Day 45 – Stop It

So earlier today, someone mentioned that a fashion blogger actually blogged that they wouldn’t be able to show anything new because they didn’t have any money to buy anything. My first thought was, “OMG WHAT?!” I mean, that’s just straight up tacky. But, again, there are people who get into fashion blogging under the assumption that their entire SLives will be paid for. They blog a bit, maybe a friend gives them something from their shop, and a few weeks later they feel like the Lelutka and Maitreya fatpacks should just be rolling in.

Hahahahaha!!!!

They learn quickly that fashion blogging takes MONEY. Cold hard cash, baby! You will not be on the Fatpacks Forever list of most stores. You can even be on a list and then taken off later if the creator decides they don’t like how you blog, or even how you look. And that brings me to the next thing. Don’t expect for a lot of the super popular designers to shower you in free items if you look like this:

Saddle hag, invisible pony rider, Grand Canyon, Derp face – I’ve heard many terms for this kind of shape. I’ve exaggerated it a bit here, but you’ve seen them on the feeds. They look like they’re riding a horse that isn’t there, their frowny mouths look like they’re about to slide off the chin, the eyes are so squinted people wonder how they can see at all. The faces are unappealing, and the bodies stretch out the clothing in bad ways. Poses often look wrong, as well. In that pose, my foot is actually supposed to be hooked around the other ankle. A lot of creators refuse to give items to people who look like this because they don’t want their creations to be shown badly. And that’s a good reason! After all, they’ve spent a lot of time making things. Why would they GIVE it to someone who is going to stretch it out and make it look ugly? They can’t do anything about it if you buy the item and blog it, but they are definitely less likely to just GIVE you the item.

Something to keep in mind if you’re just starting out as a fashion blogger! 🙂

Since I’m being all advice-givey, someone asked me not too long ago how I manage to blog for events like Stumblebum and Festival of Sin and stuff like that. Well, honestly? It comes down to just keeping an eye out for open blogger calls! Many fashion events call for bloggers a month or two in advance. Just keep your eyes open and apply when they ask. But keep in mind that even though you apply, you might not be chosen. I’ve applied for events and never heard Yes, No, or Kiss My Ass back. Sometimes the event gets more blogger applications than it could possibly ever handle. Let’s face it, there’s a TON of bloggers. Sometimes the event organizer just takes the first 20-30 bloggers that apply. Sometimes they are honestly picky and only choose the ones they like best. And yes, sometimes they pick their friends first & a few others after. It happens! Oh, and if you ARE chosen, sometimes that only allows you early access to a sim or something, it doesn’t guarantee freebies.

So to conclude my little advice post:

1. Don’t expect freebies if you’re a fashion blogger.

2. Don’t expect freebies if your shape is really out of control disproportionate.

3. Don’t expect freebies even if you are an event blogger.

Oh, and don’t blog about how you can’t afford anything. That’s tacky and it does not guarantee that someone is going to take pity on you and send you freebies.

Get Your Sexy On!

So hey! Guess what? You can get your freak on with some free SexGen! What’s funny to me is that there are some people in SL who honestly don’t know what SexGen is. I mean, let’s face it. There are some better animations out there these days. I’ve used SexGen before, of course, but the animations never really fit me. I dunno what the avatar sizes are supposed to be to use it properly, but either I was too small or the guys I’ve been with have been too big [hee!] and it’s never fit properly. Nothing like cuddles where his hand should be on your butt and yet is a foot away from your body!

But anyway, at one point, SexGen was king of the sexytimes. But I guess Stroker is leaving SL or something [there was some weirdness on his Twitter a few days ago] and now? He’s giving away his SexGen program thingy for free! With full permissions! For everyone!

Ulaa and I skipped on over there to see what was up, making jokes that now we have ALL THE THINGS and we are going to make everything sexy! Sexytimes House! Sexytimes Garden Shed! Sexytimes Window Boxes!

Of course, based on the others we saw there picking up the thingy, sexy truly is relative in Second Life.

The funniest thing happened right before we left for the night. This … demon? type guy showed up. She simply couldn’t resist messing around with him for a few minutes before we logged. He says his RL self is just like his avatar – INSIDE. Oh.

Mmmm….melatonin kicking in…. gonna go to….zzzzzzzzzzz…..

Who made you the MM Police?!

I love Midnight Mania boards. There’s something so awesome to me about just walking in somewhere, touching a board, and waiting for a gift at midnight. No hunting, no joining groups [usually], just touch a board and leave.

But, there is fun to be had at MM boards. You can stick around and see when it goes into lockdown, talk to people, and just chill. Unfortunately, for a GOOD MM board, or a prize that people really really want, the scene sometimes just looks like this as it gets closer to midnight.

