MARTHASTEWART.COM

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reported by Lexi Daly

Over the last few years, the internet has become full of great places for crafters to find ideas and inspiration and to connect with other crafters. While magazines and books are great and still have their place, the internet allows for so much more information to be right at your fingertips, usually for free. In fact, this blog is a great example! In addition to Craft Critique, I have several blogs and websites that I visit when I'm looking for inspiration--MARTHASTEWART.COM being one of my favorites. It is a website full of ideas and inspiration, crafting, cooking, decorating, and more...

This is a screen shot of what you will see on the home page. There are two main tab menus at the top of the screen as well as a search box and several front page article links. The tabs at the very top are more general website tabs--About Martha, Magazines, TV & Radio, etc. I like to click on the Most Popular tab from time to time to see what's getting other readers' attentions--going straight to the good stuff!

The larger tab menu, under the logo, has more of a breakdown of the types of idea information available. Those headings are Food, Entertaining, Holidays, Weddings, Crafts, Home & Decorating, Gardening, Whole Living, Community, and Shop. It's helpful to think of the site as a magazine, with the front page being the cover and each of these tabs being a section with it's own front page. You can click through any of the articles presented on the first page or you can go directly to the section you want to read.

In each section, you'll find articles, videos, and slide shows, with links to recipes and how tos, many of which are reprints from the various MS publications. If you've seen something before, but don't have the magazine anymore or can't remember which one, search for it. There are lots of great recipes in the food section and great projects in crafts and decorating. Tips, tricks, and good things on just about every page!

The best thing about the website is being able to save those projects and articles that catch your eye. If you become a member, you have a place to save your own collection of favorite articles--and organize them, too. Above each article there is a plus sign to be able to add them and then you're prompted to add a tag, so that as your list grows, you can easily find what you're looking for. Some other perks of membership include participation in message boards and galleries & contests. The community also includes a few blogs, one called Dinner Tonight which gives you a daily post with an idea for just that.

While I do hop over there just to see what's new (especially now with Halloween on the horizon--Martha knows Halloween!), I usually visit when I'm looking for something in particular. For example, when I was planning my daughter's monkey themed birthday party, I knew I'd seen an article on the theme and I was pretty sure it was in Martha Stewart Kids, so I checked the website...

The list of related items came up quickly and included small pictures, so I knew right away that I'd found what I was looking for! The list is also labeled to show me what kind of information is included--article, video, recipe, etc. I'm usually a visual person--I read the directions, but I'm more of a "Martha-light" crafter and don't usually follow them word for word. Here's my version of the monkey cake...


I couldn't show an article without something I created! And many thanks to MARTHASTEWART.COM for making it easy for me to find something I'd seen before and not having to recreate the wheel (or the cake in this case!)

Pros:

• lots of information right at your fingertips
• well organized
• beautiful pictures
• directions provided
• reprints of published articles
• community of other crafters
• ability to save your faves

Cons:

• lots of MS product placement

On a final note, I'd like to say that even if you're not a fan of the Martha brand, there are still so many ideas on her website and it costs nothing to get them. Yes, there are links back to MS products, but in crafting, there are so many options to get to similar results and the directions provided allow for that too. To me, the website doesn't have the feel of one big advertisement which can easily happen with such a site. Instead, the projects take center stage, while the reader is directed to the products with a simple link or ads to the side.

I'd love to hear your thoughts of the Martha Stewart website--like it? hate it? found a great project there that you think everyone should try? Or maybe you'd rather share another website you love--variety is key when you need inspiration!