Today, our company's merchandise marketing guru Alex Peruzzi stopped by Morning Living to show off our latest Halloween crafts and decor and we asked our listeners to share their favorite decoration ideas. Here are some of the best!
- Karen in Michigan shines a light for local trick-or-treaters by setting out candles and stoking a small bonfire in the yard. No time to craft? Try Martha's spooky pumpkin luminarias.
- Annette in Maryland sets out straw, old clothes, and other materials so that Halloween visitors can help her family build scarecrows. Get inspired by this frightfully fun version!
- Linda in New Jersey wows her party guests by serving her signature chicken pot pie in a hollowed out pumpkin. For a sweet alternative, check out these cute mini-pumpkin soufflés.
- Spider webs stretch across the porches of Leslie in Florida and Laurie in Ohio. You can build your own with rope or twine, and deck the walls with these creepy crawlers.
- Annemarie in Florida helps her kids make plywood ghosts to haunt her house. You can customize the look of these graveyard ghouls to make them friendly or frightful.
Here's an array of cool Martha Stewart Halloween crafts. The glittered crafts are available through Grandin Road and the other crafts are sold at Michaels.
Tell us the things that make you go "Boo!" by posting your comments!
This month's installment of Whole Living's "Crafting with Dudes" series presented a real challenge: could Marketing Manager Rob Banning (left) and Morning Living engineer Steve Gonzalez (right) recycle their old t-shirts into something new, useful, and aesthetically pleasing? With help from Generation-T author Megan Nicolay (center), they succeeded by making a braided belt, a throw pillow, and an decorated shirt.
Megan wore a shirt of her own design she calls "Back in Action."
Steve made this no-sew pillow by cutting a large square from an oversized shirt, slicing the edges into strips, then tying up the strips to seal the sides. The stuffing is...t-shirt scraps!
Steve also created this rockin' Bob Ross-bedecked shirt with no sewing at all. He simply cut out the design from a too-tight old tee and attached it to a new black shirt using fabric glue. Megan deemed the results pro-quality!
This sassy cowl neck halter only requires an oversized t-shirt, a pair of scissors, a measuring tape, a needle and thread, and very minimal sewing skills. I transformed my Sirius logo shirt in 15 minutes flat: took measurements, made just three cuts in the fabric, then sewed up two small sections with a running stitch.
If you want to try one of Megan's projects yourself, here are her instructions for creating a funky halter top with barely any sewing required.
Today Morning Living's producer Jennifer and engineer Steve put on their boxing gloves and duked it out in a very back-to-school debate: Which class is more important? Home Economics or Shop? What do you think? Vote in the poll below and read their arguments!
Home Ec Is Where my Heart Is
Jennifer Sendrow, producer for "Morning Living" and "Whole Living"
Since it’s Back-to-School week, here’s a history lesson: Home Economics classes come from a social movement in the late 19th century that aimed to elevate domestic work to valued professional status and apply modern science to perfect its methods. True to those progressive roots, today’s Home Ec classes are designed to produce men and women equally able to do the everyday work of cooking, sewing, and laundry as well as performing basic first aid and creating a household budget. Teaching practical skills and enlightened attitudes about gender roles is what Home Ec is all about. Shop is about…simulating factory work?
Many parents are willing and able to teach domestic skills to their children, but there are a great many that can’t, don’t, or only think to teach such skills to daughters. While people usually get by just fine without learning to sew or becoming experts in stain removal (after all, they can just go to marthastewart.com!), learning to cook is not just a useful skill, it could save your life. It is no coincidence that as Americans started dining out more often and relying on pre-packaged foods that our childhood obesity rates have tripled to match the current adult rate of 1 in 5, triggering an unprecedented health crisis. Doctors, nutritionists, and seasonal eating advocates like Martha Stewart all agree on a cure: make food yourself, and make it fresh. You could learn to cook by watching Martha, but a formal class in the formative years would surely be a great help.
Home Ec is not just a class, it’s a movement. It empowers you to become a creator, not just a consumer. It encourages you to be thrifty and resourceful, a self-sufficient person with no need to hire housecleaners, tailors, and repairmen for every household task. We all have to keep house and get food on the table, but most of us are perfectly happy to leave wood crafting to skilled artisans (or maybe to Ikea). It’s time to close up Shop, and go Home Ec!
You can't top shop!
Steve Gonzalez, engineer for "Morning Living" and "Whole Living"
Shop Class, or classified today as Industrial Arts, expose children to the basics of home repair, manual craftsmanship and machine safety. Offering them something we all need: life skills! Skills that come in handy as a homeowner and propel students into careers such as plumbing, engineering, and architecture.
These programs offer students a window into something other than algebra and single-file rows of desk all day long. With the evolution of technology “Shop” classes no longer just teach how to change oil or hammer out a dent, students use computer diagnostic equipment to fix cars, and learn the green technologies of hybrid vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells. Today’s classes incorporate a range of abilities widely promoted as “21st-century skills”, involving technology, communication and collaboration. Courses range from ornamental horticulture and graphic arts to welding and even old-fashioned auto shop. These types of programs reach out to students that may have lost their way in traditional classes.
Shop class not only provides children with skills for their personal lives, but aims to give students job training, exposure to new technologies, and windows into different careers. If your oven or sewing machine breaks, you won’t know how to fix it. Who will? Someone who took shop! And the “blue collar” industry -- which includes careers as an electrician and plumber as well as a police officer and fireman -- are in demand. These careers are shown as really a good, viable option with good benefits.
We can’t afford to leave any students unprepared. Without showing younger generations how to work with their hands, we are creating a generation that is incapable of doing anything for themselves. You would be amazed at how many kids are challenged by problem-solving and figuring things out for themselves. Can they figure out how to reach the next level in a video game? Absolutely! But ask them to change a tire or fix a bike chain and their response is to get a new bike. While shop class can make a better more well rounded individual, it can also be a path to a well-paid profession.
