Going Goth, or Victorian, or just having fun. May 11, 2008

One of the things I love MOST about SL™ is the ability to change your look to whatever you wish! At the same time, I love being able to build things that strike my fancy. I adore all things vintage, as you’ve probably seen from the absolutely lovely story that Thalia Jie did about me on the Faces blog (THANK YOU!). Any how, I love the Victorian era, all things Victorian and probably would live in Caledon if I could see my way to renting land….So I started this necklace and felt the inspiration flowing back after feeling a bit fed-up with SL due to all the borkedness of late. I love this necklace, so I’m releasing it NOW. You can find it in my shop, Whimsical Creations, on the new releases wall. It also inspired me to dig through my inventory to see what I had to create a sort of goth/victorian look, and what was really interesting was that the outfit I put together was mostly freebies! Ah serendipity. Credits from top to bottom are after the picture!

Hair - Bonita - Black ETD

Skin - Cream - Indigo Freckle LF CHAI Skin

Tattoo - Grumpy Skull Tatt Bryce

Necklace/Earrings - Vintage Victorian Set Dark Mouse at Whimsical Creations

Outfit - Helene - Black PixelDolls

Boots - la venetian The Laughing Academy

Working hard, or hardly working…. May 8, 2008

Well, I’ve spent the whole week (and I do mean ’spent’) shopping instead of building. Suffering from serious builder’s block. I managed to finish some things, but honestly they were things I was working on already, prior to the lack of inspiration rushing in. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’ve spent the last year learning to use Photoshop, and something tells me, I need a few more years, LOL. My friend Avi tells me that you really never learn it all. I struggled all week with building, so I decided to focus on improving some textures, and seeing if I could get the look I was going for with new ones. Metal is a difficult texture to mimic. I’ve created a new one to mimic marcasite, one of my all time fav’s. My RL hubby, before he was my hubby ;-), used to shop at this little vintage jewelry shop next to his store in San Francisco. He’d pick up little pins and earrings and such for me, and I loved them all. I have a lovely vintage pin in the shape of a jaguar (no, I didn’t build this, just not possible for me at the moment!). I did however make a really cool marcasite and diamond pendant necklace, and some earrings to match. Then I made some bangles with big hoop earrings, again, focusing on textures and seeing the effects that I could get. And last week, prior to builder’s block setting in and sending me on an SL shopping spree, I did a lovely vintage ‘art deco’ inspired pendant necklace with matching earrings. Oh and also finished last week is a lovely necklace to match my mini chandelier earring that I had free last week. I’ve decided that the matching necklace with earrings will be my freebie this week, since I hate ‘creating’ something purposely to ‘be’ a freebie. It seems we are a freebie SL these days. I recall when I first started playing SL (back in the day, lived in a shoebox, walked to natoma through ten miles of snow and all that), it was really rare to get freebies, and actually, something of an occasion - in some ways, this made getting a nice freebie really special. I hope everyone who grabs one knows that I’m not putting junk out there, this is a nice freebie that will be full price next week. Not that I’m complaining (much) since I just scored the beautiful new Chai skin from Laura Fauna (Indigo) which I’ve not taken off since, I’m so in love with it. Here is the newness. Please stop by the shop and take a look, or just sit on the beach and stare at the ocean.

Here is the slurl to my store, Whimsical Creations.

Builder’s Block, or, another excuse to go shopping! May 4, 2008

Sooo, I’ve been suffering from builder’s block. Basically this occurs when anything I try to build seems to suck the closer I get to the end of building it. I usually delete these things in sheer frustration. Then I do a bit of shopping. Then I try to build, and cannot REZ anything! Imagine me sputtering, can’t build, stupid grid, can’t tp, and I had tried to rez a mega prim LOL! ARGH! Then I calm down and decide to shop. So I’m shopping away, and actually purchased quite a bit over the last couple of days. Then I started pulling stuff from my new clothes folder this morning, kind of gandering through. And came up with this outfit, which is actually centered around the SecondWave Ruched Cami which comes in every color and style under the sun! Credits and Slurls are after the picture.

