i am not martha.

i’ve always loved the undeniable amazing-ness of martha stewart. the sheer phenomena of creating an empire out of showing people how to sew ribbon onto a towel astounds me in a why-didn’t-i-think-of-that way. so when i saw a lovely big stack of books at barnes and noble entitled: martha stewart's encyclopedia of crafts: an a-to-z guide with detailed instructions and endless inspiration,i was immediately intruigued, imagining an all-inclusive tome of the many, many projects I’ve admired and intended to replicate for myself from her magazine and tv show.

dear, sweet husband purchased the book for me in a streak of extra-sweetness that i'm sure was in no way a bribe for his own book in his hand that he intended to buy. after a long, leisurely browse, i have to admit i was a bit disappointed and not endlessly inspired! there were only a few projects that really enticed me {etched glass + paper punched flowers} and even those amounted to little more than following some instructions that come on the jar of etching cream, etc. several of the good ideas {soap making!} were simply reprints from ms living magazines that i had already cut out and saved anyway. also, i just have to say i’m not that into paper marbling {which she seems
obsessed with} or tiny pompom animals that are adorable but essentially useless.

enter the equally huge but unfortunately titled: the big-ass book of crafts by mark montano.

on the surface, this is all wrong in so many ways. could some inferior book actually seem better than the ever-referenced martha? a book that includes some {admittedly very creepy/tacky} projects such as a guilded baby doll head? a craft book written by a boy {is even that allowed?}. but alas, i have to admit that after a quick browse, this book did seem to have a greater average of projects that i would be more likely to assimilate into my own life, home, and crafting style. making your own paper japanese lantern from two wire baskets and papier mache-ing some tissue paper over them? much more my speed. maybe i am simply not perfectionistic {yeah, i made it up} enough to follow martha exclusively anymore. although I do still love her line of craft products at michael’s… never underestimate the power of simplistic, coordinating packaging that combines neatly into a notebook. hello, target audience- population me.

on the up{down?}side, I have even more projects on my do-this-sometime-indefinitely-soon list thanks to both books.

and, heaven help us, she went and wrote a cupcake book too.

{thank you amazon, for the borrowing of these pictures!}