*Holiday Round up & more holiday stuff from me!*

Just a quick holiday post -- there's still time for more decorating! Yelo Uriza of ARIA Interior Design sent me a nice note and LM for her shop, so I popped over to check out her holiday items, and I found these super adorable holiday rabbits! You should definitely put these in someone's stocking this Christmas! [hint: mine]

Yelo also has some really cute actual stockings -- some of which include bunnies. :) These would be great on your mantel...they'd also make great giftboxes!

You can see everything Yelo has at ARIA - Interior Design!

I've also got two new "wrapped with love" gift boxes for you today. Swing by Second Spaces and grab them -- they're right in front along with all the previous releases shown below

Previous releases!

Happy holidays!

Holiday Round up!

I have been slowly on the prowl for some new and different holiday decor...and I've found a few things to share with you, dear readers. There are hundreds of places to find your basic trees, lights, etc -- so first, be sure to check my favorite places:

Heart Garden Winter World - Lilith and Dolly are my favorite ladies for landscaping goodies -- they've set up a winter section with great outside trees, lights, poinsettias, snow, and more!

Ramos Designs - another favorite and a great place for holiday basics: indoor trees, tons of lights, lots of fun decor for inside and out.

New Trails - I discovered New Trails back around Halloween, and they are on my list for a spotlight blog post. There are really fantastical trees, garlands, lights, and more here that you just have to see. Be sure to join the update group, too -- group gifts!

Ok, now on to the stuff I want to share. First, I stopped at Belle Belle; this is a place I've had in my LMs since probably my first month in SL...and it's another place that deserves a spotlight post soon. For now, it's a definite stop on your holiday decor route! When I first landed, I was greeted by Chilly the Strange Snowman:

[11:53]  Chilly The Strange Snowman: Heya, Elle Kirshner!

Chilly is the cutest -- an adorable snowman who greets your visitors, makes it snow, and more! He also greeted the folks who came in after me, each with a slightly different greeting, which makes him even cuter.

Leyla Firefly, the designer behind Belle Belle, has also created a Santa AV who's sitting outside by the holiday stuff. You have to check his profile: Santa Sugarplum. It's such a cute little touch. I took a minute to sit and tell Santa my wishlist...and I'm honestly not sure if he was sleeping or just checking out my rack.

Leyla also has a very nice selection of more traditional holiday items. My personal tastes don't really lean toward traditional decor, but I do think the selection is very well made and well-rounded to set up a very nice SL holiday. In the living room diorama (3 points for 'diorama'), everything you see is available for sale to build your own setting. The Holiday Feast is just fun because you can really set up a lavish holiday meal with multiple courses...and it makes me want soup. Mmmm, soup.

Next stop: JD Mechanical Toy Factory. We're moving from traditional to steampunk in one fell swoop! I don't even remember now how I came across the shop...but I'm very glad I did. There are all sorts of great steampunk things to find there...and right now, there is a Christmas section set up with some really awesome items. My favorites:

Christmas Edition Shooting Gallery: yep, it's exactly that. You get a shotgun, go into mouselook and start shooting away at random candy canes, gifts, santas, etc. Fun with a capital F.

There's also a selection of Christmas trees in a really unique style - my two favorites:

And the best thing: clockwork automated Santa. This little guy wanders around and gives out gifts (also a non-gifting version available), and well, look at that face! I love him!

Be sure to check out all the shops listed in this post -- I've just highlighted a few of the great things to be found - go see what else there is to see! I'll update again as I find more super cool stuff to share -- feel free to IM me in-world and let me know about any places you think I should see!

*New Releases* A few more holiday items!

A few more simple, fun holiday goodies for you. You'll find them on/around the Colleen coffee table, just as you walk in the shop. Enjoy!

Second Spaces

*New Releases* Holiday Stuff!

Just a few simple, fun holiday goodies for you today. You'll find them on the Colleen coffee table, just as you walk in the shop. Enjoy!