If you like to craft but never seem to have the right supplies on hand, lack the space to set everything up, or just loathe cleaning up after a glitter glue disaster, Spacecraft is your Shangri-La. Co-owners Cristina Dodd and Stella Metzner have a well-curated craft supply shop up front and a crafting area in the back where customers can drop in anytime to make any project off their menu. They're on hand to offer expert advice or just friendly banter as you work on anything from assembling a simple birthday card to etching a set of wine glasses. Why aren't there Spacecrafts on every corner in town instead of Starbucks? We can dream.
Christina and Stella celebrated Martha's birthday this week with several crafting events, and even hung a handmade stenciled sign on their door.
They have options fit for crafters of all ages and skills, from preschool students to professional artists.
Morning Living producer Maureen McMurray and I studied our options before deciding to make decoupage picture frames. We started off with rectangles of unfinished wood.
Recently on Whole Living, Lansing Moore, owner and artisan of Center Art Studio in NYC, enlightened us on some key guidelines when it comes to shopping for antique and vintage furniture.
1. Pick a focus. Know what it is you’re into -- pottery? Glassware? Chairs? This will help you hone your efforts. Then again, Moore says you should still be sure not to have your blinders too tight, as sometimes an unexpected treasure will come your way.
2. Do your homework. Visit a few antique shows, do some online research -- basically, prime yourself a little for what you’re about to shop for beforehand so you have an idea of what exists -- and what it costs.
It's Collecting Week on Martha Stewart Living Radio! So what better way to celebrate than by showing you the radio staff's array of colorful and kooky collections? Check out the photos below.
I have been collecting stickers since kindergarten. Holograms, scratch and sniff, puffy stickers -- you name it, I have it! I love collecting stickers because they're fun, colorful and so diverse! Below is a small sampling of my stickers.
My all-time favorite sticker is a puffy one of Michael Jackson. RIP MJ!
Jennifer Sendrow, producer of Whole Living, has shelves and shelves of vintage and new cookbooks. Hanging in the background is a collage of kitchen implements called "Killer Bees" by a Florida artist.
She also has travel tchotchkes! "Though my travel souvenirs are more often of the edible variety, sometimes a knick knack finds its way into my luggage and onto the mantle," explains Jennifer.
Also in Jennifer's home: a big jar of seashells and sea glass which represents many, many days at the beach.
Even Jennifer's hubby Scott has the collecting spirit. He has between 750 and 1,000 vinyl records, which somehow fit into their tiny studio apartment.
It's Collecting Week on Martha Stewart Living Radio! This week always reminds me of my mother. Inspired by her cousin Cynthia's shoe collection, my mom began collecting her own shoe figurines in 1977.
My parents have been lucky enough to travel the world over the course of their many years of marriage, and wherever they go, my mother brings home a miniature shoe for her collection. From France to Thailand, the collection has grown to over 400 miniature shoes! Let's just say buying her a birthday present or a holiday gift has never required too much thought. When in doubt, go with a mini stiletto!
The next best collection I grew up with was one many people can appreciate! It’s a collection of pug memorabilia. Growing up with a pug-nosed pup named Misty (the second), I have seen this collection grow from one stuffed animal to 50 mini-statues in and around my parents’ home. Though Misty passed away several years ago, the collection continues to grow. From mouse pads to doormats, it's hard to go anywhere in my home without a hint of this squishy faced snout!
Being an athlete, I can always appreciate a good sporting shoe. Here are some rollerblades!
Here you can see a variety of shoes including a cowgirl boot, glass slipper and bronzed shoe.
Betty Boop holds a special place in my mom's heart...and her shoe collection (top shelf)!
Here are some of the many pug items that are displayed around my house. These items were compiled in the corner for this photo. Don't worry! We do SPREAD things out! A great book of pug photographs can be seen in the back.
The New York Botanical Gardens is a phenomenon -- there are acres and acres of greenery! Just like people can't believe that Central Park exists smack in the middle of NYC, it's pretty amazing that the NYBG is located in the Bronx.
Tomorrow from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm EST, Martha Stewart Living Radio will be broadcasting live from NYBG! We'll have cool guests on air from Food Network chefs to herbal tea connoisseurs. If you live in the NYC area and want tixs to the event email radio@marthastewart.com If you can't attend the event, make sure to tune in (Sirius 112 or XM 157) or view online Martha's Herb Garden (it's located at the NYGB).
SEE THE TOPICS & GUESTS FROM THE BROADCAST AFTER THE JUMP
Nancy Soriano, lifestyle expert on ABC's "Good Morning America," visited "Living Today" to share her affordable floral ideas.
Here's a simple, small cake stand topped with various vintage cups. They are filled with inexpensive carnations and tiny, faux green apples from the crafts store! Adorn extra petals around the edge.
How about a small rose bush in a pot that's painted with inexpensive, metallic craft paint? They can become a gift for your guests.
When we think of summer entertaining our first thoughts go to food, beverages, and lighting. But what about scents? Yesterday, Harry Slatkin, founder of Slatkin & Co. Home Fragrance stopped by "Living Today" to share some great ideas for creating a mood with summer scents!
Harry suggests a scent such as "fresh linen" brings a light, outdoorsy feel indoors during the summer months. He also likes mixing scents -- combining various scents to create your own unique, customized scent for daily use or entertaining.
Another great suggestion from Harry: light your candles about one hour before your guests arrive so that the scents will be in the air at the start of your party. He says it's best to store your candles in a dark, cool place when not in use. On a random note, Harry also told us that Elton John has a special room devoted solely to his candles! I would love to visit that room!
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