Spring has Sprung

Which means I am hopping busy. So far March has featured back to back weekend conventions and travel to Virginia to see friends. I had a wonderful Easter Mini Photo Shoot with Culling Innovations where the Queen of Hearts showed up to teach Alice the fine art of Croquet in Wonderland. It would appear children may need a new way to get their eggs and candy. April brings with it some smaller local conventions which I hope to attend, but first Charles Townsend is filming a documentary about Women in Cosplay and we have an interview scheduled. After that Ocean City Maryland is hosting both the Ocean Reniassance Festival the  15&16th to be followed by a new convention of its kind. OC Animae will debut April 29 & 30th. I am hoping to be able to find time to check out both if my schedule permits.
Busy working on a new cosplay in preparation for my debut at TideWater Comiccon in Virginia Beach in May. So keep hopping.


Haunting Virginia

September 19 2022 -It is about this time of year every year so far that I have been spending alot of time in Virginia. I spent one weekend in Norfolk checking out the expanded  Tidewater Horror convention  and then just this pat weekend I was back at Hampton Roads for  the 2022 Haunted Screams Expo. True to form I brought costumes and did a little shopping amongst my merchant friends. I was unable to be part of the Monster On Makeup Wars challenge this year as my  makeup artist was away on assignment, but I did manage to bring home second place in the Adult Costume Contest. < Many thanks to Charles A Townsend for the amazing images he captured while at Haunted Screams.>This gives me just a few weeks to get together all the pieces I am making for Culling Innovations Halloween Mini Photo Shoot in Salisbury MD on October15th. But First...I have the distinct honor of having been asked to help with makeups for Farragut Forward a local ongoing Star Trek tribute  You Tube Film short being done locally. So Time to clean up my kit and polish up on my beauty skills. 


"Oh Look Another Glorious Morning. It Makes Me sick."- Winifred Sanderson Hocus Pocus

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

August 2022- So fall is finally here. That means I am kicked into high gear once again. Maryland Renaissance festival last weekend. This week I am on the road again to Norfolk VA for TideWater Horrorcon with a quick side trip to  check out this years Howl-O-Scream at BuschGardens Williamsburg. Still working on costumes for next weeks Haunted Screams in Hampton VA as well.  So busy but things keep squeezing into my jam packed schedule with a new special event I just got asked to help out on in Fredrick MD in October...Shh...mums the word for now..must not Jinx it. I have been getting some amazing conversations with a few local independent film makers and discussing their projects.  All this leading up to  my first trip to  FaerieCon in Baltimore in October and as quick trip to World Oddities..all before Halloween. Then there is the HUGE project I have been working on for my return to Ocean City Comicon once again in December. Never fear dear friends things are very active here @ Nightmares & Dayscreams. Can't forget to mention my true new collaborations with David Insley of Culling Innovations coming up in just a few weeks.  Time to get Spooky!! Many thanks to the one and only Father Evil for this stunning photo from our reunion at  Scares That Cares Charity Weekend 2022. 
 **I was So Thrilled to see that FatherEvil recieved a special recognition Award at the New Jersey Horror Film Festival  on September 17th and I truly wish I could have been there to celebrate his special moment with him. Well done my friend. You deserve it.** -xoxo


Return to blog

September was HOT

I went from one convention to another. I had a weekend with Tidewater Horrorcon in Norfolk VA and then turned around to attend and volunteer at Haunted Screams Expo in Hampton VA. I did not garner any awards at  Tidewater Horrorcon  but I did manage to bring home second place at Haunted Screams Expo which was not a bad follow up to the first place in the Costume Contest last year. I did not have a makeup artist with me this year nor a model so I dat out the  Monsteron Makeup Challenge Saturday which allowed me to  rest up after frantically helping build the haunted house all Friday night and super early Saturday.  
I love seeing all my friends and  meeting some of the celebrities as well as working closely with the  organizer of Haunted Screams Expo and  my besties from Halloween Daily News were there as well and it always makes me happy to see them again. Many thanks to  Wendy of Just A Little Hocus Pocus for continually  asking me to redo her makeup each year. She is a great model and we work out some great plans. I can not wait to go back.

So what have I been up to lately?

Well in a time when Covid is still a threat to events and life in general I am still getting out and about. I am still working on building strong connections. I just finished attending the first annual Scares That Cares AuthorCon. Imagine an entire convention devoted to  Horror and Science Fiction writers and fans. I was able to attend a few very informative seminars and panels while talking with  up and coming talent along with some very established names who have even gone on to have their work turned into motion pictures. I learned how Horror had a boom and has since faded out so that most writers today self publish. But it was all for charity and  I got to reconnect with some of my friends in Williamsburg VA.  The week after that I was back in Atlantic City NJ attending my second NJ Horrorcon and film fest. There I learned just how short a film short can be and how good some of the documentaries made out there are. Some truly impressive talent out there people. I attended the Cosplay Contest and saw some truly epic costumes. I met up with some of my friends and chatted with a few new ones connecting for next year or another event down the road.
But should you ever think that my lack of public appearances means that I am not hard at work. I have to say even I am impressed by my growing  IMDb Pro profile. I have a few small films out that I helped with and a few more still in production. no you wont see me in 99% of them but my name is on them and I helped make that project and many more happen. So I am always looking for the next undiscovered up and coming. What? You don't believe me? Here is my page at this very moment. < I have another project I am slated to be part of that is just on hold until the Executive Producers greenlight us to start filming hopefully September of 2022 our director assures me. We just don't want to get shut down midfilm due to covid-19 closures.>

Have we met?

