25th Anniversary Countdown to Christmas: Day 25

Throughout December, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Martha Stewart Living magazine, I will examine 25 of the most memorable and influential people, moments and milestones at Martha Stewart's company over the last quarter century: the Martha Moments that fans are especially grateful for. I hope you enjoy these reflections on twenty-five years of excellence!

DECEMBER 25: MARTHA!

It is difficult to put into words the influence that Martha Stewart has had on popular culture. Both the publishing and the television industries benefited greatly from Martha's innovation: the rise of the 'shelter publication' and interest in lifestyle content today is the direct result, I feel, of Martha's far-reaching influence and pioneering efforts. Television series and entire networks devoted to house & home content, especially cooking, were born out of the popularity of Martha's own ingenious vision of having a television show devoted to celebrating the culture of home. Click here for a brief summary of Martha's life.

On a personal level, I must say that I have learned so much from Martha over the years. I've learned things that no teacher in a school classroom would ever deign to teach, things my mother and father didn't teach me and things my friends were not always interested in learning. How to cook basic meals; how to bake a cake; how to bake cookies; how to grow an amaryllis, care for a fern, make 'green' cleaning decisions; how best to do the laundry and how best to wash the dishes by hand. She taught me how to fold a fitted sheet (still working on perfecting this, I must admit) and how to organize a closet. There are countless other lessons learned, too, and this knowledge has become part of me. Only Martha taught me these things, making her one of the most important teachers I have ever encountered.

I am fortunate to have met Martha on several occasions. I have even done a television segment with her! For this I feel so blessed because I got to tell her, in person, what her work has meant to me. And I know she felt my gratitude and the honour I was experiencing by standing next to her. 

So, without further adieu, I want to say THANK YOU, MARTHA! Thank you for 25 years of excellence, for a beautiful magazine that I look forward to each month, for all those hours of informative television programming, all those beautiful products that make my home a happier, prettier and more functional space and especially for all that information and knowledge that I consider to be more valuable than you may know! Everything I celebrate on this blog is directly because of you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!

25th Anniversary Countdown to Christmas: Day 24

Throughout December, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Martha Stewart Living magazine, I will examine 25 of the most memorable and influential people, moments and milestones at Martha Stewart's company over the last quarter century: the Martha Moments that fans are especially grateful for. I hope you enjoy these reflections on twenty-five years of excellence!

DECEMBER 24: THE HOLIDAYS

There have been few magazines in the history of publication that have devoted so much time and talent to the celebration of the holidays. Martha Stewart Living really did set the standard. With entire teams of talented crafters, artists, bakers and sewers working behind the scenes, the magazine imparted such a wealth of how-to information and inspiration for the reader who was eager to celebrate the holidays (any holiday, every holiday!) with style and verve. This post is a celebration of the ingenuity, creativity, wit, whimsy and delight that guides each of the departments at Martha Stewart Living charged with creating magic during the holidays! 

WATCH:
In the late 1990s, Martha and her team designed the holiday windows for the Sony Center in New York City. Click here to watch this wonderful episode of Martha Stewart Living about the making of these windows.

Kevin Sharkey's Asian-inspired Christmas tree from a few years ago is so beautiful and so inspired.

There have been so many excellent Christmas trees designed by the editors over the years.

Tabletop Christmas trees are so charming and beautiful, diminutive but elegant. I love these.

There have been so many colourful and fun wreaths over the years, too!

And it's not just Christmas! Celebrating Valentine's Day has been a staple for readers from the very start.

Easter too!

Thanksgiving is always done beautifully at Martha Stewart Living.

And, of course, Halloween!

25th Anniversary Countdown to Christmas: Day 23

Throughout December, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Martha Stewart Living magazine, I will examine 25 of the most memorable and influential people, moments and milestones at Martha Stewart's company over the last quarter century: the Martha Moments that fans are especially grateful for. I hope you enjoy these reflections on twenty-five years of excellence!

DECEMBER 23: THE COVERS

When it comes to magazines, readers frequently do judge a book by its cover. It is all the publisher has to entice a browsing consumer at the newsstand to pick up a copy: better make sure the cover is alluring, different from its competition, well branded and thoughtfully designed. The covers of Martha Stewart Living magazine have always been among the most beautiful out there. 

Twenty five years of December covers!

