Just Believe Cosplay & Props

The world grew a little dimmer last night when it lost one of my friends. Daniel was an incredible person who loved life and his wife dearly. My heart is aching for as she enters a new time in her life with new obstacles. But she is just as amazing as her husband. Kristie, I know I live so far away but let me know if you ever need anything. I would be honored to assist my sister in cosplay and Christ.

Still thinking about what a wonderful time we had at this year. Here's some more pics of Rose in her Aviva the Kawaii kitty we got from 💜 There were so many other wonderful fur suiters that weekend at the con. The last image is just a fraction of them!

We had an amazing weekend at Senshi Con this year. So glad it's back again and we're already making plans for 2024 🤞 I want to thank the Senshi staff and especially Alexei Causepleigh for inviting us to come help judge the cosplay contest and skits. I can't stop expressing how honored we were to participate. And big thanks to Nicholas Kostyn for snapping this pic of me in Mighty Thor on day three. She will definitely be making a big return at Senshi 2024!

Well hello! Aviva is ready to meet everyone at in seven days!

Finally got my lineup for Senshi settled. Friday my youngest will be debuting her first fursuit, Aviva! This suit was purchased from the wonderful crafters at Lemonbrat and we're excited to finally share her. I'll be wingman for our furry friend so look for a big purple kitty! Saturday will be busy with all things cosplay judging so I chose Sakonji because he's most comfortable. And for Sunday Thor will make a return to the Dena'ina Center, but first appearance at Senshi Con 2023

All photos by Denali Goodwill
Art by The Saltie Rat

Just a Bri-arbie girl in a Barbie world. Thanks to for Barb-ifying my Brienne cosplay for their latest showcase. Go over to their page to see all the other cosplay's they Barbified 😄

Just a little fun with Sakonji.

Pics from the Kenai Performers cosplay contest on Friday. The kids and I had a great time :)

Had a fun, but hot, day with two of the kiddos at the park yesterday. We entered the Kenai Performers cosplay contest at the Progress Days celebration where we won best group. We were nearly without a Nezuko though as her wig came in the mail just a couple of hours before the contest!

Nezuko forgot to put her bamboo in her mouth, and the kids both forgot to swap out of their regular shoes for these pics but oh well😅

Just finished the wig for my son for tomorrow's cosplay contest in the park sponsored by the Kenai Performers. We'll be doing a Demon Slayer group ^^ The wig was purchased through and styled by myself.

Had to keep this a secret for a lil while, but now it's official. I'm helping judge the cosplay contest for this year's Senshi Con 2023 ! I'm excited and a bit nervous, but most of all I'm honored to have been asked to be a part of this. I can't wait to see everyone's cosplays and skits!

The Senshi Con team is very excited to introduce our first judge for the Cosplay Masquerade Contest!
As far as cosplay identities go, Just Believe Cosplay & Props is different from the norm. Though the cosplay journey began in 2015, Just Believe didn’t officially form until 2018. Consisting of a nerdy mom in her 40’s and two of her kids, the group has expanded to include friends of the family as well. As head of the group, Mom - aka Laura - does the bulk of the crafting and organization when it comes to conventions and events. She began simply with a humanized version of the Transformers character, Ratchet, but has since crafted cosplays for herself and the group spanning every kind of genre. Most notable are her award winning creations like Cassidy from Overwatch and Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones. Her most recent completed work has been the Mighty Thor from the Marvel universe. Semi-retired from competition herself, Laura enjoys encouraging others to try their hand at competition, and honing her skills at crafting. Though just about every facet of creating cosplay interests her, Laura enjoys armor and prop making the most and is looking forward to crafting many new creations with her Just Believe Cosplay family in the future.

