Leanna's Surprise

It was set! The plans made, notes passed, arrangements made, agreements whispered.  It was the day of Beltaine celebrations across the grid, but unbeknownst to our lovely fae friend Leanna, it was also the day that her sweetheart had planned a magical surprise birthday party for her!

Bradd Laval went through every effort to create a magical experience for his lady love, Leanna.  The setting was upon the serene shoreline of Atlantis, dancing upon the sparkling waters upon partially submerged mosaic floors.  He hired Prowess Rayna to perform the magical music that Leanna so much loved, and she waited patiently beside her piano while the guests arrived.

When the time arrived, *boom!* teleport after teleport of friends bringing friends all to surprise Leanna and wish her a happy birthday.  She fainted with surprise!  If it were not for the swift and steady reflexes of Bradd, she might have fallen into the sea and surely put a swift end to the celebrating.

One by one they arrived, bright smiles and hugs and lavishing of gifts to the stunned and deer-in-the-headlights Leanna.  I am not sure when she realized that Prowess was there to play a concert just for her.  Could be about the time of the second thud, as she fainted once again.  I can't be sure though, so don't quote me on it.

The music wove a delicate tapestry more felt than seen, as dancers swayed and twirled, margaritas tipped, champagne sipped, and cheesecake and other culinary delights ooohed and ahhed upon, when suddenly, a voice stronger than the heavens, and yet more gentle than the caress of breeze upon blossoms echoed.  It was the strong and yet vulnerable voice of a god, and yet a man, professing his heart for his beloved Leanna.  It was the sharing and the offering of self, and the questioning of acceptance.  It was Bradd, asking Leanna to be his partner!

As thuds sounded around the room, the sound of jaws dropping, one could also hear the growing pound a heart, coming from the diminuitive and incredibly beautiful Leanna. None had such an idea that a fae's heart could beat so strongly!  But there it was, echoing the sound of waves crashing to shore, as her sparkling eyes looked up to his, and hands clasped hands in a rush of pure joy with actions that spoke louder than words.  It was her voice answering his, her heart matching his own as she accepted!

And then they dance!  Oh! How they danced!  Feet barely skimming over the waters, as cascades of emotion and waves of delicate music danced with them, hovering over the waters of Atlantis.  Twas a joy to behold!

Leanna and Bradd, may the strength of your hearts be the Beltaine fire to warm each other's souls.  Congratulations to you both!  It was an honour to be witness to such a moving and special moment.  And Leanna, Happy Birthday!


Kisses,
Boudica


Leanna wears a lovely fae gown by Boaz Sands of Simply Fae.

Trippe'n Fantastic

Some days you just want to kick back, get comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt, and a nice comfortable pair of shoes.  I mean, we can't run around wearing ballgowns and high fashion every day, now can we?  Well yes, we can!  But I was up for a change and nothing in my closet was calling me, so I went shopping!  Nothing new there right?  Here's what I found...

While out and about, I found a great pair of jeans at Comfort Clothes, and the pretty lavender top, and also picked up a pair of denim flats.  The shirt has lovely shading and cute little buttons in front, and the jeans are nicely textured and come in a long or capri-length style with sculpted cuffs.

Ahh, feeling much better already!  So did that stop me from shopping more?  No, I'm afraid not.  But here's the good part!  I stumbled on a little gem of a shop called Trippe'n and here's where things get all exciting!  Flats, flats, flats, wedges, pumps, boots, clogs, oh so many fun things and all for just pennies!  And there is a good scattering of free and group gifts around the store, just take a look when you're there.

I met the lovely Tia Trippe at the shop, who dropped by to thank me for my purchase and ask if I needed help with anything.  It was then that I spied the stairs to the second level, where the animations are!  I tripped up those stairs so fast I put the road-runner to shame, and oh my, if you've been wearing a tired old AO and you want to update some of your poses, this is the place to be!  For only 10-20 I'z a pop, I grabbed them up so fast it was starting to sound like a casino in there. Be sure to look for the little freebie box of poses from March that's still there.  Shhh I don't think she knows.  Hurry!