From the first issue, Martha broke the rules and forged ahead as a pioneer in the magazine industry. By putting an image of herself on the cover, with her name in bold letters next to the title, she was taking a big risk. Critics immediately jumped up and called the magazine a "vanity project" but Martha understood that it was about branding and identifiability. With her name on countless products at Kmart, and her face in print ads and in television commercials around the United States, Martha understood that she was her greatest asset and biggest selling point. She tapped into the curiosity of tens of millions of people who wanted to see more of Martha's beautiful life in Connecticut - and she gave it to them. 

COVER EVOLUTION: 
The cover of Martha Stewart Living has undergone several changes over the last quarter century: some small and some more significant. The four images above demonstrate the evolution of the changes.
1. September/October 1991: Martha's name appears in capital letters next to the title. Martha is featured on the cover.
2. February and March 1994: Martha is still appearing regularly on the cover at this point but her name appears in a colour block next to the title with the first letters of her name capitalized and the rest of her name lowercase. 
3. March 1998: Martha appears on the cover only occasionally at this point. The word Living has been slightly refined and narrowed with an outline. The colour block remains but her name is back in capital letters.
4. October 2010: During Martha's legal troubles, the decision was made to remove the colour block and significantly downsize the name, placing it instead above the title in smaller font but still in capital letters. The word Living was centered on the masthead, the dots over the i's were rounded and the g was redesigned.

In the summer 2013 issue, the original g returned to the title but the rounded dots over the i's remained. The outline on the word Living also disappeared and new, bolder fonts were introduced.

These two covers are two of my favourites: March 1999 and June 2001. I love the simplicity and composition.

DO YOU KNOW?
The August/September 1993 issue, shown on the left, is the only black and white cover Martha Stewart Living ever produced. The current December/January issue (2015) is the only cover that was fully illustrated. It is a painting of Martha in a sugary wonderland done by Will Cotton.

No one but Martha would put a giant chocolate turkey on the cover of a Thanksgiving issue (November 2000). The turkey was made using an antique chocolate mold given to her by Sharon Patrick, the CEO and President of MSLO at the time. It is this kind of innovative and inspiring approach that makes Living such a wonderfully imaginative magazine. Below are examples of some of the more recent covers:

I so enjoy a good cover that I sometimes take on the challenge of creating my own! The four images above are my own creations: ideas for Martha Stewart Living covers using imagery from the magazine.

25th Anniversary Countdown to Christmas: Day 22

Throughout December, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Martha Stewart Living magazine, I will examine 25 of the most memorable and influential people, moments and milestones at Martha Stewart's company over the last quarter century: the Martha Moments that fans are especially grateful for. I hope you enjoy these reflections on twenty-five years of excellence!

DECEMBER 22: GOOD THINGS

"It's a good thing." We've all heard Martha speak these words countless times over the last quarter century - and by now we instinctively know what a Good Thing is. Perhaps Martha defines it best: "Ideas that are simple, but not too simple - interesting and useful, but still inspired." 

The Good Things column made its first appearance in Martha Stewart Living magazine in the very first issue. It has been in every issue since, bringing the reader simple solutions for everyday problems and good ideas for the home and garden that just make you wonder, "Why didn't I think of that?" The term "good thing" has become part of the Martha Stewart vernacular, a phrase so commonly associated with Martha, her television shows and her magazines that it is impossible to separate them. I have not counted how many Good Things have been published in Martha Stewart Living over the last 25 years, but it is surely in the hundreds. A "Good Things" book was put together in 1997 - a collection of the most popular ideas from the column - but I certainly feel it is time for another compilation to hit the bookshelves. (Take note, editors!) 

When I think of my own life and some of the Good Things I have adopted, there are many that come to mind: 

• Mount a steel funnel to the wall, wide side up, and place a ball of string inside, guiding a loose strand through the narrow end to create a twine dispenser. We do this at our cottage.
• Decant your dishwashing liquid into an attractive glass bottle to keep by the sink. I know we ALL do this!
• Use a tray filled with pebbles from a garden center to keep by the front door for wet boots and shoes. The water and mud will trickle off the boots into the tray of pebbles, keeping your floors clean.
• I learned how to tie a great bow thanks to a Good Thing!
• Tightly roll a paper towel and insert it three-quarters of the way inside a newly washed bottle. The towel will wick away the moisture from an area that is difficult to dry by hand.
• Have a key corral by the front door to keep all your keys organized and in one place.
• Use vegetable oil to remove stickers and their residue from glass.