I’ll say this right now… Fug loves a MM board. LOL! Seriously, go hang out at one sometime. It gets bad! Tyson and I like to sit on top of this one and cheer when people get on the board. We REALLY wanted these dinosaurs!!! Instead, mostly we saw stuff like this.

If you look at the ears of the girl who wouldn’t rez in the pink thing, they were blinging for all they were worth. For some reason, bling always shows up even when their faces do not.

The funniest/most irritating part of the MM boards are the self-appointed MM Police. The ones who stand around screaming for people to leave once they’ve hit the board to try to lessen lag, even though they themselves are still there. Or the ones who try to control the situation by telling people who can hit the board when. And then there’s the ones who tell everyone who hits it, regardless of where the person is standing, that they’re now on the board. One girl was very much doing this last night. Now please notice the time stamp of one of her first comments.

[2009/09/25 23:29] Dixiecupp Denimore: I guess all of us who already hit it should probably leave…. to let the sim stabilize for other people to hit the board!!!!

Did she leave? Nope. She kept telling people every time they hit the board.
Dixiecupp got miffed because we did not appreciate her policing the MM board and the sim in general. Poor baby.

Anyway, help me get that brontosaurus, please, by going to slap the board at Neon Frog. I don’t care if you don’t need a dinosaur right NOW, you might need it later!! 🙂

It’s not a gym day, but it is treadmill time! 🙂

Creators Stamp Rally!!

The big talk this weekend was the start of the Creators Stamp Rally, Summer Choice! I *think* this is the 3rd CSR event, but don’t quote me on that. They only do 2, a winter and a summer one. The winter one was my first time and I had a total blast doing it. But like a lot of people, I was pretty confused as to how to do it. And I’ve seen a lot of questions about it this year since it’s getting a little more coverage, so I thought I’d put together a little post on how to do it. 🙂

The CSR is NOT a hunt. In order to obtain a Stamp Card, which is what you will definitely need, you need to shop at one of the participating stores. There are 20 of them, which you can see on the CSR website. The cards are transferable, so if you have extras, feel free to give to your friends. But to get a card, go to one of the participating stores and buy something. Most of the stores have items marked with the CSR logo so you KNOW you’re getting a card, but some places put cards in all their items. If you’re still not sure, try to edit the vendor pic and look inside to see if it’s in there. 🙂

Once you get your card, you can either wear it [it attaches to your hand] or you can attach to a free HUD spot. Personally, I like attaching to HUD spots. I had 3 cards to stamp after buying 3 hairs at Uncleweb Studios, so I attached them all to some open HUD spots and moved them around.

That sheep avatar I’m wearing, btw, is a CSR gift from DPyumyum, which I got without having to stamp things because my friend Meara gave me an already stamped card and I ran out to get it. 🙂 Thanks Meara!

If you don’t want to wear the cards on your HUD spots, you can definitely attach them all over your body. However, don’t attach a bunch and still attach more than 10 facelights. Then you just look like a doofus.

Yes, every circled prim was a light. I inspected. Thank goodness I don’t have attached lights turned on.

Anyway, however you decide to do it, get your cards on. You can wear as many as you have room for. Since I only had 3, we’re good to go.

Go to one of the participating stores and look for a stamp machine. They’re not usually too hard to find, although in laggier areas I find that they rez last for me. But considering pretty much every store participating is a good one, you won’t mind looking around. 🙂 Once you find the machine, just touch it with a left click. It’ll tell you in chat that your card has been stamped. As you can see on my cards, I’m stamped!

Then you just keep going around to all the stores that are on the website, finding the machines, and getting a stamp. You can go in order, or not, it’s up to you. Sometimes if I find that I’m stuck in the same pattern as someone else that I don’t like, I switch it up to avoid them. Hey, it’s how I roll. But the important part is to get all 20 stamps. It can be fun, and you get to meet people. Unless they’re like these people who decided to take a dance in the middle of a store.

Once you get all 20 stamps, take your card(s) off and head over to the Event Hall. It will probably be laggy, so just chill and wait until everything rezzes.

Then go up to an empty prize vendor booth…

Find your card in your inventory and rez it out on the little space in front of you. Yep, just drag it from inventory and drop it down. That easy! It says right in front of you where to place it. Then the card will slide into the slot and the prizes will pop up. I recommend you go to the website first to look at them all in more detail to decide what you want before going to the vendor booth. You have a couple of minutes to look and decide once you rez your card. Only one card can be rezzed at a time!

Once you see which prize you want, left click and touch it. It’ll pop up bigger on the prize booth and you can choose yes or no, depending on if you want it or not. 🙂

Once you’ve made your selection, it is delivered to you. Then you can rez another card, or run home with your prize.

