New Releases from Dark Mouse Jewelry at the Artist’s Voice Fair!

Well hello there my friends! I’m participating in the Artist’s Voice Fair and invite you to visit my little stall there…and all the other great designers participating. I’m releasing a couple of items exclusively at the fair – just in time for Valentines day. Please visit! Here’s a slurl to teleport directly to the show!

Life is what happens when you have other plans

Sometimes I think that I’m a generally clueless maybe even naive person, always caught off guard by the things occurring around me. And now, belatedly saddened by the things occurring around me. I’m troubled by the events of the past few days, alluded to, whispered about, bandied about really – by people who actually know nothing but ‘what they’ve been told.’ If I had a linden for every time in the last few days I’ve seen someone state in that hotbed of intrigue, Plurk, “I heard that this person did this or that” I’d be SLrich. It’s almost impossible to defend ones self against a rumor. There is no proof. There is only, “well my friend such and such told me this or that, and of course I love this person dearly and they’d never lie.” Or, my other favorite generalized statement, ‘this person is crazy (or a moron, or a thief, please fill in the blank.)” Oh rly? I’m still waiting to see the proof of all these various allegations. And so should you before you say more or share the statement with someone else. Did you know that there are REAL people in SL? No really it’s true. We’re all anonymous of course. Which is nice. But our very interaction within SL creates a persona, a brand, a reputation that over time, becomes something that we wish to protect. Or, give up on protecting because the pain, anger and sadness of trying to deny a rumor becomes too much. At present I’m sitting in my family room, typing this on my laptop computer while my avatar, or the virtual representation of my REAL SELF, is sitting in the particle lab on Teal. See, here’s the thing, I’m a real person. I have real feelings, I am by turns jealous, angry, and happy, I have faults, habits, and doubts. Oh and I can be hurt.

People perhaps criticizing my work, or making denigrating statements about things I like can hurt me, or the people I care about. And I can react in a variety of ways that are available to this virtual world that we live in – I can create a blog post, make a Plurk entry, make a statement in the SLForums, shoot tiny pastes like little atom bombs all over the interwebs, IM everyone on my friends list, etc. about this hurt I have. I can just let it go, if I want. It’s too terribly easy to do this.

Over the last few days, I’ve had the opportunity to listen to many, many people, about many, many things, and I’ve been struck by several things. Five different people will perceive the same event in different ways, myself included. I’ve been able to witness first hand, the hurt and pain that can be caused by baseless rumors and innuendo. And I guess I want to say this – Think. Please stop and think about the rumors, the stories you hear. Challenge them. Challenge the person who’s telling it. Ask questions – don’t accept – ask to see the evidence of their statements. Because the truth is this – the next time a rumor runs rampant like a destructive wild fire through peoples lives, it could be you or the people who you love that are burned. And like me, you too could lose a friend.

Always remember and never forget

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. — Dr. Seuss

Can’t wait for spring!

Yes so yesterday on plurk, I rather plaintively asked if I could switch my store decor over to spring. The votes were about 50/50! Any who that got me to thinking – what could I possibly do to cheer myself up and rush the end of Winter. In other news, I decided to open up a satellite shop at the HodgePodge sim. Serindipity? YES! Because the HoPo sim is launching a month long series of events – including a celebration of Summer event. All the vendors will have an exclusive ‘beach’ themed item – including me! Yes, I was so inspired to bring on Spring/Summer that I created the Dark Mouse Beach Bag. A cute striped bag perfect for a day at the beach – stuffed with all the things you might need at the beach! I decided to feature it with a lovely dress from Artilleri and some smexy sandals from Periquita! Also accessorizing the outfit is my Roses are Blue cocktail ring – but I didn’t want to lose it at the beach, so I hung it on a chain around my neck. Since it’s group gifty time at Dark Mouse (February – YAY) this delicate necklace will be the Dark Mouse group gift! If you’re not in my group – better join today! I plan to send this out to my group tomorrow (to give you time to join and to tell your friends to join!). Remember – I don’t have history on my subscriber kiosk – you have to be in the group at the time that I distribute the gift! So visit my new wee store at HodgePodge Mall to get this lovely beach bag in 4 colors for $200L – exclusively. Here’s a teleport to the new satalite shop. You can join my group there to get the lovely ring necklace too!