Second Spaces

*Designer Review* Maerok Westland

Hello, dear readers -- something a bit different today. You may remember the Second Spaces Shadowbox Design contest back in August...the grand prize winner was Maerok Westland with his way-cool outerspace getaway. After the contest, I did a quick interview with Maerok, and we talked about the nanosculpts he's been working with. Well...he messaged me recently to let me know he just finished a big commissioned job for Freesoul Fashion, and he sent over a bunch of it for me to check out. This is why I love being a blogger! ;) Now, of course, I am not a fashion blogger...but since it's our old friend Maerok...and I can see nanosculpts being useful in lots and lots of applications...I figured I'd show you a bit of what Maerok has done.

For starters, we have the diamonds...ahhh, the diamonds. I really do love the tiny little sculpted gems -- very real!

Another set Maerok sent over is the Silver Branches set. This is quite detailed and the nanosculpts really capture the daintiness of the pieces...I'm familiar with similar items in RL, and they are very delicate. Great job on this set!

There are also several men's pieces, too -- way too big for me to model,

so go check these out at Freesoul or IM Maerok for more info.

We now return to our regularly scheduled blogging. ;)

New Releases at ~*Pulling Strings*~

Follow the link for more!

~*New releases*~

*Grand Opening Announcement!* Pulling Strings

Second Spaces is excited to announce the opening of a new shop: Pulling Strings!

Pulling Strings is a collection of silly, fun, quirky picture poses and super cool (and slightly goofy) furniture animations. Here's a sampling...

Come by and check out the shop...there are freebies to grab...a lucky chair ready to give you MORE free stuff...AND you'll get a free poseball set when you join the subscribe-o-matic group - just click the sign at the door!

Pulling Strings

*Designer Review* [ba] Barnesworth Anubis

Anyone who has read this blog knows that I love Barnesworth Anubis Designs. What you may not know -- or maybe you do -- is that Barnesworth has just re-opened...grandly, of course...and is celebrating his grand re-opening with a sale and awesome freebies for you! Yes, you!

Barnes was kind enough to send me a folder of goodies for review...and as you'll see in the pictures below, I was so giddy that I rezzed them right there over the water on my sim. :) I'm not ashamed. For the grand re-opening, Barnes has 7 new prefabs available (OMG!), on sale for 25% off (OMGOMG!) *AND* he's offering an entire furniture package at 50% off for all the contents in his newest prefab. Words cannot describe how awesome this is for all the design junkies out there. ......see? No words.

Here are a few shots of the Angolo prefab. This is another great example of why I love Barnes' prefabs -- it's simple, not too large, and loaded with quiet style. I love the deck outside, and the large living area. I really really love the pass-through fireplace between the living area and the bedroom...and you'll see in the second picture that there's a small bath area partitioned off in the corner of the bedroom. You don't need anything more than that!

The Trocadero set is new, as well, and is a wonderfully detailed set, perfect for indoors OR out.

In addition to all the new stuff, Barnes has also set up a tour of all 25 prefabs - with goodies in each house! As you walk into each prefab on the tour, you'll automatically receive a free gift (sometimes you have to wait a minute or two, but it's totally worth it!). These are not just everyday freebies, either -- these are great [ba] items that you'd usually pay 50-250L for in the shop. Here are just some of the freebies I picked up on the tour -- remember, there are 25 houses, so 25 goodies!

You can read more about the grand re-opening on Barnes' blog - you really need to get over to the houses, though, and pick up your freebies! The sale and freebies will be around through this weekend - they're coming down on Monday, so hurry!

*Designer Review* Tibouchina Freschi

Tibouchina Freschi recently sent me a review folder of her furniture items, available at Cedar Bay Furnishings. Cedar Bay is actually owned by Remington Pinion and Krystine Qinan, and they have offered Tib space to display and sell her items. If your decorating tastes lean towards Victorian, maybe with a small taste of steampunk, then definitely check out Tib's work. What I know from speaking with TIb is 1) she's a great lady with a cute sense of humor and she is a delight to talk to, and 2) she's just really getting started with her creations, and she's still learning quite a bit (aren't we all?).

