Crafternoon is so Much Fun!
Perhaps you have read about Crafternoon from the beautiful story “Sharing the Love,” which appeared in the February issue of my magazine, Martha Stewart Living. Or maybe you watched my television show last week when Crafternoon co-hosts Jessica Pigza - Rare-Books Librarian at the New York Public Library - and Maura Madden – author of Crafternoon made a fun appearance. If not, Crafternoon is a monthly craft salon, which is a part of programming that the main branch of the New York Public Library offers to the public. A diverse group of crafters attend each month to create various projects. We were thrilled to collaborate with Crafternoon on their Valentine’s Day card-making project this past Saturday, February 5th. Athena Preston, a Crafts Editor at MSLO, shared some of her favorite Martha Stewart Living Valentine creations and brought reams of beautiful papers for all the crafters to work with. Our partners at Martha Stewart Crafts donated glue, scissors, craft punches, and many other crafting supplies, available at Michaels. Nearly one hundred people braved the cold and rainy weather to enjoy crafting in a stately oak-paneled room of the library. It was so much fun to see what the many talented crafters came up with. If you enjoy crafting, you could easily host your own event to share with friends and family. And to find out about upcoming Crafternoons at the New York Public Library, click here.
Thanks to Jason Falchook for sharing these photos.
1 Crafternoon is such a popular event and there are many regular attendees.
2 Jessica Pigza greeted guests before closing the door.
3 We only wished we had more room!
4 The handsome Berger Room was decorated in the spirit.
5 Martha Stewart Crafts craft glue
6 There were many colorful pencils and pens.
7 Craft mats from my craft line
8 Jessica opened the festivities.
9 Jessica turned the podium over to co-host Maura Madden.
10 Guests watched the video 'Sharing the Love' from my February digital issue. http://www.marthastewart.com/apps
11 What would Valentine's Day be without doilies?
12 Athena Preston - Senior Associate Crafts Editor - spoke to the crowd about her favorite Valentine's projects throughout the years.
13 Jessica, Maura, Cassidy Iwerson, Athena, and Vanessa Holden - MSL Editor & Chief
14 The sign-up sheet for future crafting events was passed around.
15 The room was filled with creative energy!
16 Gaining inspiration from the February issue of MSL
17 A heart-themed 'punch around the page' from my craft line. These punches allow you to make intricate borders very easily.
18 Cassidy offering some advice
19 Layering papers with different textures to create a unique pattern
20 This crafter built a 'stage' to display her message inside the card.
21 A great pair of scissors is a must for any crafter.
22 There were iPads available for guests to explore the new digital issues of my magazine.
23 To make this fellow's heart decoration, simply cut a heart shape from felt, make a small snip in the middle, and place it over any button.
24 A few lucky children joined their parents for an afternoon of fun and creativity.
25 These new punches can be placed anywhere on the page - not just on edges!
26 These fellows created very unique valentines!
27 Like this one, by Steve, who cut out his design using just an x-acto knife. I wonder who the lucky recipient of his intricately made project will be?
28 Guests were awed by the features of my new digital magazine.
29 Vanessa, filling out her ticket for the raffle!
30 Project complete!
31 Such pretty Valentines
32 Very sweet!
33 What fun!
34 We found that many friends came together to enjoy this rainy afternoon.
35 Janis created 10 beautiful mini-rolls out of paper and displayed them in this small box.
36 Everyone had a great time!
37 The beauty of hand-made
38 Very festive!
39 After the group clean-up, all extra supplies were donated to the New York Public Library for future Crafternoons.
40 Many prizes were raffled off to raise funds for the New York Public Library. We were happy to contribute to this great institution.
41 The lucky winner of our Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts book, and a Martha Stewart Crafts craft mat - sure to inspire many great new projects!
42 What a wonderful afternoon at the NYPL!
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
That looks like fun. And, it was very nice of you to donate the extra materials for a worth while cause. I was glad to see the men in the group.
Gloria G!!
Posted by: Gloria | February 10th, 2011 at 12:18 am
Hi Martha, love your February issue Martha Stewart Living and love love your craft product! I ordered some online, I hope that soon we will have it in the Middle East.
Wish you great success.
Posted by: Rowaida Flayhan | February 10th, 2011 at 1:24 am
Crafternoon sounds like my type of convention. Comic book nerds, out of the way. It's the crafters day!
Posted by: Brandi | February 10th, 2011 at 3:28 am
What a wonderful afternoon that must have been, and it was so great to see men there crafting as well!!
Posted by: Cathy | February 10th, 2011 at 6:57 am
O to live in NYC! I would have loved this event. I love to craft and wish I had a group of cohorts to enjoy crafting activities with me. I am a life long librarian and appreciate any group or persons who support these wonderful institutions. Go Martha!
Posted by: Cheri | February 10th, 2011 at 9:17 am
Martha, thanks for sharing the event with us. Looks like a fun time. Hope your day goes well. I'll be thinking of you.
Posted by: KLBrown | February 10th, 2011 at 9:22 am
Love the crafternoon idea. Wish I lived in New York instead of Lakewood, Colorado.
