Reviews For Martha Stewart Living Magazine


style for the masses

This is a fine magazine with truly scrumptious recipes if you're into the kitchen/food thing, home ideas that one can actually use (or that will inspire one to do something similar), and exquisite photography, usually quite stark and simple, of ways to enhance the aesthetic beauty of one's life.
One can serve a plain meal of soup and bread, and make it look like a feast, if you get into Martha's way of looking at things, and it does not take a spending spree to have a "Martha Look". Her basic table settings tend to be white china (one can use mix and match white plates from the local thrift store), clear glass, and colorful fabric...add some well shaped twigs in a glass vase for a centerpiece, and voila ! you have a table that could be shown in this lovely magazine; a rule for "The Look" seems to be the absence of clutter.

Of the regular monthly articles, I like "Ask Martha", which solves problems posed by readers, from health issues to how best to clean your eyeglasses, to "How can I get the coating on my chicken to stay in place when I am frying it ?".
"Clip-Art Craft" is another I appreciate, where in the August '04 edition for example, there are attractive templates for postcards, which one can copy onto card stock, glue a 4 x 6 photo to, and send to your friends. It's another grand idea from Martha !
You'll find articles on antiques, pets, gardening, seasonal fruits and vegetables, and much more, and on the last page, the yummy "Cookie of the Month".

Martha Stewart has brought style and good merchandise at affordable prices for those of us who are budget conscious, but like nice things. I have bought her bedding, and her bathroom accessories have graceful shapes and are an excellent value, and this magazine is one of my favorite aspects of the "Martha industry". The Patricians I know are not usually kind to Martha, but Proles & Plebes like me tend to greatly appreciate her.
Martha, we're going to stick by you through thick and thin !

She's an inspiration

I've bought all her magazines since 1997 from Living to Weddings to Baby to Kids to all her Special Issues and I love them all. I've kept every single issue. Martha is a teacher. I've learnt how to make bridal bouquets with her awesome step-by-step instructions (Summer 2000, page 128) How to clean hard-wood floors (Sept '01, page 130) annual gardening issues (March). Articles featuring various types of tomatoes, squash, eggplants, peppercorns, mustard ... the list is endless. Her 101 articles is awesome too, e.g. pumpkin pie 101, fried chicken 101. I enjoy cooking from her recipes (and also Julia Child's 'Way to Cook' - whom I admire tremendously as well). Cooking, gardening, house-keeping ... it's all a passion, it's how well you want to do it. I wasn't happy just slapping dinner down on the table, each time I cook something, I want it to be even better than the first time I did it. Martha shows you how and she truly loves to teach, when you read the magazine from cover to cover, you will realise that. You will learn many things. Read about a 97 year old gentleman hybridzing at least 150 Siberian Iris, how he did it etc. (March '99) you will be amazed at the colors and his energy. I look forward to seeing it at the news-stands every month. I hope you do too.

i love it

This is the most well rounded magazine. Outstanding photography and truly well written articelsmake this a one of a kind.

Grace, Beauty and Serenity

This magazine transports you to a different world. Every issue is a wish-book, with holiday cooking to plan over the upcoming month, or crafts to do over your next long weekend, or a bookcase to try to paint for a new room. Well, in my life, years go by and I dream on. But just leafing through this magazine erases so many cramped, negative, angry thoughts. I will never laugh at "crafty" people again. I will also probably never actually accomplish anything so beautifully pictured inside, but the dreams are sweet.

The expert information regarding vintage items and preservation alone is fascinating, but then you have gardening, cooking, baking, furniture, decorating, beading, anything do-it-yourself. Martha is truly a wonder woman. Worth every cent.

The Best!!!