Recently I was shocked to learn I am a bit more active than I previously suspected. In creating an online IMDbPro page for myself I discovered that I actually had film credit and a fairly lengthy career with experience involving film, theater and even dance. True I am very seldom on the stage and in the spotlight myself ,but I have made friends and have worked extensively behind the scenes.  I have wrangled props, been a dresser to the leading lady and man, I have done hair and makeup as well as moved set as a stage hand. I have helped out in a myriad of minor roles always focused on making each scene run smoothly so that the chosen stars can focus on learning their marks and  lines. 
I have moved scenery and  swept up broken glass between sets all while learning the very flow of the show from the back side where I may not have to learn lines but my dance and marks are as complicated as those on stage. I have been forced to be out front for shows when the speakers fail to work because of rainy weather and the actors had to shout their lines. I have frantically ran to cover set and scenery when sudden downpours came up and canceled outdoor shows. Knowing even as we got the call the show was done for the audience, it was far from over for me and the cast as we then had to break down and load up in the muddy quagmire afterwards. Oh yes I have been there more than anyone will ever know. 
I have done my bit as an actor and cast manager as well when being part of the long closed Ocean City Screams ,Ocean City Maryland live scare haunt. I went in to do makeup and then became a minor actor. I got promoted to a key spot in the attraction and every haunt actor will tell you - that is improv acting at it's finest. You have a spot that is your personal stage and you are given freedom to spin your own story. You can creating a role and stick to it or change everything from group to group as the whim strikes you. Many was the time I had to judge my audience and quickly decide how to best play my role. It was great fun and hard work. When I was not acting I might be found managing the actors that night and keeping things going and spirits up when the nights were slow. Other nights I was the Barker and shouted the rules to the new groups before they went in. Tricky business assessing the group of folks before you, keeping their attention and setting the mood all while you listen for the sounds to say that the stage behind you was set and ready for the next victims. Again long hours and hard work but a valuable set of skills.
Point being in all this? I have done far more than most people will ever know and now I am ready to start into my 2022 Convention season. Bouncing from Comic to Science Fiction/Fantasy to Horror means I see some of the same crowd but each one has it's own vibes. Keep watching or your might miss me. I blend in with the crowd and stand out in them too. 
**Next up is Mini Photo Sessions for Culling innovations at Pemberton Park MD as their special guest with my own spin on Alice in Wonderland 's iconic Mad Hatter. March 26 2022.**

Best Laid Plans

Once in a great while even the best made plans fall apart. So it was that I am not where I had hoped to be this weekend before St Patrick's Day 2022. It seems that the combined one two punch of both an ill timed sinus infection and an unexpected jump in gas prices due to the Russian Oil embargos has forced me to cancel my plans to be at the Cherry Hill New Jersey Monster Mania 49 this weekend. 
I did however make it back from a very interesting and enlightening weekend at my first Farpoint Convention. Lets just say that going in blind I was very happy I decided to go in relaxed and not enter any competitions. As always science fiction fans are amongst the  most advanced in the ways of the newest science gizmos and  gadgets. I learned there is an entire realm of Cosplay that is scrutinized on a level I know now to be better prepared for next time. I talked to a few of the vendors at length, attended some educational and informative panels and  just joined my fellow fantasy fans. These people are a very unique flavor of fandom totally different from the Horror variety, but I think they might also appreciate some of my more fantastical creations...next year.

For now I am home resting and helping my child complete her first handcrafts cosplay of SunDrop from  FNAF Security Breach. It is not perfect ,but it is a familyfun project and I tell her not to worry about exactness- after all she is not getting in front of judges who look for perfection.

And Now for something completely different

After nearly a month on the road on the Eastern Seaboard I have had a very busy September. I have had the chance to be the model for a Makeup Challenge like SyFy Channels Face- Off at the Haunted Screams Expo in Hampton Road VA and the look took first place with all the honors due to  Jeffrey of Infected-FX. With little more than 3 hours to apply and paint he came ready to wow the audience and they stood and watched him work. Even the great actor Michael Berryman was impressed. The next day my own makeup skills and character creation took top honors in the Adult Costume Challenge contest . I had fun doing an on the spot makeup creation for the lovely Wendy Roache of Just a Little Hocus Pocus fame.  This was all after we took top prize for costume at Tidewater Horror con the week before which was great and I will be returning next year. I finished my convention tours with Monster Mania 47 in Hunt Valley Maryland where I got to meet the amazing  Robert Englund and  Kane Hodder is always fun, but photo opps meant not much time for makeup and costumes.
I really enjoyed the NJ Horror Convention and Film Fest too. I made lots of new friends and  was asked back in November but like the Chesapeake VA Monsterfest I will have to pass this year due to needing a break as there are so many new projects in the works and my time is limited now that Halloween has started. Wait and see what is coming next.