Tag Archives: Halloween

A Very Righteous Halloween 2025

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It’s never easy to say goodbye to the greatest holiday of the year, but I always find that sharing my annual costume and memorable moments with my followers always seems to help me get through the post holiday blues. And speaking of holiday blues I had quite the “Gemstones” on mine this year.

That’s right, not only did I finish my “Voila! No More COVID!” portrait of Walton Goggins and Uncle Baby Billy Freeman, but little did anyone know that while working on it I was also simultaneously working on my Halloween costume to transform into him as well. Needless to say it was a very “Righteous” Halloween this year.

Ta-dah! Look who it is! Y’all can’t start Halloween without no star now.

To top it off my husband Frank joined in on the fun as Teenjus and one of the trick or treaters even told him “I need to read your book more” 😆

As most of you know we got married on Halloween in 2009 and donated the base of our wedding arch to my brother’s Halloween yard display. Each year we try to remember to take a photo under it and it amazes me how my brother has kept it going strong (like us) after 16 years.

We got your miracle right here nerds!

We got blessed with a perfect sunny and crisp Samhain here in the Chicagoland area. My nephew Michael who has pretty much taken over the duties of passing out candy over the years decided to use his role to inspire his sweet costume as Willy Wonka. My great niece Violet chose to be a plague doctor this year because well she’s the ghoulist kid I know and I wouldn’t expect anything less from her. Having my Baby Billy virus elixir prop for my costume could not have been more perfect for taking a photo with her.

And the festivities did not stop there. I was also informed that like my Dr. Teeth costume that was featured in 2022, my Mokey Fraggle costume from last year made it into the Tough Pigs Muppet Halloween Parade for 2025! There are always a ton of great costumes that get submitted for this, so it is always an honor to be chosen by hardcore fans who for many moons have been doing such an amazing job to help keep Jim Henson’s legacy alive for all of us. 🌈✨️

Enjoy seeing me transform? Then be sure to check out a few of my featured past looks on the Skinned page of my portfolio website.

Hmm now what to be next year?! 🤔

Stay Spooky & Magical ✨
LDG Nicole

Get Halloweek Access To My Exclusive Artist Interview at Cool Hand Frank! 🎃✨️

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I am excited to announce that my artist interview feature along with other Halloween themed written works of art are free to read at Cool Hand Frank all this week in celebration of Halloweek! 🎃✨️

Use this direct 🔗 to access it!

So if you didn’t subscribe to their website when the interview first went live in May, now’s your chance to check it out and take a little peek inside this spooky brain of mine as I answer some fun and insightful questions about what inspires me as an artist. 🧠

Creature Feature | Exclusive Cool Hand Frank Interview with Artist Living Dead Girl Nicole

Dancing My Cares Away For Halloween 2024

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As the post Halloween sadness kicks in I always find it helps me get through it by updating my Freaky Fanatics with my holiday shenanigans. As most of you know from my past posts, Halloween is also mine and my husband Frank’s wedding anniversary. This year we have been together 26 years but hit a milestone of being married for 15 of them. To celebrate, we decided to take a special road trip and escaped to a magical week long getaway at the Ancient Lore Village in Tennessee. We decided to go in September when the weather was more promising and had the most magical stay!

To say we did not want to leave would be an understatement. Getting back into the swing of the real world took a little getting used to because we felt so in our element when we were there.

Halloween crept up on us quickly, though, and although we have been having out-of-the-norm warmer temps here in the Midwest, it ended up being a sunny but very chilly and windy Samhain here in the Chicagoland area. As I always say, though, you have to count the blessings where you can find them. For instance, last year it snowed, and because of that, I was not able to wear the costume I worked really hard on for months leading up to Halloween. The costume has literally been hanging in my art room, and I have been gawking at it for a year now, waiting for the opportunity to wear it. So when I saw clear skies were in the forecast, I didn’t complain about the cold or the wind because I could finally wear the costume and also cross another one of my favorite Jim Henson characters off my costume bucket list.

