Join Martha Stewart for a celebration

of handcrafted holidays all year-round!

New Years Valentines Day Easter Mothers Day Fathers Day

Also available as an eBook

780307 586902

52499
9

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I S B N 978-0-307-58690-2

NEW YORK

U.S. $24.99 / $27.99 CAN

CRAFTS & HOBBIESSEASONAL

cooking, entertaining, gardening, weddings, and decorating. She is

also the host of The Martha Stewart Show, the award-winning daily
television show. For more ideas, visit www.marthastewart.com.

A STEWA
H
R
RT

TS

MARTHA STEWARTS

Martha Stewart is the author of dozens of bestselling books on

Handmade Holiday Crafts

Let Martha Stewart inspire your creativity with the most beautiful holiday
crafts. The 225 handmade projects include cards and greetings, decorations, gifts
and gift wrapping, tabletop accents, party favors, and kids crafts, as well as more
holiday-specific activities, such as egg dyeing, pumpkin carving, and tree trimming.
Each idea is sure to make the holidays more festiveand memorable.

MA

Fourth of July Halloween Thanksgiving hanukkah Christmas

handmade

holiday crafts
225 Inspired Projects
for Year-Round
Celebrations

introduction
There is something magical, endearing, charming, and so
heartfelt about the handmade, the homemade. Since the very
first issue of Martha Stewart Living, it has been a priority to
develop, design, and create, with our very own hands, evocative,
personal, and beautiful objects that illustrate our love of, and
dedication to, the celebration of the holidays.

bunting and flags and swags over fences and railing and porches,
all to proudly display our patriotism every Independence Day.
We have made turkeyslots of themin honor of our national
celebration of thanks: pom-pom turkeys, gilded resin turkeys,
and so many more. And you cant imagine how many things weve
glittered for the holidays!

Over the years, our crafts editors have been involved in the
planning and making of thousands of amazing things that speak
to our celebration of Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Years,
and many other significant days throughout the calendar year.
We have made untold numbers of Valentines, not only those
meant for that special someone but also for children and
colleagues and caregivers, and even for cats! We have dyed and
decorated so many different eggs for Easter that we long ago lost
count, but we havent stopped thinking of beautiful new ways to
embellish them. We have draped miles of stars-and-stripe-covered

In this book, you will find the best of that assortment with fine
illustrations and glorious photographs and clear instructions
showing you step by step how to fashion those wonderful objects.
This is a special book for people whose fingers itch to make and
do, and I think that by completing these projects, our appreciation
of the holidays and their real meaning, both religious and secular,
is enhanced and invigorated. Enjoy!

Stew_9780307586902_2p_fm_r1_V02.indd 8-9

6/24/11 2:46 PM

introduction
There is something magical, endearing, charming, and so
heartfelt about the handmade, the homemade. Since the very
first issue of Martha Stewart Living, it has been a priority to
develop, design, and create, with our very own hands, evocative,
personal, and beautiful objects that illustrate our love of, and
dedication to, the celebration of the holidays.

bunting and flags and swags over fences and railing and porches,
all to proudly display our patriotism every Independence Day.
We have made turkeyslots of themin honor of our national
celebration of thanks: pom-pom turkeys, gilded resin turkeys,
and so many more. And you cant imagine how many things weve
glittered for the holidays!

Over the years, our crafts editors have been involved in the
planning and making of thousands of amazing things that speak
to our celebration of Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Years,
and many other significant days throughout the calendar year.
We have made untold numbers of Valentines, not only those
meant for that special someone but also for children and
colleagues and caregivers, and even for cats! We have dyed and
decorated so many different eggs for Easter that we long ago lost
count, but we havent stopped thinking of beautiful new ways to
embellish them. We have draped miles of stars-and-stripe-covered

In this book, you will find the best of that assortment with fine
illustrations and glorious photographs and clear instructions
showing you step by step how to fashion those wonderful objects.
This is a special book for people whose fingers itch to make and
do, and I think that by completing these projects, our appreciation
of the holidays and their real meaning, both religious and secular,
is enhanced and invigorated. Enjoy!