Outfit Credits

Hair – Cameron (Thoughtful Brown) – fri.day

Skin – Elf Petal Frex Light Snug 1 – Curio

Eyes – Summer Cool Nights – Poetic Color Eyes

Lashes – Natural Prim Lashes – La Sylphide

Jewelry – Roses are Blue Delicate Necklace (Group Gifty – February) – Dark Mouse

Glasses – Round About Glasses – Dark Mouse @ HoPo

Bag – Beach Bag – Dark Mouse

Dress – Kitty Dress (Light Blue) – Artilleri

Sandals – Beda Sandals (Black) – Periquita

Poses – A variety from – Lap

Roses are Blue

I’m in a blue green state of mind. This happens to me on occasion. My favorite colors are combinations of colors. I love blue and green, orange and yellow, brown and black. Well brown and anything to be perfectly frank. I was in London for a week, a lovely city if a bit cold this time of year. I like to wander around a bit and ended up in a lot of long alleys filled with dusty shops. I saw a necklace in one of the windows and I was inspired to create what you see in the pictures. It’s not exactly like the necklace I saw of course. I should have taken a picture. It was the ‘idea’ of it I liked. I think the original was something from the 1960’s. Fun stuff. I paired it with an awesome dress I found at Stitch by Stitch Couture. I love this dress. Look at the detail of the netting on the bottom of the dress! The texture is so lovely on the dress it appears to have an inner glow. I paired it with some truly lovely hair from Tiny Bird – the texture of this hair is awesome, I adore it. Glasses from HOC and tights from Celestial Studios finish off the look. Oh the cocktail ring that matches the necklace is currently on sale for 60L as part of the 60L Sundays special at my store (tp to my store by clicking this link) – which happens to occur on Saturday now too! I hope you’ll stop by and take a look. The necklace is not ready for sale yet. I hope to release it by Sunday – packaging of new stuff is an ugly business. Here’s a tp to the store where you can pick up the cocktail ring for 60L. I took these pictures at a lovely sim called the Rouge Forest!

Outfit Credits

Hair – Love Love Love – Dragees – Tiny Bird

Skin – Elf Petal Frex Light Snug 1 – Curio

Eyes – Fairy Hansel Bright – Poetic Color Eyes

Lashes – Natural Prim Lashes – La Sylphide

Jewelry – Roses are Blue Necklace & Cocktail Ring – Dark Mouse

Accessories – Skinny Framed Glasses #2 – HOC

Jacket – Loli – Asymmetrical Jacket – Blackd – CUPCAKES

Dress – Lemongrass Dress – Stitch by Stitch

Stockings – Lulu Stockings (Grey) – Celestial Studios (no longer available)

Shoes – Hyasinths (Black) – Shiny Things

Poses – A variety from – Lap

Cool beans, Cool jeans.

So I was reading plurk the other day…and came accross the usual, “anybody know where I can find good jeans?” I love these kinds of plurks because I always learn about stores that I may have not known of, or known of and never been too, etc. Also I wanted new jeans! Someone mentioned Nyte&Day, and I realized that I had not been there in FOREVER. Why? I don’t know! I’m lame. Anywho – I have an old pair of fav jeans from there and thought, I’ll check that out first! I’m sooooo happy I did and I didn’t make it to any other stores…gah I’ll go again. I found the newly released, ‘Essential Jeans’ and they are awesome! A perfect creation! I love these jeans soooo much that I’ve not taken them off for 3 days! I paired them with new boots from INDI Designs (awesome and bargain priced!), a new jacket from Naive that I simply lurve, and the corset top from mijn.t that is so stunning that I think this will be my second showing of it. I accessorized with the Winter Jennifer hair from fri.day, and my own Moon Shines jewelry set and Fish Scales belt. I dunno I like. Hope you do too. I took the pics at the ever fabulous, Drowsy.

Outfit Credits

Hair – Winter Jennifer (Timid Brown)- fri.day

Skin – Ania 4 (Fair-Glow Skin) – LAQ

Eyes – Fairy Hansel Bright – Poetic Color Eyes

Lashes – Natural Prim Lashes – La Sylphide

Jewelry – Moon Shines Set (Copper) – Dark Mouse

Accessories – Fish Scales Belt (Brown) – Dark Mouse

Jacket – Tapadito Gold – .: Naive :.

