reasons for the season

COVER STORY | In the new publication, Holiday with Matthew Mead, blogger Stephanie Nielson (the NieNie Dialogues) and her children draw inspiration from holiday candy to create a spectacular handmade Christmas using an assortment of pretty papers and a tempting array of sweets. This story boasts some beautiful "ribbon candy" ornaments and amazing trees simply made from double-sided strips of scrapbook paper.

THIS IS GOING be telling of my age, but growing up, most people never thought a whole lot about Christmas until after we saw Tom Turkey usher in Santa in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on television. But there are so many amazing new "indie" publications I've become a fan of, that I wanted to spotlight one and tell you about a couple of other publications that are available for the iPad® as well as in print. Since I'm busy working on my book, I am not creating much for my blog right now. But you'll be sure to forgive me when you see what I have to show you with these publications.

HOLIDAY with MATTHEW MEAD is one such publication that is now available on the newsstand now. But Matthew suggests ordering the expanded edition of the magazine, which I also want to do (I've already bought the newsstand edition). Always on high alert for trees this time of year, I continue to be impressed by what Matthew brings to the market. His ideas are accessible, real and highlight bloggers and other creatives similar to myself—a refreshing new direction in the shelter magazine category. He may very well have found big success with this concept—Time Inc. has just started distributing the magazine after he bravely published only three issues independently. There are so many creative ideas in the blogosphere that never see the light of day and Matthew successfully brings that element of the creative community alive along with his own signature style. He's a reader of my blog and we've chatted online a number of times, so who knows what will happen next?
 

Matthew Mead

MATTHEW MEAD is a stylist, writer, author, photographer, lifestyle editor, and noted style expert. The former style editor of Country Home magazine and co-editor in chief of Flea Market Style magazine (2010), he is now the official food photographer for the Associated Press and is a regular contributor to Better Homes and Gardens and Victoria magazine. He has also written eight books and produced countless magazine spreads and ad campaigns for companies such as Pottery Barn, Dove Chocolate, Target and Stonewall Kitchen. 

Matthew is known for seasonal style . . . decorating beautiful spaces with vintage finds, using what is at hand along with nature's offerings; guiding others with easy entertaining ideas and inspiring them in creating beautiful food and living spaces. His own quarterly magazine Holiday with Matthew Mead can be ordered at his website/blog, Holiday with Matthew Mead. The talented bloggers and other people he highlights in his magazine are bringing fresh life to the magazine marketplace. I already want to make (well, eat) the Cardamom-Black Pepper Trees with Juniper Icing found in the current issue of his magazine—these cookies sound amazing. There are plenty more ideas (food and otherwise) inside the pages of his magazine. I bought my copy on the newsstand, but the expanded edition is only available here.

TREE TOPS | Passionate food blogger Kate Wheeler (SavourFare.com) gives a delectable sampling of global flavors in her holiday cookie story in Holiday with Matthew Mead.
These Cardomom-Black Pepper Trees with Juniper Icing sound and look amazing! I can't wait make some for an upcoming Christmas party. They certainly take the idea of a Christmas cookie to a whole new fragrant level of earthy flavor.

TIMEWORN TIDINGS | In this story in the current issue of Holiday with Matthew Mead, vintage glass ornaments combine beautifully with paper accordion fans, simply folded from sheets of scrapbook paper, and paper flowers.

ANOTHER MAGAZINE available online, in printed form and available through the MagCloud iPad® application, was launched from Paul Lowe's wildly successful blog Sweet Paul, which ranked 22nd in the London Times Top 50 Best Design Blogs. I've been following him closely since he started his magazine in Spring of 2010 and have been constantly wowed. I have long been a fan of food stylists such as Donna Hay and his work is just as transcendent. 

SIMPLE PLEASURE | Paul Lowe's signature Sweet Paul style is not always found with food. Below it is evident in this casual and beautiful tree. Hung with with handmade scotty dog ornaments made from tartan plaid fabric, it appears in his winter issue story "Tartan Holiday."

The December issue of Martha Stewart Living

ALTHOUGH WELL ESTABLISHED and seemingly untouchable, it would be remiss not to mention one of the biggest reasons I first decided I wanted an iPad®. My coworkers rose to the occasion for on my 50th birthday back in May of this year and gave me an Apple gift certificate to buy one. Martha's iPad® editions of her publications (Everyday Food and Martha Stewart Living so far), if you have a standard subscription, the iPad downloads are now included with the subscription price. I still can't quite give up the tactile reality of a printed edition of the magazine, but what the interactive editions offer will surprise you. Of course Martha has the resources to do it all, which she does and does well—Martha Stewart Omnimedia is showing us the future of magazines by exploiting the best of what can be done with an iPad® edition of a print publication and other mobile apps. It's really quite exciting. Animated and interactive tablet versions of magazines are here to stay. I think they can only enhance what the long tradition of what print magazines have offered as the technology takes hold.

