In honor of the new Martha craft book, and well, crafting in general, I share my favorite tool…scissors! The large tailor’s shears above were the first pair I ever became obsessed with.  They belonged to my father and I recall as a kid loving them and needing to use both hands when he occasionally let …

Last October Stephen (an MSL Art Director) and I scouted a few locations for the Masks story that appears in the October issue of Living.  We brought along some crafts in order to stage some potential shots. Doesn’t Stephen make a great owl?  As you can see, I made some changes for the final mask …

Is anyone else excited for Halloween?  According to the overwhelming response to our HALLOWEEN WORKSHOP and other online projects, I’d say so!  I hope everyone has seen the October issue- we’re really excited about it.  There were too many projects to fit in the magazine, so we’ve put some exclusively on the web.  Here are …

Last summer I made my first trip to Brimfield with Nick and Corinne. What a treat!  This massive outdoor antique show in Brimfield, Mass has been held thrice annually for decades (May, July, and September), and is one of the largest and best known in the country.  The last Brimfield Antiques Show dates for 2009 are …

British sailors crafted “Woolies” primarily between 1840-1880. These skilled and self-taught needle workers created intricately embroidered images of their ships during their free time. Here are some photos from a recent exhibit I saw at Annmarie Garden Sculpture Park & Arts Center in Solomons, Maryland. This ship seems to have met an unfortunate end… I …

Have you seen these new “love” stamps? There’s something that’s both totally classic & totally sweet about the king & queen of hearts motif. I had to buy them immediately.  They also prompted me to look through our playing card collection here in the prop house. I love the dense patterning on the card backs, …

I started this small collection of vintage office supplies about a year ago. I really love the muted, aged colors and simplicity of package design. It’s so rare now to find similarly mass-produced products with the same, reserved aesthetic. The UK-based company Present & Correct is helping keep the dream alive with their online shop. …

More from our library . . . Sometimes our shelves surprise us with a book we had no idea we had and have a hard time guessing how we got it. The move unearthed a few of these treasures and it was really a pleasure to look through them. This scrapbook was one of those …