue, it almost seems like Blueprint was at a disadvantage from the start.

Blueprint was a magazine I could not only enjoy reading, but also relate to as a late-20's woman. The crafts, shopping and home tips were things I could use now...unlike Living, which seems much more oriented toward my mom's generation. It's unfortunate that MSLO has chosen to lose this contact with Blueprint's demographic.

[Jane]

I am really disappointed to learn that Blueprint will be ending. Even though it costs a fair bit by the time it reaches our shores, I never missed an issue. I am creative director at a magazine here in Australia and understand how tough the magazine world is - it has to work from day dot and if the sales aren't there to support it, it cannot sustain, which I expect is the reason behind Blueprint closing. It was a fantastically crafted, thoughtfully compiled and beautifully designed magazine and I will miss it.