Tia graciously informed me that these introductory prices will be going up after May 1st!  So do what you can to rush over there and snag some incredible deals.  And even after May 1st, prices will be higher, but she also told me that nothing in the shop will be over 100 I'z.  Thank you Tia!  She is also able to do custom animations, so tuck that bit of info away if you think you might have need of that, I know I did!  All poses shown today are by Tia.

All in all, it was a Tripp'n fantastic day, and I'm giddy with the infusion of new fun shoes to my closet. Keep an eye out at Trippe'n for more fun deals to come, and if you join her update group, she has a pair of clogs coming out as a free gift tomorrow!  \0/

I hope there's something here you enjoy!

Boudica


Style Credits:
Skin: CMC Model Series
Hair: Damselfly Lavynder/White Pearl
Comfort Clothes: Comfort Rolled Up Jeans, Women's Polo Shirt, Comfort Denim Flats
Trippe'n Flats ShinyBlkBows - group gift
Trippe'n Flats ShinyBlkBows - group gift
Flats, Wedges, Pumps, Boots by Trippe'n
Poses by Trippe'n

All styles and links and locations found in the virtual of InWorldz.

Truly Enchanted - A Concert by Prowess Rayna

I had the incredible pleasure to be whisked away much to my delight and surprise, to an amazing concert by the incredible Pianista, Prowess Rayna. 

I don't mean to get all superfluous with my descriptions, but truly, Prowess' music is beyond description. Hers is an art to be experienced live, and an experience from which you emerge somehow changed, more beautiful.... Truly Enchanted.

If you have the opportunity to listen to her perform live, I highly recommend you do!  Her art and talent with the piano set such a healing and ethereal mood.

 I had been wanting to hear this artist perform at another event, but was unable to go the last time, and I'm so thankful to Leanna and Bradd for teleporting me to enjoy the show.  Thank you my beautiful friends!

It's times like this that put the magic in virtual worlds, and this event, simulcast in both InWorldz and Second Life, was indeed magical.  The concert was held live at Fleure's Enchanted Corner on Falathrim in InWorldz. 

Fleure Homewood has provided a magical and delightful venue for celebrating the arts, and in addition to the concerts, if you explore a bit, you will find a beautiful art gallery. 

Please enjoy your visit, and be sure to catch Prowess Rayna's next show at Fleure's.  She plays every 3rd Monday of the month, and shows are often simulcast in Second Life, as this one was.

I searched around and found a few more interesting links you might enjoy, including Prowess' soundclick link http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=841612 , an incredible and recent interview by Music Academy on Treet.tv http://treet.tv/shows/musicacademy/episodes/ep007
and also a recent concert video on YouTube of Prowess Rayna at the Grand Opening of Sinatra Jazz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-zcVcskZk8


Be sure to join Prowess' group .:::::Piano by Prowess::::.. for more details on upcoming shows and events, and if you feel so inclined remember to tip the venue to help keep music and the arts alive in virtual worlds.  We all thank you for it!

Enchanted,
Boudica

Busy Making Mistakes

I do this disappearing act whenever I'm working on a new project.  This time, I was sitting around the fire at Midsomer in InWorldz on Monday with Leanna talking about how I wanted to make a new dress.  We got to talking about flowers, and I was pretty sure the design I wanted to do would be springy and flowery. 

While chatting about fabric options, I came up with the bright idea of just wandering out into my yard and snapping a pic of some flowers and making my own fabric.  I mean, how hard can this be right? So, here we go, flowers.  Now.... how to make a dress from this?  I loaded it into Gimp then went wild with applying filters until I had a springy floral print in a nice blue color.

If you think taking a pic and turning that into digital fabric, and then making a virtual dress out of that is easy, I suppose it could be. being a do-it-yourself dressmaker has its good points, but it's also rife with a mess of mistakes and do-overs and not much to show for yourself during the in-between times. So yeah, that's pretty much what I've been up to.  A whole lot of mistakes and do-overs.

The first attempt at fabric came out pretty decent, untill I messed it up doing the shading for fabric folds.  I was going for this gauzy gathered at the shoulders roman goddess kind of look. 

Hmm... not even close.  In fact, this attempt almost made me completely run for the hills, throw away the keys to my shop and give up on digital fashion design.  Ugh....  not pretty!

So back to the drawing board!  I completely scrapped that top, played around with colors a bit, and started with a new design, this time a midriff baring, long sleeve, gauzy top tied at the front.Getting closer!