Remember, the cards ARE transferable, even the stamped ones, so if you have extras it’s very nice to offer to your friends. Especially your friends who maybe don’t have the money to buy something from the participating stores and wouldn’t get a card otherwise. And I really like almost all of the prizes this year, so it’s definitely worth the time to do it! 🙂

The Creators Stamp Rally is going on from now until August 31st, so go shop and get stamped!

Yeah, it’s free, but….

I have spent most of my SLife helping out new residents in one way or another. I usually enjoy it, depending on the person, and it’s just something that is very natural for me to do. To be honest, the majority of my friends are the same way. We get a kick out of it.

So the other night in our group chat, we were discussing some free places for new residents to go to pick up some starter items. The Gnubie Store was really top of our list, and most of us head out there once a month or so to see if anything new has been added. Gnubie’s has nice free/$1L items from great designers like Four Yip, Truth Hawks, Emma Gilmour, and many others. And most of the items are decently current, or at least pretty good quality. Naturally there is some junk, but not much. And the store itself is fairly easy to navigate, which is a huge plus.

But we started talking about The Free Dove, which should be considered an SL Historical Site at this point. The main thing we said, however, was that most of the freebies at The Free Dove are…well…OLD.

I got up and headed out there, looked around and inspected some boxes, and came home with this outfit.

Isn’t it awesome? Doesn’t it make you want to learn more about SL fashion? Those seams! Those hems!

The truth? It’s from 2005. At least, that’s what the box that it was in said. 2005!!!!

Surprisingly, the store that this came from is still open in SL. I went out there and although I wouldn’t say the clothes are great quality, it’s obvious the designer has improved since 2005. And as I looked around Free Dove, it was the same. Some respected names, but the gifts they have out are their very first works. And honestly, if I were new and The Free Dove was the first place I went, I don’t know that I’d ever seek out the designers’ stores later to shop because I would assume that the items were the same.

So the question is… Do designers just “set it and forget it?” Did they forget that they had a gift out there? I know they have to pay to have a gift there, which makes me think that they’d want to put something that is more representative of their work out on display. If they go to switch out the gift, do they have to pay again or something?

I am happy that there are places like The Free Dove and The Gnubie Store, I really am. They are much better places than some freebie island with all the stolen and Business In A Box mess items. But c’mon…if you have a gift out at The Free Dove, make sure it’s something that represents you well. Don’t leave some 2005 mess out there. That doesn’t do you, or the residents who use freebies to learn about fashion in SL, any good at all.

Anti-Inspection Gear

Wonderful Tuesday. 🙂 I am waiting on someone to get back to the computer, so I figured I’d blog while I waited.

So did you guys see Aisuru’s post about anti-inspection measures being taken by an avatar who really, honestly, although she was cute, her look wasn’t so awesomely unique that she needed to HIDE it. Plus, most of us who know somewhat about fashion already knew where she got half her items. So…way to go?

That led to this stupid item for sale on XStreet. Really? People are honest to god buying this? I can slap some transparent prims on myself for free. Supposedly it sends you an IM saying who clicked you, but only if you’ve been left clicked. And who left clicks when inspecting??

I have, as many of my friends have, found loads of stores by inspecting prims. That girl Aisuru caught…I *might* have liked her shoes and I may not have known where she got them from. Although I’m absolutely awesome with a camera, I probably wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of finding out where she got them, therefore I may never have found the store, and so the store owner wouldn’t get my $L. And when I wear something cute, usually my friends want to know where it came from, because that’s what we do with each other, and so there’s more money that the creator is not getting. Do you see how that ends up working?

Anyway, so as stupid as I find that item, some of the girls were at a store earlier and the store’s owners were there also wearing anti-inspection devices – even though they were wearing their own creations. What the HELL? How idiotic do you have to be?? It’s your own stuff, it’s in your store, you WANT people to have that look, right? Or am I just completely wrong?

Of course, we laughed about it and how we didn’t want anyone to steal OUR look either, so….

That’s right! The Anti-Inspection Gear will keep your fabulous fashionista look a secret! No one will know your soopa speshul soopa sekrit pants are from Armidi! There’s a transparent prim over the face hole too, just to keep those fashion burglars from trying to figure out where your lashes are from.

You can pick yours up at WTFug HQ for free, because there just can’t be a price on protection.

New Truth!

It’s no big secret that I’m a huge fan of Truth Hawks and his hair designs. I would never have agreed to pose for his store if I wasn’t. Along with being a fab hair designer, and a great clothing artist, he’s also a pretty decent guy who takes a fair amount of ribbing from a bunch of us. 🙂

Truth is also quite tireless in his work and releases new items frequently. [Seriously man, take a break once in a while!] But I’m glad he works like he does, because he keeps us all in awesome new hair! His latest 2 are just cute cute cute for summer!

The Linda

A mass of soft flippy waves, this hair is just too cute for words! It’s exactly how I’d want my hair to be, if I could get it to be anything more than straight without the use of multiple styling tools and if I could stand short hair on myself. 🙂 But I just loveeee it! $225L for a pack of colors, and believe me, it’s totally worth it.

