The Stats

I may not actually make a single place card from this -- or any other -- issue, but what I pay for when I buy the occasional Martha Stewart Living is the drive to think that I can.  Take the gourd mushrooms for example; just gourds cut in two and put together -- so simple!  I know deep in my belly that I won't make them in a million years, but up in my head I feel like I already have, simply by ogling the great idea on Martha's cover. 

Other appeasing stories to entertain your inner crafter?  

• "Petrifying Potions"; random glass vessels filled with food coloured water and submerged lotus and poppy pods, burrs and cone flower (don't really know what any of those are save for the burrs) 
  
• "Fright Lights"; download templates for adorable Halloween lanterns (not a reinvention of the wheel, but a good, fun project)  
  
• "Making Faces"; paper-mache masks that are actually chic, and modeled by adults in a cute fall spread 

Thanksgiving-wise you get the standard lineup of recipes like the Delicata Squash Salad with Kale and Cranberry Beans, for example, (something I will make, in fact) and let's not forget the house tour of the "Shingle Style" Isaac Bell House in New port, showing off century-old detail like you've never seen before.

Final Analysis 

You'll like if:

• well, if you're any kind of a fan of crafting, homemaking and Martha Stewart (and you're upwardly mobile.) 
  

You may not like it if:

• Say you pick up the magazine never having seen or known of Martha Stewart before, because something on the cover attracted your attention, you may be put off by all the crafting 
  
• If you're more of an extreme Etzy kind of person
  
• If you're looking for slick, high-brow design 
  

Magazine Reviews appear monthly on Style Sheet.

Related:

• Easy Halloween Craft
• DIY Decor: Seasonal Crafts
• Glamorous Thanksgiving Table Scapes