My Halloween Special Airs This Evening on Hallmark Channel!
Well, it’s Monday and that means that my brand new Halloween Special airs this evening at 8 p.m. on Hallmark Channel! For the past couple of blogs, I’ve been showing you a bit of behind-the-scenes with our wonderful guests and amazing décor. Today’s blog features Kristofer Buckle and his ghastly makeup applications. You’ll also meet Anna Muslimova, a talented body and face paint artist. Plus, actor Justin Long makes a special appearance in his spookiest role yet! I hope you’ll join me and my guests in my macabre and mischievous Halloween haunted house.
1 In one scene of my Halloween special, professional makeup artist, Kristofer Buckle, demonstrates his tricks of the trade to achieve some ghastly Halloween looks.
2 On Voodoo Woman, Kristin St. Clair, Kristofer applied varying shades of brown and black eyeshadow and an eyeliner pencil. She also wore special contact lenses and feathery eyelashes.
3 Using special tooth makeup found at party supply stores, Kristofer stained and blackened out Kristen's teeth. Photo Credit: David M. Russell
4 Kristofer also blacked out some of Figgy's teeth and used the same black and brown eyeshadow to create an 'experiment gone wrong' look.
5 Kristofer applied a layer of latex on expert haunt and design consultant Leonard Pickel's face, creating wrinkles, open wounds, and blood stains.
6 I was having a very good time with all of this!
7 Aaron worked on some finishing details and spattered the plastic sheeted walls of the Hallway of Horrors with fake blood.
8 He used a staple gun to secure crinkled black paper for our cave.
9 Really fun glow-in-the dark paint is part of the Martha Stewart Crafts line at Michael's.
10 That glow-in-the-dark paint was sprayed on the black paper walls and illuminated with a black light—instant cave!
11 My hair stylist, Anthony Sorensen, brought Chuck, his adorable Boston terrier.
12 Costume designer, Tilly Grimes, created Kristin's Voodoo Woman's horrifying costume.
13 Quiet on the set!
14 Anthony adjusts the Voodoo Woman's wig.
15 My wardrobe stylist - Jackie Noble, with Kristofer and Anthony
16 One of Leonard Pickel's scenes required a truckload of compost.
17 Leonard, the haunt expert, got busy and created a cemetery plot for himself.
18 Anduin installed the headstone.
19 And now to bury Leonard!
20 A piece of burlap was draped over Leonard's head before he was covered over, keeping the compost out of his eyes and mouth, and protecting his zombie makeup.
21 While he was buried, Leonard breathed through a hidden length of rubber hose.
22 And action!
23 The zombie emerging from the grave
24 Horrors!
25 TV chef, Sarah Mastracco, demoed food and beverage.
26 Blood Red Tomato Soup - roasted tomato soup with sour cream spirals
27 Mummy Fingers - minny hot dogs wrapped in dough 'bandages' served with mustard
28 Dinosaur Skin - crispy baked kale
29 Slugs With Maggots - shrimp in a black bean sauce, dyed with squid ink and topped with sesame seed.
30 Blood Orange Cocktail - made with blood orange juice and blood orange liqueur
31 Some of my special guests
32 The first few brave souls entering the Hallway of Horrors...
33 They seem to have survived!
34 My property director, Mike Fiore and his children
35 More brave the Hallway of Horrors.
36 The right accessories can transform a boy into a cowboy!
37 This owl costume was made with overlapping pieces of felt.
38 Anna Muslimova is a body and face paint artist with a background in fine art.
39 Her paints
40 She transformed this girl into a fantastical cat in mere minutes!
41 The kids had no problem amusing themselves before the party!
42 It was finally time for me to get into costume.
43 My moth wing eyelashes are made from downloaded clip art and pheasant feathers glued to false eyelashes.
44 Kristofer also transformed actor, Justin Long into a teen werewolf.
45 Don't we look great?
46 The party begins.
47 The lit tiki torches on the walkway add such ambiance!
48 We filmed Justin emerging from the woods as a werewolf.
49 He really got into character!
50 Justin hid behind a sign to scare the children.
51 The kids were all eager to visit my Haunted House.
52 But first, Leonard shocked them by popping out of his grave!
53 Justin and I had such fun with the kids.
54 Anna painted more faces. Aren't the colors wonderful? Photo: David M. Russell
55 The children played games. Photo: David M. Russell
56 Tim Murton's Twilight Zoo looked amazing lit up at dusk.
57 Mr. Skeleton
58 The evil witch
59 This giant skull looked especially ghastly!
60 The 'feather' detailing really stood out illuminated.
61 One of Michael Natiello's scarecrows.
62 And another
63 All thirteen looked amazing.
64 A glowing jack-o-lantern
65 Another
66 And another
67 There were even Halloween silhouettes on the windows!
A scary bunch!!!!!!