Corset – [Je m'apelle Marlene] corset in Pale – DU III – mijn.t

Jeans – Essential Jeans – Dark Stone Wash – Nyte’N'Day

Boots – Lombardi Booties (Dark Brown) – INDI Designs

Poses – A variety from – Lap

New Stuff at Dark Mouse Jewelry!

Oh HAI! I have a smallish new release for ya all. A bit on the casual side, but VERY wearable. Which I like sometimes, stuff I can wear everyday. I have a set of new belts – metal leather belts – AND – if you stop by my shop late Saturday night after 10 p.m. till Sunday at 12 p.m. the belts will be on special for $60L! My $60L sunday special! I also have my ‘Here comes the Sun” Necklace and my “Crystal Cuffs & Big Drop Earrings” set. I’ll be traveling with intermittent internet access over the next week or so – so drop me a notecard if you need anything! Click this link for a teleport to Dark Mouse!

The more things change, the more they stay the same

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about SL and the future. I’m not sure I’m entirely jazzed about the apparent direction of things. I hear all the same rumors that everyone does, I read the blog posts by M.Linden and T.Linden. I guess I’m an oldbie now. Overly reminiscent about the past, pessimistic about the future. When I first started playing SL, there was an expectancy in the virtual air – a feeling of possibility. Lately I’m not feeling that same possibility. When you work at the Ivory Tower of Prims, you see a lot newbies. Newbies building crazy stuff. If you hang out long enough, you watch as they become builders, expressing their personal creativity in a variety of ways. I fear the future is one where expressing your personal creativity will fall by the wayside in SL – you’ll need to be an expert in everything in order to do anything, instead of just putting prims together and having a blast. But it’s just my personal feeling – it’s entirely possible I’m reading too much into the posts. Being overly reminiscent, I was looking at the first flowers made by FallingWater Cellardoor (Shiny Things) in Clementina, one of the original beta sims. While they seem simple by today’s standards in SL, you can see the seeds of greatness – and how over time she grew as a creator. It made me head to Shiny Things to take pictures of an outfit that I’ve put together cause I love it. I paired a new jacket from Niniko, what I guess could now be considered ‘vintage’ jeans from Armidi, with the lovely hat hair benefiting the terrible situation in Haiti through the Red Cross from Maitreya. One of my favorite T-shirts from Doppelganger, with a great graphic of an old TV on it adds a bit of interest. I accessorized with a new belt from me! I’m calling it, Metallic Leather Belt – though it will come in gold, silver, and copper, I’m showing it here in black patent leather. It WILL be my 60L Sunday special (all four colors) so stop by the shop starting midnight on Saturday to snag it. The necklace I’m wearing will be one of my new releases this week, the pearl flower necklace. The shoes for this pic are also from Maitreya, black patent pumps that were a group gift. Anyhow that’s all the news that fits to print. Look for my new releases this weekend.

Outfit Credits

Hair – Sasha (Bistre) – Maitreya

Skin – Ania 10 (Fair-Glow Skin) – LAQ

Eyes – Fairy Hansel Bright – Poetic Color Eyes

Lashes – Natural Prim Lashes – La Sylphide

Jewelry – Pearl Flower Necklace (Silver) – Dark Mouse – Not yet released

Accessories – Round about Glasses & Patent Leather Belt – Dark Mouse – Not yet released

Jacket – Toggle Coat (Red) – Niniko

T-Shirt -Festive T’s (Vintage TV) – Doppelganger

Jeans – A001 Jeans [Faded Classic] – Armidi Limited

Shoes – SoHo Boots (Patentmix Black) – Maitreya

Poses – A variety from – Lap

Sometimes, Simple is best.

So Lizzie introduced me to Alirium Gardens a while ago, and I have since that time pretty much bought up all the trees and grasses in the place. I lurve it. I decided to take pics there of a dress I picked up at a charming little store called Lark yesterday which I find to be simply lovely in its design. I paired it with a new set I’m calling, Crystal Cuffs and Earrings – sort of big simple statement pieces, especially the cuffs which feature a big glass crystal. I would totally wear this in RL, if I were going out to a party or something. The shoes are from Surf Couture and the hair is Jules from fri.day. The skin is from Tuli, the Belle line. I admire this particular makeup for the sheer drama. The best part is that the cuffs & earrings will be on sale for 60L as part of the 60L sunday specials – the vendor is easy to find right next to my front door! I’ll be leaving it up till Monday midnight cause of the holiday weekend! Click this link for slurl to Dark Mouse Jewelry & Hair!