From head to toe

Hair - Tasha - Strawberry ETD

Skin - Nutmeg - Siyu Freckle - LF CHAI Skin

Glasses - DM Catty Eye (Brown) - Dark Mouse at Whimsical Creations

Jewelry - Golden Flower Bangles and Hoop Earrings (erm, unreleased), Aruni Gold Bangles, Tortoise Shell/Gold Beads Dark Mouse at Whimsical Creations

Shirt - SWA..::RuchedCami::..ChocolateSilk - Second Wave Apparel

Belt - (PD) Belts; Dauphine Jacket - PixelDolls

Jeans - *<3C!* Free! White Jeans (SUCH A DEAL!) <3 Cupcakes

Shoes - -DC- Overstrapped Wedge - Black Dernier Cri

Manicure/Pedicure - *ae* coffee bean Adam and Eve

Poses - LAP

I just don’t think I can be more whimsical. May 1, 2008

I’m really hoping that those who read my blog will take the time to stop by the shop this week. I’ve created some new pieces that I’m particularly proud of. The jewelry has a whimsical quality to it - okay so most of my stuff has a whimsical quality to it (note to self, must make some skulls and barbed wire stuff asap) - I’ve got three new releases and one freebie.

Lately I’ve been focused on the combination of colors in my jewelry pieces - I’m really not offering them in a myriad of different metals, because usually the metals I’ve chosen are what I believe to be most complimentary to the colors of the gems.

This week I have my ‘Caught in Amber’ necklace and matching earrings set - only $100L is a very distinctive piece. Reminiscent of a butterfly, it features amber and onyx textures along with a deep silver that I feel turned out well from conception to creation. I love amber, it’s one of my favorite stones. I’ve also made a lovely ‘Vintage Pearl’ pendant, in antique gold that would look lovely with a wedding ensemble (but could definitely go casual with the right look). There are earrings and bracelet to match the pendant. I also made some cute hoop earrings and a beaded necklace, I’m calling ‘Silver Curves’ - I confess the hoop earrings design is inspired by my kids issue of teen Vogue LOL. And finally, I’ve been working on a new design but I don’t have the full set this week, only a pair of earrings inspired by my love of jade and all things pretty and delicate. I made a pair of ‘Jade and Gold Mini Chandelier Earrings’, which for one week only, will be available FAH-REE in my shop. Please stop by and grab a pair! I will make these part of a set for sale next week, so come by soon.

While you’re in the shop, take a look at my fabulous collection of prefab homes, and low prim furniture. I’ve been working on a new piece of furniture, a ‘cuddle’ bed of sorts, it will feature multiple animations in a cool new way to look at and use animations! I hope to have it ready for sale sometime next week.

Here is the slurl to my store, Whimsical Creations.

Casual Monday? April 29, 2008

So I put together this outfit today, based on my shopping trip last night - I usually shop when I’m stumped for how to proceed on something I build. A little mindless entertainment goes a long way towards clearing the brain!

I decided to check out Dernier Cri, the store by the latest ex-teen to join the adult grid! The talent that I saw was quite impressive, and of course, I made a couple of purchases. What’s really funny is that my daughter plays on the teen grid and when I showed her my outfit, she was like - oh that’s Asuka Martin! I’ve met her! Which is cool, of course.

I purchased the ’shaggy chic’ hairstyle, and I loved the option to ‘color’ my hair myself. I also got the ‘belted top, green pattern’ which I absolutely adore for the delightful scooped neckline. I will almost certainly wear this top a lot, as its in my favorite color! I paired it with some capri’s I picked up at Nyte and Day not too long ago, and my trusty ‘brown stacked wedges’ from She’s So Unusual shoes. My own ‘medea jewelry set’ from Dark Mouse at Whimsical Creations seemed to work nicely in complementing the blue pattern in the shirt and presto, a casual Monday outfit! Egad I really need to get to work! Credits and Slurls for all items are below the picture.

Credits from top to bottom:

Hair - Shaggy Chic (Blond Blackened) Dernier Cri

Skin - Nutmeg - Undine Freckle - LF CHAI Skin

Glasses - DM Catty Eye (Navy) - Dark Mouse at Whimsical Creations

Jewelry - Medea Set - Dark Mouse at Whimsical Creations

Top - Belted Top - Green Pattern Dernier Cri

Jeans - Denim Capri’s - Dark Nyte’N'Day

Shoes - Brown Stacked Wedge - She’s So Unusual Shoes

Wheelies April 25, 2008

I just wanted to do a quick post to show my support for Wheelies, and the fund raiser that Sasy Scarborough has put together (in record time too!).  I told Sasy yesterday that I was immediately touched by her post as I suffer from a hearing problem myself, and find SL to be a great place where my hearing problems are pretty much ignored, and don’t affect my enjoyment of the game!  I can’t tell you what a great feeling this is. Anywho - I’ve got a donation kiosk set up in my store, and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of my pearldrop necklace set goes to the Wheelies fund.  Stop by and show your support!  If you’re curious about the Wheelies, here’s a link to an old story from the old sl insider (now known as massively).