I like your shoes in picture #52.
Gloria G!!
Posted by: Gloria | October 24th, 2011 at 12:17 am
It looks soooooo fun !!!
Posted by: Kimiko | October 24th, 2011 at 12:35 am
Good morning Martha! Wow Amazing post interesting guests. The decor and makeup looks fabulous. I can't wait to watch this episode online. Happy Spooky Halloween!
Good luck
Posted by: Rowaida Flayhan | October 24th, 2011 at 3:21 am
Hood morning Martha,
The illuminated raven is absolutelty beautiful as are all the others. I bet those kids had a blast running through your haunted house. Can't wait to watch the Special tonight.
Karen
Posted by: Karen Tracy | October 24th, 2011 at 8:17 am
You look mauvalous Motha! I can't wait for the special tonight!
Posted by: Cindy F | October 24th, 2011 at 8:28 am
Martha, everything looks great! Thanks for sharing this blog. Boo!
Posted by: KLBrown | October 24th, 2011 at 10:16 am
MARTHA---You are never more in your element than Halloween and this time of year! As usual, you and your brilliant team have OUTDONE yourselves! Thanks for all of your ideas! I will be watching tonight! Hallmark is lucky to have you!
Posted by: Jonathan Brown | October 24th, 2011 at 10:31 am
Hi Motha! I absolutely love everyone of these photos of the develpoment of what I believe will be a superior Halloween Special Show on Hallmark Channel tonight at 8PM and I can't wait to see it! Everyone of your Special crew members certainly did a fabulous job! I enjoy viewing these photos over and over and when I see the Halloween Special I know it will be the best program on TV tonight! It's hard to identify the performers in this Halloween Special except for you-you look stunning and I love your moth eyes! Little Chuck, the Boston Terrior, sure is a cutie pie! Love seeing Mike Fiore and his 3 kids, also-he's been with you a long time, hasn't he?! Off to see The Daily Wag where G.K. sees The Giant Spider! Have another great day! Tomorrow should be great with your new Entertainment book being available-FANTASTIC! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | October 24th, 2011 at 10:35 am
Martha, the pictures are great. I have always wondered how they do some of those effects. I will either watch tonight or set the DVR for sure.
Posted by: Adam | October 24th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Hi Martha,
It's a good thing there was still some daylight in picture #52 when Leonard popped out of his grave! I don't know how the kids reacted but that would have scared more than the daylights out of me! I can almost hear me screaming now; I'm such a wuss sometimes! I hope your haunted house special scares me tonight although I’m rather prepared – I’ve been watching scary movies all week. Thanks again for your blogs where we got so see a lot of behind-the-scenes preparations. That close-up of Kristen is something else – what an amazing transformation. Well, I guess I’ll go get my snacks ready for tonight such as a candy apple in case I need to bite down on something other than my fingers. Trish
~
P.S. The show was great today and I especially liked the bat umbrella! I must make one of those for next year or just to have handy when I really don’t feel like answering the door. I wonder how high the UPS guy can jump! I tell him to just leave the packages but he always rings the door bell and from way back in my computer room I have to run out to see who it is. It’s payback time! Hoo-hoo
Posted by: Trish | October 24th, 2011 at 12:18 pm
Thought you may enjoy these photos of your cut out mice and bats displayed in my home:
http://livingwell7.com/2011/10/eeek-a-mouse/
Cheers,
Courtney Lilly
Posted by: Courtney Lilly | October 24th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
That kid looks more desperado than cowboy. Looks like a fine time had by all.
Posted by: r. steven page | October 24th, 2011 at 2:17 pm
I can hardly wait!!!
Posted by: Eleanor | October 24th, 2011 at 4:02 pm
Leonard Pickel is my beloved nephew, whose little pink feet I used to kiss. What a difference 50 years makes
Posted by: Sidney Smart | October 24th, 2011 at 6:39 pm
I am sure all kids in the crowd will remember a grave coming to life. What a sport for doing that.
