city witches

photo by Nicki Manchisi. downtown nyc.

happy halloween!

Hope everyone had a few scares this weekend and are prepared for the little trick or treaters tomorrow! We've got a bowl of candy waiting at the door!

Unexplainable Photos.

dead

Still thinking about the animals that died.

Ode to their lives.

witch broom lashes

If you were able to watch Martha's Haunted House Halloween Special, you might have noticed the crazy eyelashes I had on. Makeup artist, Kristofer Buckle created these twiggy lashes from a broom! 

 They look very similar to an elephant's real eyelashes. How amazing are those beauties!?!!

Tonight! Mmmmmwah ha ha ha!

The Martha Stewart Halloween special airs tonight on the Hallmark channel. Don't miss out on the unusual transformations and decoration ideas. You'll want to build a haunted house in your garage next year—it's really fabulous!

I was turned into a voodoo witch and Figgy, a mad scientist! The children were running out of my shanty room in the haunted house when they saw me! I was horrid looking!

Figgy's lab was full of fun stuff for the children...well those who made it to his room...

Martha posted some great behind the scenes photos on her blog here, here and here.

sadness

This morning, I was devastated by the news of the escaped exotic animals in Ohio and the thought of their fate. I was utterly horrified to hear reports of their massacre this afternoon. I don't know what to say, what to think. I am very sad.

Rest in Peace.

pearl eyeballs

SEE how-to string bloodshot eyeballs just in time for Halloween on thecraftsdept blog.

!!! glittery shoes !!!

Glittery shoes are quite popular this season—Miu Miu  did a whole collection of glittered pumps and even sneakers. Lots of DIY sparkle action has been happening in the blog-a-sphere, like Honestly WTF's great how-to and demo on The Martha Show. I thought I would do some glittering myself after a mad search for the Miu Miu glittered pumps all over New York and not finding any in my size, boo. I bought a pair of red suede pumps from Nine West that were perfect for an embellishment though and they look almost just as good!

Here goes:

—Cut two pieces of thick grosgrain ribbon with the proper length to wrap around your shoed foot. 

—Adhere sticky-back Velcro to the ribbon—soft side on one end of ribbon and prickly side on opposite end, reverse side of ribbon. This way the glitter is removable, you can wear the shoes with sparkle or not.

—Paint the front side of the ribbon with a generous amount of Mod Podge.

—Sprinkle a coarse glitter over the glue and shake off excess on a piece of paper or tray so that you can save the remainder. I actually used a silver shard glass glitter and coverage wasn't dense. To fill in any tiny uncovered spots between the coarse glitter, use a fine glitter in a similar shade. 

—Let dry and shake off any loose glitter. 

—If necessary, coat with another layer of glossy Mod Pogde over the glitter to secure it down.

—Wrap around your shoe and you're good to go out dancing!... or get married...

little diy favors for you

I couldn't have had a wedding unless I did it myself and that is pretty much what happened. Aside from all the decor that swept across the loft space, I crafted a little thank you gift for all our guests to take home. 

To go along with having a film photo booth at the actual event, one Sunday afternoon, Ashley and I strolled down to the local bar that houses one of the three black and white film booths left in Manhattan. With us we brought print outs of our message in letters (THANK YOU!) and words (for coming to our wedding. Ashley & Kristin tied the knot October 8, 2011). Happy hour beers waiting made it easy for us to take several fun photo strips. We went home and scanned the originals, printed copies, cut out each picture and laid them out in the proper order on a long strip of paper, front and back. Rescanned and printed dozens on large pieces of paper, that were then cut down. With the handy dandy Martha Stewart Crafts scoring board, it was super easy to line up the photos and score evenly in between each. Once scored, accordion folding was a piece of cake! Covers were made out of mat board, cut to size and adhered to the front and back of the accordion. We further embellished the mini books with an embossed monogram stamp.

To keep with our quartz crystal decorations at the wedding, I sent everyone home with their very own Herkimer diamond nestled in a cotton ball tucked in a specimen tin. Hidden beneath the cotton I secured a magnet so the diamond could be displayed on a fridge or whereever else it may stick.

The final stamp on the outside of the tiny muslin bags made the project come together and assembling each and every one was very satisfying.

It wasn't over until a day before the wedding when I shared the accordion book process with Martha on the show! 

wedding dress

It started with this image posted on Haute Macabre. I became infatuated with this dress... obsessed... nothing could compare. I contacted the polish designer Gosia Baczynska and inquired—is it possible this could be my wedding dress? 

The lace is exquisite—a unusual geometric lace, different from the typical floral laces wedding gowns are usually made with. Day after day of scouring the internet, I actually tracked down the lace source. Made in France, the unique lace design was created by Solstiss. Distracted by the lace itself, I visited Solstiss's New York showroom. I was blown away at how incredibly amazing their lace designs are. I wanted yardage of dozens—I could just wrap myself in it and prance down the aisle.

(The lace pattern below haunts me.)

 Lucky for me, Gosia had a dress in my size and, no need to worry, she makes the dress in white as well. After emails back and forth to Poland, about a month before my wedding, I received my dress in a gothic style black satin garment bag. I couldn't have been happier.

More pictures from the magical event to come...

dollar store Halloween

Do you know what you want to be for Halloween yet? Well you better start planning because it will be the 31st before you know it. 

Be creative this season and make your costume—original and homemade costumes always take the cake. Use things you might have around your home and if you need some extra supplies, hit up your local 99 cents store for inexpensive materials. This past Monday, we, the craft team at Martha TV, shared our $15 costume ideas on The Martha Show. You might not want to dress up like a gnome or superhero, put your kid in box or twirl around in a tutu but you might get some clever ideas for using the unexpected to create a costume this year. Check it out!

painted feather

I stumbled upon this photo I snapped last time I took Pico to the Avian vet. Pretty green feather with a portrait of a parrot painted on top. Very sweet and nicely done. Sorry for the terrible reflection in the glass!