If you want to help, you can get more information from her site.

I’m putting in a quick edit to add - I always understood that Wheelies is not a charity! The reason this story touched me was that the club itself is a place for persons with a disability to feel at home and comfortable. I wanted to help because this is how SL makes me feel all the time.

In the mood for more stuff… April 24, 2008

Sooo if you’re reading this blog in the feed, I’d appreciate anyone, anyone at all who knows wordpress, to tell me why my titles are getting cut out and replaced with ‘Mouse.’ I really do not title all my posts, ‘Mouse’ lol! If the title you see is, ‘In the mood for more stuff’ then apparently I’ve fixed it! I’m technology challenged! Anywho, I do have a few releases this week, despite the numerous downtimes experienced in our beloved world.

A bit about building. I find that I get in ‘moods’ sometimes, where I either don’t feel like building, or nothing I’m building appeals to me, or only one thing appeals to me, or I get stuck on a notion or idea and can’t execute, or I go off on a tangent and do something completely different from my initial idea! I think all the stuff I made this week, with the exception of the new house, started out as something else.

I had a notion in mind to replicate the white tree of gondor (LOTR FAN ALERT). I started out okay and lost steam along the way. I ended up with my Golden Tree Earrings and Bracelet set, which has an ethereal beauty that I quite like. But this is a good example of something that went in a different direction. I then had a notion to create ‘mermaid jewelry.’ While I’m not certain my Jade Curves Earring and Necklace would be appropriate for a mermaid, it does have a curvy wave quality. I then wanted to do something with faux tortoise shell which I love in RL. I ended up with something that would be appropriate with a business outfit, the Tortoise Shell and Gold beads and earrings set. Last but not least, is my Star Feather set, which started out as something completely different, but I found I liked the way the prims came together, and went with it!

Finally - I built a new house. I’ve been consumed with jewelry/accessory/tiny prims creation for a couple of months now, but my first love is creating houses. Specifically houses that are low-prim - so you can have furniture too! My new house is called the Los Padres House, and it has 3 rooms, a front porch and lots of nice whimsical details (i.e., whimsical creations) so that it does not look like a boring box. If you’re limited on prims, you’d like this house. It’s got a great ‘California’ open feeling. I hope you’ll like it!

Last but not least - on freebies. I’m at a complete loss as to what to do for a freebie. While the offer of freebies does drive business to my store, and I ‘like’ that, I don’t know if what I’m giving away is useful and/or needed or just more stuff for a bursting inventory. I’ve decided that the thing to do is to mark something on the wall for free for a week till my next release. You’ll have to find it, and yes, it will be an necklace and earrings set! Not in the new releases! Oh and while I do have furniture and houses at my store, I am also a seller of accessories!”

Slurl to Whimsical Creations.

Out of this world April 19, 2008

So I’m finally running version 19 of the SL client, with Windlight. It is VERY pretty to look at. I still get crashes and what not, but not ‘as bad’ as it was. I increased the memory on my computer, and this seems to have helped a lot. So I’ve been playing around with it of course. Yesterday, Eldee released her metal tops in 3 more colors for $3L. Since I had already purchased the original gold and purple colors I tp’d right over to grab these. These tops are really beautiful and unique. If you already know a lot about adjusting prim attachments or windlight, you can skip the next part of this post.

The prim skirt piece of the tops are attached to the ‘chest’ point on your avatar, so if you want to wear a necklace with them, you have to change either the skirt or the necklace to a different attachment point. Assuming that you know a bit about building, this is easily done by:

• Dragging the skirt out of your inventory onto the ground in a place where you can build (keep in mind that you’re ‘making a copy’ and the original is still safe in your inventory.

• Renaming the file (I used, ::eLDee:: November Metal black (stomach) skirt, for example) then ‘taking’ it back into inventory.

• Once back in inventory, choose the item and attach it to the point you’ve chosen (in my case, ’stomach’) using edit>attach>stomach from the file menu on the client.