Outfit Credits

Hair – Jules (Timid Brown) – fri.day

Skin – Bella Fair/BR (GoGo) – Tuli

Eyes – Fairy Hansel Bright – Poetic Color Eyes

Lashes – Natural Prim Lashes – La Sylphide

Jewelry – Crystal Earrings & Cuffs set – Dark Mouse

Dress – Leaf Dress (Raven) – Lark

Shoes – Snazzy Ruffle Flats – Surf Couture

Poses – A variety from – Lap

Reflections on the past

I’m certain I’ve mentioned this in the past, but my home and store is in Taber, one of the original beta sims in SL. I’ve always lived on the mainland and though I’ve toyed with the idea of getting a private island, funds and nostalgia always stop me. I truly don’t think I want to live anywhere but on the mainland. When I first rezzed in 2006, the very first place I landed after escaping the nightmare that is help island was the welcome center at Mauve.

I quickly left that wasteland and started flying around. I had no concept of teleporting and assumed I had to fly everywhere. One of the first places that I landed was Teal. I love Teal. I hang out there on occasion and just wander around. It was actually the first place that captivated me and made me want to keep coming back to SL.

While lounging on the beach in front of my store today, I decided to head over there and take some pics, a bit of a trip down memory lane. What was it that captivated me about Teal? Well first off, I’m a huge Tolkien fan. I read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as a child and basically escaped into Middle Earth. My childhood, sadly like so many others, was not perfect, and the books gave me a fantastic place to escape to and taught me life lessons on honor, trust and sacrifice. When I first landed in Teal, I immediately headed into Bilbo’s hobbit hole, and I recall now that I was actually scared that I was intruding on someone’s space. When I touched the ring on the table and it said to me, “hold on Nazgul hordes arriving shortly” I truly laughed OUT LOUD in my living room. I was charmed. Since then, so many things have charmed me.

Anywho, after leaving Teal that day (reluctantly) I flew my way over to the Ivory Tower. I was amazed that I could ‘use the sandbox’ to build. I didn’t understand why it was called a sandbox – part of the learning curve for me. One of the officers in the sandbox took pity on my feeble attempts to build a box house, and showed me how to use the guides. That began a long road in my efforts to learn how to build.

I wonder to myself, when will I finally leave SL? Most likely when it ceases to fascinate me. It hasn’t happened yet. Every day I see things that amaze and astound me while at the same time feeling just a wee bit jaded by my knowledge of how things work. The Designer’s United show really pleased me and was one of the things I can point to in the last few weeks that really made my love for SL come alive again.

As I put the outfit together in the pics below, I did so with the knowledge that the dress has been blogged. Repeatedly. Ah well, it’s one of those things that makes me happy inside – to own such a thing that someone put so much time and effort and imagination into. I’m certain that most people in SL feel the same way. It’s probably what keeps us coming back! And on that note, I’ll return to the look of the day.

Everything in this outfit was chosen to accentuate the dress. The skin is the new ‘Jules’ from Rockberry and I find it to be delightful. Oh and in the first pic you’ll notice a stunning beach chair and umbrella set – another new item from Ragazza Pazza – there’s a small outlet store next Dark Mouse now, come and take a look! And last but not least if you like 60L Sundays and still have the money after 50L Fridays, you should stop by my shop. I’ll have the hat hair you see in the pics out for sale – the fatpack – for 60L on Sunday!

Outfit Credits

Hair – Magda 2 (Dark Brown) – Dark Mouse

Skin – Jules (Pale) – Rockberry

Eyes – Fairy Hansel Bright – Poetic Color Eyes

Lashes – Natural Prim Lashes – La Sylphide

Jewelry – Banks Closed Set (Copper), Catty Eye Glasses & Vintage Tortoiseshell Bangles – Dark Mouse

Dress – VAUDEVILLE-dress2 – oyakin*

Tights – Leggings (Black) – Soxie

Shoes – Funny Girl Flats – Periquita

Poses – A variety from – my AO!