The Jess

The Jess is a very posh style, sleek and feminine with an edge. I just adore the little bobby pins holding the side. And the best part of this style? It’s FREE. Oh yes, you read that right. FREE. Amazing!! It’s Truth’s appreciation gift to customers and bloggers. Generous!! 😀

Be sure to head out to the store to pick these lovely styles – and many others – up soon!

Also worn in this post:

Skin: Kimberly in Ocean by Free Speerit
Eyes: Open Ocean [standard size] by Miriel
Lashes: Diva lashes by Lelutka
Dress: Aphrodite Cocktail in Faschi Pink by Armidi Gisaci
Lip Piercing: Delicate Fae by Otaku Designs
Poses by Imperial Elegance
Shoes: [cannot be seen] Patent Rose Grapefruit by 50 Flats

Belle Belle Midnight Mania

Remember to stop by Belle Belle this week to get in on the Midnight Mania board to get the next piece in the Luna set – this great chair!

I really love it and I think it’ll definitely find its place up in my new bedroom. You can also still get the awesome couples chair that I showed last week in the lucky board!

Midnight Mania & Lucky Boards at Belle Belle!

Belle Belle is a furniture store that I became aware of back in February, but hadn’t really had the opportunity to purchase anything because I wasn’t in need of furniture at the time. But I always remembered it and would visit from time to time when I was sick of shopping for clothes or hair. [It happens!]

I was very excited to learn of the new Midnight Mania and Lucky Board at Belle Belle! I’m really getting into the Midnight Mania thing lately! [If you don’t know what it is, you go to a store with an MM board, click it to get registered, and at midnight if the quota of registrations have been met, everyone who got in on it gets the prize delivered to them. It’s fun!]

Belle Belle is offering their Luna living room set in the Midnight Mania board currently, but only one piece at a time. This week is the cutie Luna coffee table with the bowl of floating candles & flowers.

The bowl is more rounded, SL wasn’t letting me get close without it looking a bit angled. 🙂

I really love this table! I’m actually having a house custom built for me right now, and I think I might have to choose colors that will fit this set because it is just so so nice. The daily quota of signups on the MM board is 100, so if you want it, make sure you get in on it at some point this week, and tell your friends! If you miss it, you can buy it for $75L. Next week the table will be taken out and the Luna chair of the set put in.

Speaking of chairs, in the lucky board is this very awesome couples’ cuddle chair called “A Quiet Time.” Don’t get excited, that’s just the boy Alicia that I use for poseball setting. :-p But for those of you who actually have someone to cuddle with, you’ll love it!

The chair is a little primmy at 44 prims, but it is so worth it. It’s just adorable!! It even rocks back and forth. This is a lucky board exclusive, so you won’t be able to buy it. The lucky boards [there are 2 with the same item] run for 30 minutes.

I think I may have to go back to Belle Belle and see what else I can buy buy!

Belle Belle mainstore – SLurl

Just wrapping up the day

It’s almost the weekend, and I’m actually happy. Usually weekends don’t mean much to me, but it’s Easter weekend and that “officially” marks the beginning of springtime to me. Plus I’m excited because I was asked today to do a review for something that is coming out this weekend, AND I’m going to be doing some modeling for one of my favorite stores. Not a fashion show, a photoshoot. I’m super excited!

The Bunny Hop Hunt for me has all but come to a close. I have about 80 eggs left to find [I hit the wall, so to speak, around egg 220] and I’m not sure if I’ll be getting to the rest of them. I’d like to, just so when I go to organize, I know that I’ve gotten everything that the hunt had to offer, but I just can’t seem to make myself do it anymore. I’m hitting up the much smaller hunts, the ones that take place in one store only, or in just one sim. Or I let my friends teleport me to the best gifts. 😉 Yes yes, I know. I cheat at hunts. I’m sorry.

Ok, not really. :-p

Terri teleported me to get a little skybox earlier this evening. It doesn’t have doors, and it’s got a lot of glow inside, AND it’s not modifiable, but I decided to keep it anyway because it’s kind of cool for pics. Like this pic! I played with Windlight and then put the Film Grain filter in Photoshop on it. I really like the way the picture came out.

I was just about to wrap this up when Sai mentioned that there’s a big sale going on at Hexed. So I ran over with a bunch of the girls and we spent more money picking up some cute clothes. Hexed was one of my favorite stores last year, and I’d been wondering when something new would be happening over there. Lots of great little separates and outfits.

Also, in the +mudshake group, there’s a fabulous gift for Easter. A grass emitter with some great spring grass, butterflies, bunnies, a cute stool, a pillow, and some poems. Very awesome! So I set some up in the garden and now I really feel ready for spring! 😀