Posted by: Lynn Wallace | February 10th, 2011 at 9:54 am
Hi Martha, I love it when you post about special events in NYC and this craft event at the New York Public Library was fantastic! These people sure must love crafting to get there during cold, snowy weather in NYC. How generous you were to give them so many beautiful crafting materials. It's easy to see how happy they all were and how seriously they did their crafting with these great photos from Jason Falchook. It was so much fun to see more about this event in your Feb. MSL Magazine, in my superb app and on your great TV Show!!! Great TV Show again yesterday with Sarah and Kevin!! Great show also on the Today Show with Matt!! Have another great day! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | February 10th, 2011 at 11:24 am
Hi Martha,
What a great way to have lots of fun and meet new people in the process and even the cold and rain didn’t keep these fun seekers away! I like to craft too – there’s something satisfying about cutting and gluing to make something nice. I’ll even cover my empty cashew containers from Costco with craft papers so I can use them to store anything from oatmeal to sewing supplies. Now that I mention it, I think I’ll cover the lids with cloth. Anyway, as much as I would like to start a crafting group, I really don’t have the time but maybe our library could find a volunteer to get things started. Hmmm. Good article in the February issue and I enjoyed seeing Jessica and Maureen on the show. Maureen has certainly come a long way since that afternoon back in 2003. Congrats! Trish
Posted by: Trish @Trish_EllenC | February 10th, 2011 at 11:51 am
What a nice way to use and get people to use libraries. I come from a the day when you were not allowed to have food in a library--get it on the books or creating a rodent/pest situation. What a great thought that was implemented and makes people happy. Keep going and doing.
Posted by: Margie | February 10th, 2011 at 12:44 pm
I loved this article in the February issue. I was immediately inspired to hit Michael's, buy supplies and set up a Crafternoon for my family. We will be crafting this Friday for Valentine's Day. I'm also planning a larger Crafternoon for Mother's Day and I'm going to see if I can use the library. Thank you so much for the inspiration.
Posted by: Pam | February 10th, 2011 at 2:11 pm
I wish I had been in NY - I'll have to put the next one on my calendar! In the meantime, I'll continue crafting at my house. I recently made a great craft for Valentine's Day - Boxed Cupcakes with a "Have a Sweet Day" label. Here is the link : http://jennysteffens.blogspot.com/2011/02/valentines-day-cupcakes-cupcake-boxes.html I love to make homemade gifts for Valentine's Day - it makes the day that much more special!
Jenny Steffens Hobick
Posted by: Jenny Steffens Hobick | February 10th, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Crafternoons at NYPL are lovely! So nice reading about this while I'm making pop-up valentines samples~wish I'd been able to attend Athena's workshop!
Posted by: Esther K Smith | February 10th, 2011 at 6:51 pm
Sounds like great fun.
Posted by: Michelle | February 11th, 2011 at 1:17 am
I saw this on-line one day and have been making many lovely tags, cards and bookmarks ever since. So much fun. I love the crafternoon idea and hope to start one at our local library in my small town in Massachusetts. Thank you for spotlighting new talent. It is wonderful.
BTW, I purchased the 'Crafternoon' book from Amazon...highly recommend.
Posted by: Janice Nelson | February 11th, 2011 at 11:48 am
Martha love your craft ideas, I make jewelry,I like making birdhouses,purses, lavender neck wraps with our English lavender from our yard,also do many crafts, it is especially fun to make dog fleece lined jackets. You are an inspiration to all us crafters.
When are you in your house in North Bend Wa.?
We have a place there and I would like to see you sometime there?
I am a nurse and my husband a teacher.
Our daughter is living in our house in NorthBend..
Your baking show is great on the Hallmark channel.
Thank you for all your ideas!!!!!
Jeanene Smith
Yakima,Wa.
Posted by: Jeanene Smith | February 11th, 2011 at 9:39 pm
I read the story and attempted to host my own crafternoon. You can see the results here : http://thefirstapartment.blogspot.com/2011/02/martha-stewart-sundays-valentines.html
Thanks for the great ideas!
~Blair
Posted by: Blair | February 12th, 2011 at 10:41 pm
Martha I love your punches, I have about 50 of these. I cannot find the measurements to the around the page punches "lattice" or the "loop" If you could have someone e-mail me these it would be great. Keep up the new models. Thanks so much
Posted by: Brenda House | February 24th, 2011 at 12:55 am
Hello Martha and Crew....What a great craft show. Thank you for introducing us to Wire Lace. Can't wait to try it with my beading friends. Amazing information!
Posted by: Annie | March 2nd, 2011 at 3:46 pm
dear Martha
Please, please, please , consider a Martha channel - with your many shows and homemaking shows - holiday shows
craft shows, the other channels have morphed to something else and left us hungry for some great craft shows and updates on craft tools and new ideas . we artists and crafters have no place to go - we sew, make toys we paint, we decorate for the holidays - hoping to find ideas on a blog or the web - please Help us Martha
Posted by: pat griffith | March 14th, 2011 at 8:16 pm