An Inspiring Evening with Martha

My first trip to Martha Stewart headquarters was back in December for their Craft Fair and last Thursday I had the privilege of attending an event to celebrate the Tastemakers featured in their April issue.  Saying that Martha is an inspiration to me (and so many) is a humble understatement and she has such an amazing and creative team.  These images are from the hallowed hall that leads to their offices.

I'd really enjoy a walk to work like this.

The April issue has 3 different covers: one featuring stenciled Easter eggs (pretty!), another with a lemon crepe cake (yum!) and the 3rd with a gorgeous flower arrangement of parrot tulips (love), lilac (a definite fave), daffodils (I didn't know there were so many different kinds!) and hellebores (never seen before, but they are splendid)

Among the many tasty bites and sips at the event were a sampling of tasty hors d'oeuvres on breads from Sullivan Street Bakery and beer from Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales.  There were lovely macarons from MadMac (yes, with 1 "o", the French way).  I've blogged about macarons here and here and here and MadMac's are seriously tasty; great texture and the fillings were delicious: chocolate, coffee, apricot, raspberry and pistachio:

Their website has an ad for the very 1st annual Macaron Day NYC on Saturday, 3/20 where participating locations are giving away free macarons with a portion of the day's proceeds going to City Harvest.  They're hoping to make the macaron "the new cupcake", nice.

There were also yummy chocolate caramels with gray and smoked salts from Fran's Chocolates in Seattle.  And there was a big crowd around Fleisher's Grass-Fed and Organic Meats as they demo'd how to butcher a whole pig and raffled off the parts.  I loved it when they gave Martha a big sampling and she popped it into her handbag!

I took a peek behind the scenes at the neatly organized rows of desks in the office and marveled at the inspiration boards everywhere: totally want to post pics, but don't want to spoil the next issue!  And as we left there were (very generously heavy) gift bags:

I love this April issue and can't wait to get started on spring and Easter projects.  I also had to buy the gorgeous "Pretty in Pink" Spring 2010 Weddings Issue to get inspired for a pink party this summer.

Next I really want to go to this Stitch Fest Party on April 1st to launch the new Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts.  And check out The Crafts Dept. blog for their entry on the Craft and Hobby Association's Winter Trade Show to see some amazingly enormous knit animals from Lion Brand Yarn, another of my faves.

How Fun Is this?

I started thinking about prop styling over the summer working on a photo shoot for my company.  It was a lot of fun picking the pieces to set up each shot.  Yesterday I was lucky enough to visit the set of a photo shoot for a cocktail book.  The prop styling was by Lynda White, and she brought in the coolest pieces: fabrics, napkins, glasses, plates, surfaces, saucers, stirrers, shakers...

It was a gorgeous playground of inspiration, so many ways to create each photograph.  I had to fight the urge to take home the tiny pink plate in the lower right of this pic:

The crew was amazing, and configured everything into beautiful still life shots for the book.  I wish I could have stayed and sampled some of the luscious cocktails, but I had to go back to work.  So much for drinking in the middle of the day...I'll have to ask Lynda where all of these great finds came from.

Craftiness Redux

[from Acer]

My Acer Netbook is the very first computer I ever bought by myself: adorably red, 10" screen, very portable.  But once in a while I use a full-size monitor and notice all this available, empty sidebar space, hmmm.  So, I'm going to try a redesign, which might throw all the older entries out of whack.  We'll see what happens. 

[from Amazon]

Oh and I just watched Julie & Julia for the 2nd time, inspiration to all of us looking for what bring us joy and what we want to do when we grow up...I should learn how to cook.