Inspired by her discovery of the 1990s cartoon series Invader Zim, Dani's 2010 ambition was to recreate the character "Gir" from that show. Gir is an alien robot who disguises himself as a "dog" -- although his concept of what an earth dog looks like was obviously based on flawed data. In any case, you can see a picture of Gir above center, flanked by a front and side view of Dani's completed costume.
Dani did approximately 50% of the cutting and sewing of the costume body. The head was constructed of paper maché-covered cardboard, largely assembled by mom, as the process was very messy. Dani sewed the basic fabric head cover and the tongue, and applied the markings. Mom helped with the eyes, ears, and nose.
Although Dani is qualified to compete at the Young Fan / Junior level through age 12 at most convention masquerades, she voluntarily kicked herself up to the "adult" competition level with this one. While she didn't win any awards at DemiCon this year (the competition was very, VERY stiff at DemiCon, as there were many amazing costumes entered in 2010), she took home the "Best in Competition Level" award from ConQuesT -- only one step below the "Best in Show" award! As of this writing (7 June 2010), ConVergence and Archon are still in the future, so it remains to be seen what additional awards she might manage to snag.