Photo Credits: Denali Goodwill Photography

I'm way overdue to officially announce my next cosplan: The Armorer from the Mandalorian. I'm putting a lot on myself and hoping to have enough of her done for Senshi Con in early September. Pray for me 😆 I'm planning on making all the elements myself, except for the helm which was 3d printed by Dragonbornjedi over on Etsy. Unfortunately, as soon as I dedicated myself to this build I became ill and have been slower in progress than I'd like, given that I have only a little over 2 months left now to complete it. But, even though I'm still struggling with my health, I'm trusting the Lord and carrying on. This is the way😄

The kiddos day one and day two at the second weekend. We had lots of fun, and I finally got some more pieces for a costume for myself that have inspired me on what to make. You'll have to wait till next year to find out😄

Somehow between all the business of this year I was able to squeak out one set of armor for my kiddos girlfriend. She wanted to be a knight for the Ren Faire. And when the kids showed me her concept sketch I couldn't resist. I unfortunately didn't get any construction pics until the end, and then just of the chest piece, but I was able to craft everything in time except for the foot armor.

Got to meet the great Farmer Ted, aka Anthony Michael Hall
at the con yesterday. He was so nice and genuine and I know he's gone on to do so many greater and wonderful roles, but for me he'll always be the awkward, nerdy kid from the 80s movies I grew up with that not only made me laugh, but somehow kinda made me feel like I fit in. 😊

Photo by Nicholas Kostyn

We had a great first day at ! Was so nice to be comfy and catch up with all my cosplay friends I've made over the years. I'll be fish-tailing it back again tomorrow to see what you all got for day 2!

Been a heck of a year but we're finally wrapping classes up and it's time to have some fun. We're headed to Anchorage tomorrow for ! Since the kids and I have been working so hard (especially my seniors who are graduating in a couple weeks!) we don't really have any cosplay's planned. It's been years since I've went to a con and haven't dressed up, but this will be the nice laid back weekend we all need. Will be fun just so be there and see all our wonderful cosplay friends. ❤

If you made it this far, you get to know why this post is of Magikarp. I won't be in cosplay, but will be hanging out and chillin in my fishy kigurumi all weekend.

Thought it was about time to check in and let you all know we're still alive. It's been a very busy year, so there's been little to no time to focus on cosplay. The kids are all hard at work with school, with the senior's both getting ready to graduate and filling in any credit gaps so they can get their diplomas in a couple months. It's been rough only focusing on school and all of our other responsibilities, but we look forward to getting back to the fun stuff this summer hopefully. Thanks for sticking around during our quiet time. It's much appreciated ❤

Hey all, sorry I've been p**p at Instagram lately. Homeschooling 3, plus all my other responsibilities, is taking up all my time and will continue to do so well into the new year. I thought I'd at least pop in and post my top nine from 2022. Not a big productive year again, but good enough! Was great to finally get really out there and to some cons again. Can't wait for spring and the school year to wrap😄

Happy Holidays and a very merry New Year❤

Happy Halloween from our Squid crew to you. Stay safe out there!

Finally, the brothers are off together once again on their adventure in this last pic of the set.

Cosplays by: myself
Photo by:

The brothers have found each other once again ~

Cosplays by - myself
Photo by -

The brothers seem to have gotten split up and even more lost!

Cosplays by: myself
Photos by:

More adventures in the Unknown as Greg and Wirt run from danger in pic number 3.

Cosplays by: myself
Photo by:

Pic 2 from the Over the Garden Wall set. These two seem to already be lost in the Unknown!

Cosplays by - myself
Photo by -

It's way past time I finally shared these cosplays of two of two of my kiddos. It was their dream to do Wirt and Greg from Over the Garden Wall well before the pandemic. I was finally able to help them get the cosplays made and put together for our local comic con last April, and now I can share with you photos from their shoot with :)

Cosplays: myself
Photo:

I neglected to post our Squid Game cosplays from ECCC last month. Boy, it was hot in these suckers, but worth if for the expression on people's faces. Especially when my guards handed them an invitation card to the games.