I like the overall feel and shape of this top, but it needs a lot more work on the shading to make it look and feel more realistic.  The elbow creases for instance, way too dark, but I'm beginning to really like where this is going. I played with the hem of the skirt fabric, not wanting a boring straight line, but a subtle wavy hemmed edge.

Good so far, except now I've got the dreaded "alpha" issues to deal with.  Hmm, not sure how to fix that so it may be awhile until this dress is finally done.  You can see in the picture below what I mean, where you can see the "edges" of the other skirt panels showing through because of alpha issues (If there's anyone out there that knows how to fix this when using an alpha texture, please let me know!).  I may just end up taking the texture back to a boring flat bottomed line, but ugh, not if I don't have to.

 

Ok, so I thought, why don't I try a sculpted skirt.  I like this idea!  Well at first anyway.  It wipes out the dreaded "butt crack of doom" issue that you get when making a flexi skirt over a pant layer.  Why not use a system skirt you ask?  Because in all the 4 years I've been in virtual worlds, I've always HATED the big butted waist-gaping system skirts common in SL and most other virtual worlds.  I refuse to buy them from vendors, (yeah, that means Nicky Ree, much as I love her designs, please drop the system skirt) and I sure as heck don't want to make one to sell.  Yes I know you can wear a "no butt" shape to help reduce the "too much junk in the trunk" effect, but it still is not enough for me.  I'll just have to keep trying to perfect my skills and make it work another way.  Mesh, now that would be something.  But that is neither here nor there, so here we are.

So here we have my attempt at a sculpted skirt, flirty, frilly, fun, great for a photo, but not for moving around in virtual avatar life. Once you hop off the pose stand and actually move around, walk, lean over, anything at all, it looks horrid. 

Sculpts, as you know do not move at all, it's just like wearing one of those "cone of shame" hard plastic cones that the veterinarian puts on your pet to keep them from messing with their stitches.  Hmm.. maybe I should wear one of those instead.  I'm definitely messing with my stitches and still more stitching to go before this gets to the "I like it" point, if I can be so lucky.


Last Leanna heard from me was Monday morning before I skipped off with my camera.  She probably thinks I'm a bad friend, not even saying hi when I've been online the last few days, but it's just that I get a project going and it's all I can seem to focus on.  Like a dog, chewing a bone.  I get an idea and then I hound it until I can finish it. Well, here we are, days later, and I'm still at it.  Most sane people would have just given up by now, thrown their hands in the air, grabbed the virtual wallet and zoomed over to Snowpaw to buy up the 3 gorgeous new dresses she announced. Hmm... I may still do that! 

But for now I'm still working on the details of making my own creative pixels combine and cooperate in a way that makes me say... "Yeah!  I like that!", and I get that tingly feeling that says I've done a job well. I'll keep you posted on the progress.  For now, it's back to the digital sewing machine with me.

Kisses!
Boudica

Stitch Me Happy

When I heard that Aria Therin had released some new things in her shop Stitch, I rushed over to Harvest Moon to see for myself. Here's what I found... and just in time for the warmer weather!

  I instantly fell in love with her cute summery sundress "Talia", and its pretty crochet accents.

 If you haven't heard of Stitch yet, it's because Aria has been working hard behind the scenes to help bring the Harvest Moon sim to life, and has also been working on her other store, Therin Homes.

The second dress, Ella, puts me in a summery mood, ready to hit the beach!  I've paired it with the sweet "Jewel" sandals from Coriander.  Just love these.  Stitch is sure to be a hothouse of talent, and so far, you can find some ultra cute summery dresses, pants and bathing suits.  Go see!

Next is the ultra-cute "Miss Black Cherry" dress by My Lolita with cute Mary Jane shoes and socks included. I just love how fun this outfit is!  I would have taken a pic of the great corset and victorian bloomers, but my graphics card was acting up.  You'll just have to trust me that they're gorgeous!

The super-talented Talia Fournier has branched out from her Paparazzi skins and clothing store and opened the super fun gothy girly store "My Lolita" with her main location on the Harvest Moon sim. Check her out and keep an eye for more exciting styles from Talia.

