Good Things by David

This year's Thanksgiving will undoubtedly be different in many ways for everyone.  Small gatherings of immediate family members that live in one's household only is what we should be doing.  Let us follow proper guidelines now so that we can gather with our loved ones to celebrate many more holidays in the future.  I want everyone to be safe and healthy. Thanksgiving Sugar Cookies Sitting here on this L.E. Smith Caramel Glass cake stand is a set of Thanksgiving-themed sugar cookies that are absolutely easy to make.  No intricate designs that require skill.  Perfectly baked sugar cookies, a bit of tinted royal icing, a few tools to help you along, and you're good to go!   Make a small batch of sugar cookies in the shapes of turkeys, acorns, adorable foxes and some apples to have at the dessert table for your family.  Get the kids involved and have them personalize turkeys with the names or initials of those who will be sitting for the feast at the end o...

My collection of L.E. Smith caramel glass cake stands from the Martha by Mail catalog is finally complete.  It took quite a while to gather each of these pieces, because I didn't have the luxury of buying them from the catalog when it was in business.  A vendor here with a set, a vendor there with one, and then the keen eye of a friend of mine (thank you Daniel!) who thought the cake stand may or may not have been a Martha by Mail piece.  That is how I acquired these cake stands.  This exclusive shade of slag glass was commissioned by Martha Stewart for her catalog business (Martha by Mail) in the late 1990s.  I've written  a detailed post about this collection before.  You can read about it by  clicking here .  The plain round cake stands for the catalog come in four sizes.  The smallest measures 6" in diameter and the largest measures 12" in diameter.  The ones in between measure 8" and 10" in diameter.   I had no idea that t...

Appraising your collection of Martha by Mail cookie cutters can seem like a daunting process.  After my last post, The Martha by Mail Cookie Cutter Index, I received a lot of feedback from collectors wanting to know more about their burgeoning cache of MBM cookie cutters. One avid reader of the blog, who happens to be a superb cookie decorator, baker and an inveterate collector of Martha by Mail cookie cutters, had been looking into having his collection appraised this past year. Numerous emails went back and forth between the both of us discussing this subject. Really and truly, this prompted me to write up that index which is now officially in the books and easily accessible to all Martha by Mail collectors. I asked James if he would be willing to share his experience with us so that we could make informed decisions regarding our collections.  Thankfully he was gracious enough to answer many questions that I had for him. Thank you, James!  This is invaluable ...

Here is an index of all the sets of cookie cutters that were made and sold exclusively through the Martha by Mail catalog.  Many of you veteran and budding collectors have been asking for this for quite some time, because of the lack of information out there regarding all of the sets of copper cutters.  A lot of time and research went into compiling this list in its entirety, and as such, there are a handful of unknown cutters/product in the SKU number roster.  I had help from several collectors, friends, a lawyer, and even an appraiser (more on that to come).  Thank you! A Selection of The Oversized Martha by Mail Cookie Cutters I have divided the sets into two lists, each organized by product number.  The product number indicates the order in which each cutter was offered/released for sale through Martha by Mail.  One list consists of the large, closed-back cookie cutters that were sold in sets of two, with the exception of the Nordstrom Tedd...