THE FUTURE ALSO holds a much more accessible marketplace for those who do it for the love of it to find their own audience. It certainly is part of my "retirement plan." So keep looking for news of my soon-to-be-available digital and digitally-printed edition of my book on the left-hand sidebar of my blog. I'll be adding more updates there soon—I am finally seeing it come to fruition. I've learned that following your passion, along with your voice, might just lead to finding a way to live, in doing what you love.

©2011 DARRYL MOLAND | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Holiday with Matthew Mead photos courtesy Matthew Mead

winter wish

MY WISH is simply for love and light for all that I encounter. As just a moment in time, Winter Solstice will start specifically today at 12:47pm Eastern Standard Time. This occasion always marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The Earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun, and this signals the beginning shift to longer days and shorter nights. Also called Yule, it is a celebration of rebirth. Let's hope this coming year gives us plenty of the warmth and brightness that light brings to all things. It's not such a simple concept when you consider the implications. All too-often we forget to live fully in the moment.

MY TREE this year celebrates winter in all it's icy glory. As much as I dislike cold weather, I realize it's a chance for us all to reflect on what the warmth of the sun brings us. It has been an especially rainy season in Atlanta, and as I write this, the sun is shining brightly outside for the first time in days. My kitty Luci is sitting on her cat bed in the warmth of the sunlight streaming through the window. Our Pagan ancestry believed in the mystery and magic of light and darkness and celebrated the seemingly miraculous return of the light at Winter Solstice. No matter whether you subscribe to this system or not, it's the reason for the Christmas tree. And it's hard to deny that we don't all welcome our place in the sun.

LIGHT AND MAGIC | This year's Alpine-shaped tinsel tree (above, right) is from Urban Outfitters. I removed the tinsel wrapped trunk and glittered it with silver German glass glitter along with a turned-wood base to glam it up a bit. Tediously careful shaping of a wire tinsel tree like this is of utmost importance in the final look of the tree.The icicle theme was inspired by a wintry icicle tree I saw in Martha Stewart Living magazine this year, although very differently conceived (it is made up of acrylic rods).

THREE WISHES | These three mercury glass birds (above, left) represent the two people mentioned above and my cat Luci, who are all suffering with cancer. It is my wish that their pain is short and they continue to live as long as possible with dignity and grace.
By Smith and Hawken for Target. 

IN THIS TIME of  reflection, I want to send all the good energy and light I can conjure to two people in my life and to Luci, my cat, who are all three suffering with cancer. My Aunt Wilma has just learned that hers has spread, my good friend Janice Fletcher-White's sister Debbie Noel is sick, and my cat Luci is in her last days as the cancer takes hold. I don't know how much longer any of them will be in my life, but I wish that their suffering with such an insidious disease is as minimal as can be, whatever that might mean. Life is as ephemeral as the light and I'm thankful for all the people and creatures that have and continue to bring love and light to my life. You know who you are. Because of this, I know that the light will return, both physically and metaphorically, no matter what happens.

AS THE YEAR  comes to an end, this simple wish is the hope of the season. And I want to thank all of my friends and followers on this blog and wish them all the season's best. Since this past August, what I've brought to you in my blog has been a labor of love and a way to express my passion for the beauty of life. Spring will come to all of us again after our time with winter. There are lessons even in the darkest hours.

RAYS OF LIGHT | This gorgeous glass-beaded starburst tree topper (left) couldn't be more perfect to guide the light of the season. From Pottery Barn and available in the Atlanta Lenox Square store (the world's largest).

REINDEER PLAY | This glittered reindeer from Target prances among the packages. 

FATHER CHRISTMAS | The elongated form of this Father Christmas from a past season's Martha Stewart Collection at Macy's holds its own among the varied collection of icicle ornaments.

ICE AND SNOW | The large frosted white glass icicle is from the former Martha by Mail catalog. The white snowy owl keeping watch is from a past season's line at West Elm.

©2009 DARRYL MOLAND | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED,
collecting and styling by Darryl Moland,
tree photographed by Harold Daniels Studio / assisted by Shawn May

all other photographs by Darryl Moland