All the activity just made me smile.
Thanks for a good time and I did not have to eat a donut either. Well maybe that didn't make me smile but actually I think it did.
Posted by: Margie | October 24th, 2011 at 7:01 pm
Will it be one again? I just got home and forgot to record it!!! oh no!
Posted by: Diane | October 24th, 2011 at 8:51 pm
Martha, you are the Queen of Halloween! Loved the special! I hope they are airing it again. Want hubby to see it.
Posted by: Jan Davis | October 24th, 2011 at 9:11 pm
Motha, Motha, Motha, Holidays, Holidays, Holidays, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween. Love it!!
Posted by: nadine rodgers | October 24th, 2011 at 9:13 pm
I am sorry to say, we Canadians won't be able to watch. I call my satellite provider every few months asking for the channel, but no luck yet. Martha, maybe you can do something on your end with Hallmark to help your fans North of the border.
Posted by: Glen Nyhus | October 24th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
That was the BEST Halloween special EVER!! Thanks Martha!!
Posted by: Bonnie McDonald | October 24th, 2011 at 10:29 pm
Martha - Holy snikeys that was scary good! I've been watching for fifteen years and that was my favorite show ever!
I loved everything about the haunted house. The Voodoo shanty was so much fun. So was Figgy's lab.
I can't wait to try this in our neighborhood. And, thought it was hilarious how scared the kids were. Too perfect.
Posted by: Emma Durant | October 24th, 2011 at 10:41 pm
Great job as always to Martha and crew!
Please - I need to see how the framework was made for the skulls and crow and such. My son is intense in his desire to create a costume using this technique. I can't find a clip on this anywhere!
Posted by: Amy | October 25th, 2011 at 9:12 am
Martha- OMG! That was unbelievable how great that show was. Will it replay? I need a copy because my recorder is broken. Argghh!
The story line was so fun, and so easy to do. I can't wait to try it next week on our cul de sac. THANK YOU! Ohhh... and the kids were too funny. LOL. I loved how scared they were inside. Yeah Martha!
Posted by: Kara Gardner | October 25th, 2011 at 12:34 pm
Martha and team- WOWZA! That was the best Halloween show I've ever seen! Box it. Ship it. I'll buy it!
Loved the Figgy stuff. And loved the tombstones and Funkins. I want to do it all. Congrats and thanks all.
Posted by: Libby | October 25th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
I loved the show last night so much it's nuts. Every segment was perfect. I learned how to lay it all out, and to how to get it all done. Thanks so much to you and your incredibly talented team. Bravo!
Posted by: Pam Gervasi | October 25th, 2011 at 2:14 pm
My dvr did not record the Halloween Special last night, will it aire again?
Thank you!
Posted by: Kathy | October 25th, 2011 at 3:10 pm
Oh my gosh is Kristofer Buckle cute! He can do my make-up any time!
Posted by: Emmie | October 25th, 2011 at 8:54 pm
Please air the special again.
Posted by: Debbie Chickowski | October 26th, 2011 at 12:25 pm
During the special, Martha said we could go to MarthaStewart.com to get more information about how to build our own Michael Natiello's scarecrows, including instructions and templates, but there really isn't anything there but some written descriptions:
http://www.marthastewart.com/863324/pumpkin-monsters
Where are the photos and templates for the skeleton funkins? That would really help in the building of these!!
Posted by: Shannon | October 26th, 2011 at 1:45 pm
Will the Halloween special be re-broadcast? We were in the throes of having to put our dog to sleep and I forgot to record it.
Posted by: CD Hughes | October 26th, 2011 at 3:13 pm
The picture is great, and you look so mauvalous！I like the Halloween.
Posted by: Amac Keylogger | October 26th, 2011 at 10:10 pm
We had spooktactular fun on this years Halloween Special Motha! Thank you so much for inviting us. We and our Canadian friends have always been big fans of yours. I especially look forward the the Halloween magazine since we do not get the Hallmark Channel here.
Best
Julie
Twilight Zoo
Posted by: julie denneny | October 28th, 2011 at 4:39 pm
Will this special be rerun? I couldn't find it.
Posted by: Catkin | November 3rd, 2011 at 11:29 pm