Simply put, I want my life to be a Martha Stewart Living Magazine. Sure, a lot of the stuff is not practical for me or most to do, and I cannot spend hours carving a pumpkin or making linen accents to my cornices and the like. Actually, the cooking part is pretty practical, I am a good cook and I like her recipes. I love her Food Magazine spin-off. I have had luck with some of the gardening advice and once they did this thing on how to strip paint from a concrete floor, it really helped me with a small project. She also taught me how to boil eggs properly without cracking them, something I can't believe I never picked up on my own. Anyway, I am not reading Martha Stewart Living with the thought of actually being able to do all of these things or live like Martha Stewart herself, or how you think she might live based on the magazine. It is something pretty and nice to look at and read through, puts me in a nice mood, gives me a few tips I can actually follow, and gives me something to aspire to.

good reference material

As an aspiring graphic designer (currently still in art school), I use Martha Stewart Living as a main reference almost on a daily basis. It is probably the best designed, non-art magazine I've ever seen with outstanding photography that is flawless and utterly consistent (in a good way). Kudos to the staff of Martha Stewart Living and even more kudos to Martha! If you can get college kids to enjoy a housekeeping magazine, you're doing something right.

A Favorite in Europe!

"Martha Steward Living" is the only American home magazine my wife really enjoys reading. We live in Europe, but are able to buy some American magazines from a shop near my office. The other home journals that I've bought in the past were quickly discarded. However, "Living" turned out to be a big hit and the only American journal equal to the stylish Italian and French magazines she reads. I think she likes "Living" so much because the writers seem to combine the best of American and European food, interior design, and crafts. Being on the receiving end, I can tell you that I've really enjoyed eating some of the recipes in "Living", like the chocolate pumpkin pie in the November issue. My wife isn't really a crafts person, but she's had a lot of fun with some of the projects that have appeared in the journal (with patterns available on the Martha Steward web site). Now I'm no judge of home journals myself, but I do know that this is the only magazine that she now always asks me to check for at the shop. You'll probably like it too if you want a magazine that's a bit more eclectic and upscale.

Martha isn't just for your mother!

There is a reason that people place ads on Craigslist looking for old Martha Stewart magazines, and why they sell for a pretty penny on Ebay. Martha Stewart Living is a great magazine for those who really like to try their hand at creation of all sorts.Being a thirty-something gal who is learning to cook, bake, garden, can, decorate and entertain, I am in love with this magazine. Not only is it beautiful from cover to cover with stunning photography and eye-catching layouts, it is filled with ideas and inspiration for young women like myself who are coming into their adult lives who want to make a house feel like a home and who want to host signature events.

Having grown up fed processed foods and taking weekly family grocery trips to the Costco, I never knew the power of tending a garden or making jam. Now,I feel empowered when I create pizza dough from scratch, or make my home beautiful for a party, or create that special greeting card with help from this magazine. Martha Stewart Living is a reminder to all of us that we can do things for ourselves.

Some reviewers have said that ideas in the magazine are out-of-touch, or too costly due to specialized equipment, and that is true. Some of the ideas in this magazine are not five and dime craft time with baby projects - some are very sophisticated and I appreciate that, even if I cannot participate myself just yet. Most the ideas in this magazine are very accessible to anyone who can afford the subscription. SO much so that for Christmas I bought a gift subscription for my best friend who lives far away from me. Each month, we call each other the day our magazines arrive and get excited about the new ideas together.

My Martha Stewart Living magazines are craft/entertainment library treasures. I look at them time and time again and cannot imagine ever not wanting to keep each issue - now isn't that saying something about the quality of the product? I think so.

Martha Stewart...enough said

As with everything that comes from Martha Stewart Omnimedia, the magazine is clean, crisp, thorough and informative. The content and visual appeal of Martha Stewart publications is unmatched. How they continue to present fresh and exciting ideas each month is beyond me, but they do. Great subscription to have.

Martha Stewart Magazine

I may not clean or organize like Martha's staff, but I sure love the ideas in the magazine. The photography is wonderful and the layout is great and easy to follow. The ads don't get in the way of the articles like most magazines. The recipe ideas are what I love because I collect recipes and love to cook and bake. One reservation, however is because I don't use any alcohol so I wish the recipes didn't almost all have alcohol in them, but they're fun to try anyway with substitutes.

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