So here I am. The Jim Henson geek that you all know and love dancing my cares away and channeling my inner spirit animal fraggle, Mokey ✨️🧘‍♀️🎨✍️💗✨️…

Artist Living Dead Girl Nicole dressed up as Mokey Fraggle from Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock
Artist Living Dead Girl Nicole dressed up as Mokey Fraggle from Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock
Artist Living Dead Girl Nicole dressed up as Mokey Fraggle from Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock
Artist Living Dead Girl Nicole dressed up as Mokey Fraggle from Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock
Artist Living Dead Girl Nicole dressed up as Mokey Fraggle from Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock with her nephew Michael
Artist Living Dead Girl Nicole dressed up as Mokey Fraggle from Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock with her nieces Violet and Kayla

📸 Pictured here with me are my nephew Michael 🧙‍♂️ and my nieces Violet 🦊⚔️ and Kayla

As you can tell I was super excited to finally wear the costume and was so relieved the headpiece held up even in windy conditions. Having used thermal lined leggings for the arms and legs and a blanket for constructing part of the body it actually kept me toasty warm! Now that you can see the costume, you can understand why I didn’t risk wearing it last year in fear that the wet, blowing snow could’ve destroyed the headpiece.

Just like when I transformed myself into a lifesize Mrs. Dr. Teeth a few moons prior, it really put into perspective and had me dreaming about what it must be like for the folks who get to bring these amazing characters to life at the Jim Henson Creature Shop.

I have to admit this is definitely now on my list of one of my favorite costumes I have attempted and there have been MANY! You can see a few of them featured on the Skinned page of my portfolio website.

Hmm now what to be next year?! 🤔

Stay Spooky & Magical!
LDG Nicole

Halloween Henson Coven 2022!

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So last year for Halloween weekend my husband Frank and I went on a little road trip to have Famous Monster pizza for our wedding anniversary dinner and came home in time for Halloween day where I transformed myself into a Muppet (Dr. Teeth to be exact). Then this year we went on a longer road trip to see Muppets and got home in time for Halloween day where I transformed myself into a “supreme” witch! The best of both worlds 2 years in a row and my heart is full.

You could imagine when we got to Grand Rapids Art Museum for the Jim Henson Exhibition, Imagination Unlimited that I would take tons of photos with everything in the exhibit. I narrowed it down to some of my favorites to share here and it was still hard to choose. For instance, Labyrinth has always been my all time favorite movie. I had a hard time pulling myself away from Jareth’s iconic Goblin King Masquerade suit. If people were not waiting for their turn to see it I could’ve stood there all day in complete awe. Just knowing there was only a display case between me and this sparkly wonder that David Bowie (aka as my “fairy godfather”) wore just blew my mind. I felt the same magic at that very moment that I felt the first time my Dad introduced me to the film as a young gelfling.

When it came to the puppets themselves it felt like you were about to meet a celebrity. I know that sounds crazy.. but that excitement you get standing in line at a con to meet your favorite actor.. add your inner child about to burst at the seams of your very existence and that was me.

One of the really remarkable things about this exhibit was not only being this close to Jim Henson’s work but also seeing the workmanship and production materials up close. From to the materials used on Grovers mouth.. to the glass in Count Von Count’s monocle, it was truly remarkable to experience as a fan but also take it all in as an artist who has been inspired by the magic of Jim Henson their whole life. We walked the exhibit multiple times and I even got to experience putting on a puppet show in a booth they had set up. As you can see from the cheesy grin on my face I didn’t want to leave.

When we got home from our little anniversary getaway it was time to finally reveal this year’s costume to everyone on Halloween day. Not checked off my art bucket list (yet) but officially off my costume bucket list.. I present to you the one and only real supreme.. Myrtle Snow (as portrayed by me but originally portrayed by the incredible Frances Conroy in American Horror Story). I loved how naturally my sassiness came out reincarnating the look of Myrtle. Forever one of my all time favorite AHS characters I couldn’t help but feel powerful stepping into her shoes.

I hope all my Freaky Fanatics had a wonderful Halloween and I appreciate all of your patience with getting back to you on art and order inquiries while I have been away.

If you are new here and like this post, be sure to check out the Skinned page of my portfolio website and feel free to leave a comment with the costume you think I should do next year!

Balenciaga!
LDG Nicole