Stew_9780307586902_2p_fm_r1_V02.indd 8-9

6/24/11 2:46 PM

196

197

HALLOWEEN PUMPKINS GALORE

MARTHA STEWART

papier-mch pumpkins

The stairway in an entry hall serves as the perfect landing spot for a set of
handmade paper jack-o-lanterns in graduated sizes. For safety, these beaming
faces are lit from within by battery-powered lights. A single sheet of tissue pasted
inside diffuses the light and hides the working parts; floral wire and tape make
optional stem and tendrils.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED Balloons, glass jars, wheat paste, tissue paper (in orange and yellow),
paintbrush, clothespins and clothesline, small scissors, craft knife, floral wire, cotton balls,
floral tape, pencil

1 Begin by blowing up a balloon and

tying it off. Rest balloon on an empty
jar. Dab wheat paste on a small section of the balloon and drape a strip of
orange tissue paper vertically from the
balloons crown to its knot. Using the
paintbrush, apply wheat paste evenly
over the strip. Add another strip so that
it slightly overlaps the first, and brush
on more paste. Continue around the
balloon until it is covered completely.
After two layers of orange tissue, apply
two layers of yellow.

2 Using clothespins, hang covered balloons on the clothesline by their knots.

When they are completely dry, pop each
balloon by snipping with scissors as
you hold the knot. Remove the balloon
through the hole around the knot.

3 To cut a lid, make an incision in the

knot end with a craft knife. Finish cutting out with scissors. Remove a small
circle from the other end to create a
base. Mark and cut out eyes, nose, and
mouth. On the inside, cover these holes
with a single layer of tissue paper
(apply paste to edges of tissue before
positioning). For the stem, push 3 different lengths of floral wire through the
knot hole in the lid. (Stuff a cotton ball
in the underside of the hole; secure with
floral tape.) Wrap each piece of wire
in floral tape, and then wrap all 3 pieces
together to create the base of the stem.
Wrap the free ends of the wires around
a pencil to resemble tendrils.

196

197

HALLOWEEN PUMPKINS GALORE

MARTHA STEWART

papier-mch pumpkins

The stairway in an entry hall serves as the perfect landing spot for a set of
handmade paper jack-o-lanterns in graduated sizes. For safety, these beaming
faces are lit from within by battery-powered lights. A single sheet of tissue pasted
inside diffuses the light and hides the working parts; floral wire and tape make
optional stem and tendrils.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED Balloons, glass jars, wheat paste, tissue paper (in orange and yellow),
paintbrush, clothespins and clothesline, small scissors, craft knife, floral wire, cotton balls,
floral tape, pencil

1 Begin by blowing up a balloon and

tying it off. Rest balloon on an empty
jar. Dab wheat paste on a small section of the balloon and drape a strip of
orange tissue paper vertically from the
balloons crown to its knot. Using the
paintbrush, apply wheat paste evenly
over the strip. Add another strip so that
it slightly overlaps the first, and brush
on more paste. Continue around the
balloon until it is covered completely.
After two layers of orange tissue, apply
two layers of yellow.

2 Using clothespins, hang covered balloons on the clothesline by their knots.

When they are completely dry, pop each
balloon by snipping with scissors as
you hold the knot. Remove the balloon
through the hole around the knot.

3 To cut a lid, make an incision in the

knot end with a craft knife. Finish cutting out with scissors. Remove a small
circle from the other end to create a
base. Mark and cut out eyes, nose, and
mouth. On the inside, cover these holes
with a single layer of tissue paper
(apply paste to edges of tissue before
positioning). For the stem, push 3 different lengths of floral wire through the
knot hole in the lid. (Stuff a cotton ball
in the underside of the hole; secure with
floral tape.) Wrap each piece of wire
in floral tape, and then wrap all 3 pieces
together to create the base of the stem.
Wrap the free ends of the wires around
a pencil to resemble tendrils.