It goes on and on. And I frequently refer back to old issues just to read the Good Things. I very often find new ideas that I had previously overlooked.

A series of ten digest-sized special issue magazines was released between 2004 and 2008 called Good Things. Each volume contains Good Things from Martha Stewart Living magazine or Martha Stewart Kids magazine based on a particular subject: organizing, decorating, crafts for kids, kitchen tips, etc.

This is a really Good Thing: organize your medicine cabinet by adding new surfaces, such as a galvanized backing, which can be used to hold magnetic storage containers. Use the back of the door, too: place small hooks and a small mounted container to keep essentials such as scissors and hairbrushes. Use clear plastic risers and small bins to add vertical storage to the shelves.

Natural cleaners are such an easy, inexpensive and environmentally-sound alternative to using harsh and toxic chemicals in the house. Many of the Good Things contained recipes for cleaning solutions that can be made at home using basic store-bought ingredients, such as vinegar, lemons, baking soda, salt and essential oils.

Here's a fun Good Thing for the holidays: make little snowmen, Santas and Christmas trees using gummy candies from the bulk store. You can add them to gifts in cellophane bags or make a cute display like this one above.

This is the most Pinned image from Martha Moments - and it is a Good Thing! This is something else we do at our cottage during the summer: Designate a grassy spot a step away from your porch or patio as the place for washing sandy feet before re-entering the house. Make a weatherproof frame with four three-inch-tall boards. The box shown is 16 inches square. Fill it will several layers of smooth, flat stones - river stones look particularly handsome and are easy on the soles. Sand rinses away into the stones and grass below, leaving bare feet clean.

25th Anniversary Countdown to Christmas: Day 21

Throughout December, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Martha Stewart Living magazine, I will examine 25 of the most memorable and influential people, moments and milestones at Martha Stewart's company over the last quarter century: the Martha Moments that fans are especially grateful for. I hope you enjoy these reflections on twenty-five years of excellence!

DECEMBER 21: ELLEN MORRISSEY

If there is a department at Martha Stewart Living where I would love to work, it is certainly the special projects department. This is the department that comes up with ideas for special issue publications, for Martha Stewart Living books and anything publishing related that exists outside the regular production of the subscription magazines, Martha Stewart Living and Martha Stewart Weddings. Heading up this department is Ellen Morrissey, Editorial Director, Special Projects Group at MSLO. She joined the company in 2001 as a books editor and oversaw the publication of ten New York Times bestsellers, including Martha Stewart's Cookies, Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook, Everyday Food: Fresh, Flavor, Fast, Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts, and Power Foods. She had previously worked at Gourmet magazine and at HarperCollins Publishers.

What I find so exciting about this department is the genesis of the idea for a publishing project: coming up with ideas for a special issue and gathering all the necessary content to make that special issue a reality. Coming up with subjects for new books and coming up with the content, the organization of the book's chapters, the collation of the information and putting it all together must be such a fun and interesting challenge. Ellen's efforts have been instrumental to the success of Martha's books and through her collaborations with the editors at Martha Stewart Living, she has come up with some of the most interesting and collectible special issue magazines that I know we all love and cherish. Thank you, Ellen! And Happy Anniversary!

25th Anniversary Countdown to Christmas: Day 20 (Martha's Calendar)

Throughout December, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Martha Stewart Living magazine, I will examine 25 of the most memorable and influential people, moments and milestones at Martha Stewart's company over the last quarter century: the Martha Moments that fans are especially grateful for. I hope you enjoy these reflections on twenty-five years of excellence!

DECEMBER 20: MARTHA'S CALENDAR

In the early 1990s, Martha's fame was on the rise. She was making regular television appearances and producing holiday TV specials. During the inaugural year of her magazine, letters began to pour in asking Martha all manner of questions, from how to fold a fitted sheet to when to prune an apple tree. Interest in Martha's personal life, too, became increasingly intense: How does Martha do this or that? When does she do it? What are her holiday plans? Where does she like to travel?