These are now my three favorite photos ever 😆

I can't express what a sweet, patient, kind soul is here in text, you just have to meet him for yourself. I will always treasure the few minutes we got to talk together as he was signing my photo op pic with him and my little Abe pop. He even told me to thank my husband (Mark) for loaning us to come down here so he could meet ME! He gives the warmest hugs, and told me I was so kind and to never change. I was almost speechless at that comment, but was able to sputter out before I had to go that he was the kind soul and that I wish he never changes either.😊

cosplays part 3- It's hard to describe how cool this weekend was, and how many cool and amazing cosplayers came out to show of their stuff every single day. This is just such a small bit of the awesome people we saw. If I didn't tag you or you know someone in these pics please tell me so I can give proper credit to these lovely cosplayers 💕

cosplays part 2- It's hard to describe how cool this weekend was, and how many cool and amazing cosplayers came out to show of their stuff every single day. This is just such a small bit of the awesome people we saw. If I didn't tag you or you know someone in these pics please tell me so I can give proper credit to these lovely cosplayers 💕

cosplays part 1- It's hard to describe how cool this weekend was, and how many cool and amazing cosplayers came out to show of their stuff every single day. This is just such a small bit of the awesome people we saw. If I didn't tag you or you know someone in these pics please tell me so I can give proper credit to these lovely cosplayers 💕

is such a sweet soul. He called me a tall, beautiful lady🥲 As you can see from my ridged pose I was overwhelmed getting a photo with just him this morning.

It was such an honor to get a pic with today at :) I tried to convince him to come up north of the wall to an Alaskan convention sometime.

Today was an amazing day at We watched both the and spotlights, then got to do a photo op with them. The pic was fast and furious, so I didn't get to tell Harvey how Guillermo is the real star of What We Do In the Shadows, or tell Doug how much a crush I have on his Abe Sapien. 😆

Okay.. final lineup I swear 😂

Since Thor didn't work out I've decided to pull Brienne out of storage and bring her instead. Which works out good because my sword is still down there at my mom's where I'd shipped it over 2 yrs ago for the 2020 con. It will be good to wear her again, I've missed her. My hair won't be perfect, it came out a tad too red since I had to do it at home with a kit, but oh well. I might wear a wig I have instead. Haven't decided yet.

I also haven't decided if I'll be wearing the voice modulator for Front Man. Been having a hell of a time trying to get it to sound good with the mic I got. So if you see us and my guards do most of the talking you'll know why.😅

We got tickets for this photo op and can't wait! Doug especially is one of my Hollywood heroes😄

With the reinstatement of ECCC's mask policy I'm afraid I've had to drop Thor from my weekend lineup. I'm not super happy about disappointing anyone by not bringing her to wear down there, but after some testing and thinking, she would just be too difficult to breathe in with a mask. I wear shapewear beneath the armor, and I lack a lot of mobility in my top area, so the cosplay is already somewhat claustrophobic. The mask just sends it over as being unwearable for me at this time. I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining here, I agree with ECCC's mask policy. I do, however, wish they'd have never gotten rid of it in the first place. Going back and forth has caused more trouble than was needed, imo.

Sooooo, we are going to be pretty casual for the con. Probably no cosplays on Thurs and Fri. Sat and Sun we'll do Squid Game, but if the kiddos want to do then another day we'll throw them on.😆

Sorry I won't be bringing Thor. I plan on wearing her plenty more in the future where opportunities arise here in Alaska. Which is probably the one convention in the spring we seem to be down to😅

I'm finally announcing my cosplay lineup for - Thurday will be casual day in our Squid Game contestants, Friday we don our Front Man and guards to see if we can help the recruiter find any new contestants, and Sat and Sun will be all about Thor. I can't wear Thor for long periods of time, so I may be posting again later when I decide what times of day I might be wearing her. I'm super nervous and excited for the con. The dream that began back in fall of 2019 hasn't quite panned out to the experience I had hoped, but I know the kids and I will have fun regardless. Hope to see some of you there. Drop me a message if you'll be attending and would like to meet up.