Lastly, we have a mash-up look of various things I threw together, inspired by the stockings and skirt in the "Calamity" set from Stellar.  I just love the fun sheer stockings with the rolled-down sculpted tops.  I've paired them with a new pair of  Angelica boots from iNEDIT, a new store also found on the Harvest Moon sim, near Stitch.  I didn't much care for the top that came with Stellar's Calamity set, so I mucked about in my closet and pulled out a white tank from Sassy! and the Charming sweater by Envious that can be found in the freebie store on InWorldz Desert Island.  Lastly, I snagged my Bette Long Necklace, that came with a dress of the same name, by Adored.

Of course, the Hair!  All styles shown today are works in progress by me, for my upcoming "Destiny Hair" shop.  As soon as those go live, I'll be sure to let you know. I hope something here has tickled your fancy, and I'll be back next time with more looks for your InWorldz shopping pleasure.

Happy Shopping!
Boudica

Style Credits:

Outfit #1
Dress: Talia by Aria Therin of Stitch
Skin: Ethereal Caramel by Paparazzi
Makeup: Candy Mystique by Paparazzi
Cyndra Hair - Strawberry (Destiny Hair, not open yet)
Pose by Morgane Batista

Outfit #2
Dress: Ella by Aria Therin of Stitch
Skin: Ethereal Caramel by Paparazzi
Makeup: Candy Mystique by Paparazzi
Jewel Sandals - Gold/Silver by Coriander
Angel Hair - Strawberry (Destiny Hair, not open yet)
Pose by Lydia Cremorne Posture Perfect

Outfit #3
Miss Black Cherry Dress (and Shoes!) by My Lolita
Ethereal Latte Skin by Paparazzi
Leah Hair - Strawberry (Destiny Hair, not open yet)
Pose by Morgane Batista

Outfit #4
Sassy! Tank Top - White
Charming Sweater by Envious
Calamity Skirt by Stellar
Calamity High Socks by Stellar
Bette Long Necklace by Adored
Angelica Boots by iNEDIT
Ethereal Latte Skin by Paparazzi
Cyndra Hair - Strawberry (Destiny Hair, not open yet)
Pose by Morgane Batista

Shock and Aww

A few of you have noticed I've been a bit absent of late.  That's because ever since Friday afternoon, to our delight and surprise, we are now home to three bouncing beautiful new kids! Kids of the furry variety, that is.  I'd like to introduce you to Bailey, Billy, and Buttercup.... my new kids!

They came into this world a little bit earlier than I was expecting, and yet, I think their timing was perfect, and just in time for a weekend of snuggles and hugs and lavishing of all kinds of attention.  One of my friends said, "You should blog them"!  "On a fashion blog?" I wondered out loud.  To which they replied there was never a bad time for cute baby goats.  I think I have to agree! 

So here you go, if you're wondering where my time is being spent lately, just take a look at these faces and see if you don't feel the pull of the snuggle magnet. Please excuse the blurry pics, it's so hard to get these cute little bundles of joy to hold still. 

Awww... don't you just want to scoop them up and hug them?  I do!

So, thanks for humoring me, and please excuse my "out of character" post. I promise I'll be back to sharing the best of virtual worlds, and InWorldz fashion with you again soon!


Kisses!
Boudica

Wish Come True!

It's been a few months waiting patiently for the talented and very busy Ophelia Rose of Wish Hair to open her doors.  The wait was worth it!  In that time, she built an incredible new mainstore on Harvest Moon and a gorgeous flowery meadow surrounded by all kinds of wonderful shops to explore.

The crowds started flocking to Wish when word about the Grand Opening went grid wide.

I fell through the floor but didn't let that stop me from my shopping frenzy.  I quickly made my way to the "Haylee" hair and faster than lightning hit the buy button for the Reds pack. Mine!!

I really love the hair dye bottle the hair comes packed in, and the supercute animation it has when you wear it to unpack.  Careful though... don't get it in your eyes!  Oh, and note to self, try not to pour your champagne down your back next time.

Don't let bad hair days get you down.  Hurry over to Wish and make a wish come true.  Viola!  Gorgeous lustrous shiny new locks, made with "locks of love" from the talented Ophelia Rose.  Thank you Ophelia!

Mwah!
Boudica