Handmade Christmas

The Best of Martha Stewart Living

by Martha Stewart

Handmade Christmas is filled with ingenious ideas for creating a personal and festive holiday. From creating holiday window boxes or a gingerbread mansion to making your own gift wrap, Martha Stewart offers a stylish, inventive guide. 200 4-color photographs.

Genres: Christmas, Cookbooks, Crafts, Cooking, Nonfiction, Reference, Holiday

144 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 1995

About the author

Martha Helen Stewart is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, focusing on home and hospitality, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing publishing, broadcasting, merchandising and e-commerce. She has written numerous bestselling books, was the publisher of Martha Stewart Living magazine and hosted two syndicated television programs: Martha Stewart Living, which ran from 1993 to 2004, and The Martha Stewart Show, which ran from 2005 to 2012.
In 2004, Stewart was convicted of felony charges related to the ImClone stock trading case; she served five months in federal prison for fraud and was released in March 2005. There was speculation that the incident would effectively end her media empire, but in 2005 Stewart began a comeback campaign and her company returned to profitability in 2006. Stewart rejoined the board of directors of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in 2011 and became chairwoman of her namesake company again in 2012. The company was acquired by Sequential Brands in 2015. Sequential Brands Group agreed in April 2019 to sell Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, including the Emeril brand, to Marquee Brands for $175 million with benchmarked additional payments.

Reviews

[Adrianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martha Stewart is a classic. She is the original. When I found this book I had to purchase it. Something about it makes it warm and inviting.

I sat on my comfy sofa with a cozy blanket, and read the book. I have a few ideas I would like to make to decorate my home for Christmas. She has a very simple wreath that is gorgeous. I'll be making that, as well as 3 of her Christmas cookies.

This is a fun book to make your space celebratory and beautiful for the holidays. It contains truly creative ideas

[Sasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is more of a how-to, with enough photos to perhaps provide some inspiration as well. While plenty of the projects are quite labor intensive, overall the style is much more basic and traditional, without as many creative variations as in "classic crafts and recipes inspired by the songs of christmas".

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best of Martha Stewart from the late 80's to early 90's. There are plenty of step by step instructions (with photos), recipes, craft & gift ideas, decorating and techniques for it all.

[Deborah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some lovely ideas -- but mostly the projects look like a lot of work and not feasible for my tiny apartment.

[Darby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very beautiful and creative ideas. Very pretty pictures, good recipes and good ideas. Some of ideas are simple and some aren't - of course as always with Martha Stewart. I only gave it a three because it didn't inspire me with new ideas. I think for a first time homeowner or someone just on their own might find some very good ideas though.

[Jessica Wirth · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay, it wasn't the most inspiring of Martha Stewart though. I suppose I had hoped for more holiday baking and crafts/gifts, it seemed to be more about decorating. Good book, just not what I was expecting I guess.

[Jaq · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting and charming Christmas crafts. Not sure how practical these would be in the usual hot Christmas weather we experience here though - I did love the Eucalyptus wreath - nice touch and one that I can replicate.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ideas for Christmas crafts!

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! My husband bought it for me several years ago and it's great.

[Judi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heavy on decorating, wrapping and food, mostly with natural or vintage elements.

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good ideas.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the Stiff Royal Icing recipe. Everything else was a bit too finicky for me. Martha Stewart, I know, but I was hoping for more baking tips.

[Cindy (BKind2Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Visually gorgeous - lovely photography, a few recipes and how-tos. More of an inspiration for ways to incorporate ideas into your decor.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Festive!

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Christmas ideas. Timeless.