• You should use a pose stand for this to keep your avatar steady. You can get a pose stand at just about any store in SL. I have them free to copy in my shop.

• Highlight the skirt while in ‘edit’ in the ‘build’ menu and use the ‘rotate’ and ‘position’ arrows in the build menu to put the skirt in place.

• Once you’re done, detach the skirt back into inventory to ’save’ the place you’ve put it. Eldee makes the prim attachments ‘copy’ and ‘mod’ which is what all attachments should be!

I paired the top with my uberdark jeans from Last Call cause even though it’s got so much silk and shine, I thought it begged for a casual look, my own pearl-drop jewelry, and ETD’s Lily style, which is older and free (or close to free), but I think longer hair looks complimentary when your shoulders are bare. I took the photos at Planet Mongo, Lumiere Noire’s fabulous new build. I played with the Windlight settings after ensuring that my settings were at high resolution for photos, advanced>high resolution from the client menu. Fascinating to me was that there were a bunch of default settings in the advanced ‘environment’ settings. World>Environment Settings>Environment Editor. Choose the ‘advanced sky’ button and you’ll see a ’sky presets’ drop down menu at the top. There are settings called, “pirate” and “ghost.” Experiment and have fun

Credits from top to bottom:

Skin - LF CHAI Skin -Nutmeg - Antique Freckles

Hair - ETD Lily - Strawberry Blackened

Sunglasses/Necklace/Earrings/Bracelet - Whimsical Creations - Catty Eye Sunglasses (Black) and Pearl Drop Jewelry Set

Shirt - Eldee November Metal Top Black

Jeans - Last Call Uber Dark - No longer available.

Shoes - Classy Kitty Mule PLUSHIES - Tan (I’ve had these since day one in SL and I can’t recall where they came from, and I can’t find out cause SL is being wonky!!)

Tattoo - Tattoo Wired Garden GoK

Edited to add - if anyone, anyone at all can tell me why I keep losing my post title’s when it hits the feeds, I’d really appreciate it. I cannot figure out what I’ve done to my settings to make this occur!

Catty Eye Glasses and More! April 17, 2008

Soooo, I’m still in computer limbo. I’ve decided to upgrade the memory on my current computer, which should buy me some time till I make up my mind! I’ve had plenty of time to build, as I’ve been home sick! You may not have noticed, but I have this thing about sunglasses. I wear them all the time in SL, and have many, many different varieties and brands. However, I’ve never found precisely the pair that I wanted, which basically was a pair of cateye glasses with some subtle diamond touches. I didn’t want to build these myself out of pure unadulterated fear of screwing it up. I finally got over my fear! And what do you know, I made some pretty cute glasses - I like them so much I’ve not taken the off since I made them! I’m putting them out with my new releases today, and I have them available in 8 colors, in case you’re like a purple (or pink, or yellow…) freak or something…since I didn’t really think about a freebie of the week, I’ve decided to put one of the colors out for free for a week. You’ll have to come by the store to see which pair is FREE!

My other new releases are all jewelry. As promised, I created a set from the pearl drop necklace I made, and I think the rose tinted pearls would look quite elegant with a suit. For a more casual look I also made the silver star earrings and necklace, which features pale blue stone and jade with a basket weave silver texture I’m quite fond of. I also made a great pair of large hoop silver earrings and a silver cross necklace with diamonds that match that I’m calling the true silver set. And of course my feeling blue set with its overwhelming array of sapphire and emerald stones. I’m going for a ‘larger’ earring these days, because I’ve noticed you can’t really see earrings very well under the great variety of hair available in SL™. In any case I’m really pleased with all my new stuff this week, and I hope you’ll come by the shop to check it out!

Slurl to Whimsical Creations

Cannot complete pending attachment April 12, 2008

Wow - how much longer must I wait to complete pending attachment! This is just crazy. You know I love SL™ as much as the next person, maybe more. I dunno, I’m addicted. So much so that I continue to work on my computer that’s not making the grade. BUT WTF! The series of blogs over the last few days have been frightening. I work in public relations and marketing. The blog at SL™ is a disaster. Using the blog as a help wanted advertising in the middle of a technical meltdown, shortly after announcing a reduction in pricing, along with chirpy ‘how to’ videos. I’m frankly astonished. Hey - I’m working on these new glasses. I would LOVE to show them to you, but I cannot complete pending attachment.