To address this interest, Martha and her editors conceived of something rather ingenious. Beginning with the July/August issue in 1992, a new calendar began to appear at the front of each issue of the magazine. It was simply called, "Martha's Calendar." It was another groundbreaking idea for the magazine and something that had not been done before in the publishing world: printing a calendar containing the personal and domestic appointments of the magazine's founder and editor-in-chief. It was a huge hit with readers who used the calendar as a guide for their own domestic chores: "If Martha is having her chimneys cleaned on this day, then I will too!" The calendar served as a list of gentle reminders for readers wanting to plan a more organized approach to home maintenance, while also offering an inside look at Martha's life: "Pack for trip to Japan. Have dogs groomed." 

The calendar evolved quite a bit over the last decade. For a time, it was pulled from the magazine completely, while Martha was fighting her legal battles. In the September, 2003, issue it was replaced by a less personal column called "Gentle Reminders" with seasonal tips and important dates for the season. Martha's Calendar returned in the April, 2009, issue in its original form - nearly six years later. Readers simply could not live without it!

After a six-year absence, the calendar returned to the magazine with the April, 2009, issue.

In 2011, the editors tinkered with the design of the calendar. It only remained this way for a few issues since it was not received well by readers.

This is the current format of the calendar as it appears in the magazine. It is now called "Martha's Month" and contains a sidebar with helpful hints for the season.

The calendar, of course, was easily parodied, and no one did it better than Martha, herself. In the April, 1999, issue of the magazine Martha published an April Fool's edition of the calendar, which you can see, above.

25th Anniversary Countdown to Christmas: Day 19

Throughout December, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Martha Stewart Living magazine, I will examine 25 of the most memorable and influential people, moments and milestones at Martha Stewart's company over the last quarter century: the Martha Moments that fans are especially grateful for. I hope you enjoy these reflections on twenty-five years of excellence!

DECEMBER 19: THE GARDENS

It may seem counterintuitive, since I live in an apartment with no access to a personal garden, but I love gardening. It began as a child when I would help my father in his gardens at home, which were quite large. We had an acre of land and my dad was quite a skilled gardener, having worked as a professional landscaper in his 20s. Many my fondest memories of my dad are of sitting with him at our kitchen table coming up with a design for a new garden bed or the location for a new tree he had his eye on at the nursery. 

Some of the best stories in Martha Stewart Living magazine have been gardening stories. After cooking, gardening is Martha's greatest love. The stories about Martha's own personal gardens have always been a joy to read because they inform as they delight, taking the reader into her private outdoor worlds while teaching along the way. In the beginning, Martha was careful to employ only the best garden writers - people who knew what they were talking about and had personal experience with their own gardens. Margaret Roach, who eventually became the editor-in-chief of Martha Stewart Living, was the first official garden editor for the magazine, a position she was given in 1993. 

Margaret Roach has a small but well-appointed home in Copake Falls, New York. It is one of the most beautiful places. I had the good fortune to meet Margaret on her own turf during a tour of her garden in 2005. She was editor-in-chief of the magazine at the time. You can read about it here. 

It was Margaret, I feel, who really gave the gardening stories the gravitas they deserved. She built the gardening editorial department with Martha to become one of the best in the publishing world. Other writers including Susan Heeger and Tony Bielaczyc, further enhanced the research and grew the department's prestige. Experts were consulted on all areas of the garden, from the most basic how-to questions to the most complicated planting and care instructions for the rarest of plants. Photographers would be sent to gardens around the country, from the most humble to the most grand, to document the seasons in the most beautiful fashion. The garden stories in Martha Stewart Living are among the most treasured for me. Below are some images that celebrate this content beautifully.

Visits to Martha's Turkey Hill gardens were always a favourite with readers. Click here for a look back at this garden and some of the lessons we can learn from it. 

25th Anniversary Countdown to Christmas: Day 18

Throughout December, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Martha Stewart Living magazine, I will examine 25 of the most memorable and influential people, moments and milestones at Martha Stewart's company over the last quarter century: the Martha Moments that fans are especially grateful for. I hope you enjoy these reflections on twenty-five years of excellence!

DECEMBER 18: THE WRITING

If the writing in a magazine is not effective, informative, interesting and entertaining, I don't read it. Thankfully, the writing in Martha Stewart Living magazine has been of excellent quality from the very first issue. It is impossible to list all of the things that Martha's magazines have taught me over the years and that information was mostly imparted to me through the writing. The research involved in many of the stories in the magazine is often not celebrated by the reader but it is what sets Martha's magazine apart from its competitors. Few other magazines in this category reach out to experts and even fewer take the time to synthesize the information learned into a cohesive, interesting article on the subject. 

The tone of Martha Stewart Living is instructive but gentle, nudging in its insistence that the reader should really try to make this cake herself. It is never condescending or too "high-brow" for the average reader, although it does ask the reader to be open to learning and to aspire to curiosity. 

There have been many wonderful essays and editorials over the years that I still refer back to. Writers like Bunny Wong, Amy Conway, Susan Heeger, Margaret Roach...They all took the time to celebrate the joys of homekeeping and gardening by penning articles that meant something to the reader and I remember their names because they were very good at what they did.

One of my favourite columns in the magazine was Martha's "Remembering" column, which always appeared on the very last page of each issue. The column was pulled in 2004 as Martha faced her legal challenges but each column contains some of the most fondly cherished words from her magazine. With the holidays just around the corner, I thought I would share one of Martha's "Remembering" columns here on the blog. It is my favourite entry. I hope you enjoy it.

REMEMBERING CHRISTMAS PAST
By Martha Stewart

When my daughter was only a month old, we found our country house in a remote section of the Berkshire Mountains in Middlefield, Massachusetts. We had allotted a very small budget to the purchase of a weekend place, a refuge from New York City where I could garden, Andy could build, and Alexis, our only child, could grow and thrive in the pure mountain air. 

We bought a one-room schoolhouse on Clark Wright Road to which three small rooms had been added over the years. The house had no bathroom and no running water, only a rain barrel under the leader from the roof gutter and plenty of ice-cold mountain water from a stream about a quarter-mile away. We took turns, Andy and I, lugging water in large pails from the stream to cook with, wash up with, and drink. It was always a pleasure to be there in warm weather, but in winter the place took on a special charm. For Alexis's fourth Christmas, we decided to attempt a holiday with no relatives, no heat, and no frills. Perhaps this is why it remains, in both my and Alexis's memories, one of our happiest times together. 

We arrived in Middlefield three days before Christmas. When we got there, the house was bitterly cold. We lit fires in the fireplace, the potbellied stove, and the Glenwood cook range. We wrapped Alexis in down quilts, and she read her books next to the blazing stove. After a cozy dinner, we went to bed early with the sunset. 

The next day we went to the woods to cut down a tree. A fresh blanket of snow had fallen, and it was hard to walk. Little Bear, our silver keeshond, struggled and Alexis kept falling and laughing, the snow in places deeper than she was tall. We found a perfect tree, a fir covered with its own small pinecones, sawed it down, and dragged it back to the cottage. We stood it in our living room and decorated it with homemade ornaments - cookies, paper chains, strings of cranberries, popcorn, and pinecones, and origami creations that Alexis and I had made from colorful papers Andy had brought from Japan. While we worked, we listened to to National Public Radio from Amherst on our old console radio. They played music by Bach and Handel and broadcast readings from great writers like Dickens, O'Henry, and Hans Christian Andersen. We laughed and talked and finished the tree, thinking it was the most beautiful thing we had ever seen. It smelled so good and fresh; I remember it as if it were yesterday.

Alexis was a very thoughtful child; buying gifts for her was not difficult. I searched the bookstores for books I had loved as a child, or ones that seemed perfect for that time. I read aloud to her a lot, so some of the books were ones that could be read aloud and understood then, and saved for perusal later when she could handle all the words herself. We opened our presents on Christmas Eve, after we had eaten a country dinner cooked entirely on the wood-burning range. We had roast duck, sweet potatoes, and apple tart. The pastry, the skin of the duck, the caramelized flesh of the potatoes - I remember it as if it were yesterday.

On Christmas morning we strapped on our cross-country skis and followed Andy's freshly cut trail into the hollow. We skied all the way to Glendale Falls, then found our way home and ate a big breakfast of pancakes, local maple syrup, and bacon. The Christmas ham was in the oven, and the plum pudding was steaming atop the stove. Our friends from the village arrived to have Christmas dinner with us. Their two children, Anna and Bo, played with Alexis, and they all exchanged presents and told each other stories of the woods and winter. After frolicking outside until they were almost frozen, the children wrapped themselves up in blankets and whispered by the fire. I remember it as if it were yesterday.