What impresses me about Tib's work is her eye for detail and for mixing texures. In the Worn Silk Velvet Wing Sofa, below, i love the  mix of the floral fabric with the masculine wood trim/edging. Likewise, I really like the edging on the Rusty Cog Coffee Table - and the best part is that the cog in the middle can be turned on to rotate! That's a nice unexpected touch.

In the Rosewood Four Poster Bed, I adore Tib's mix of fabrics. It's a pretty basic bed frame -- with nice work on the legs -- and the fabrics just give it a really luxe feel. Having the turndown of the comforter in the contrasting pattern is another great touch - a very simple thing to add, but it does give the bed more depth.

I'm excited to see how Tib grows from here with her creations. For my tastes, I'd like to see more depth and shadow to her pieces...once she masters that, combined with her eye for details, I think she'll be ready to wow us with some really gorgeous and rich pieces.

*Designer Review* Aimesi- The Island

Mea Carnell sent me a copy of her latest interactive delight: The Island. This is exactly what it sounds like -- an island. And oh, what an island!

Here's what you start with:

When you click that dark grey rock in the center of the island...well, that's when treasures unfold.

From this menu, you can select 11 vignettes for the island, with scenarios ranging from "hey, let's party at my place" to "hey, let's me and you spend a quiet evening alone - wink, wink". Some of my favorites:

Romantic Dinner: the table is one of Mea's fancy menu-driven tables with just tons of drink and food options:

The Cave: there are shower and bathing poseballs included. (WINK WINK)

Snug Talking: this looks like my kind of party.

Swing by Aimesi Designs to try out all the options; if you decide you want one for yourself, it's $L1500, and the most prim-heavy vignette tops out at 107 prims. Not bad! Mea does a great job with interactive items, and I think this island was an adorable idea. So many options in such a reasonably-sized package! Great job!

*Designer Review* Winx Home & Garden

Whimsy Winx was kind enough to send me a few review items from her new store, Winx Home & Garden. I also took a trip to her new location to check things out, and I liked what I saw! Whimsy is set up outside, very naturally working her items into the landscape, which I really like. It's a very scenic and peaceful location.

I'm going to jump right to my favorite thing: Petite Maison Citrouille...AKA a really cute pumpkin that you could live in!

I set this up on the edge of the sim, by our haunted house, so that everyone can enjoy it for the fall season. Until I move into it permanently, that is. ;) Inside are two seating areas, arranged sort of like bunk beds (always fun), with several couples poses included. Just so cute.

Whimsy also shared her Autumn Centerpiece with me...the flowers are gorgeous! This is just perfect for a large wooden mantel...I just have to get one of those now. (*points all mantel designers to the 'review copies' page).

At Winx Home & Garden, you'll also find lovely columnades and a gazebo, as well as a very nice fire/conversation pit -- all very romantic without being schmaltzy. I look forward to seeing what Whimsy comes up with next!

*New Release* Colleen Living set

A new set today: the Colleen Living set. It's a different look and feel than my recent releases -- a bit more sleek, maybe a bit more modern. Whatever it may be, I love it. :)

The sofa and chairs include (mostly) custom animations, and once again, the anims are menu-driven. The side chairs come as two separate options: sidechair, and sidechair with ottoman. There are different anims in the two chairs. AND, for the very first time, Second Spaces is animated! Watch out, world! The sideboard and tall cabinet both come with animated doors...ooooohhhhh!

Swing by the shop to see it all up close and personal, and try out those animations! Thanks!

*Halloween Goodies* part 3!

More great stuff to share! If you missed parts 1and 2, check the Holiday category on the menu to the left. Here are my newest finds!

Shade Fantasy Outfitters: Shade Fantasy is one of my favorite places to visit, much less shop. Ashade Sinister is a master at everything she does. Period. :) In her new releases, I found the Skull Pyre Torches, perfect for decorating your mausoleum!

Ashade also has these awesome Gnarled Branch Lights -- they're not necessarily a Halloween release, but they'd be perfect in a haunted or enchanted forest!

Trinket Halloween: Trinket is new to me, and a great find. Mystery Moonlight has a really cute Halloween shop set up with great goodies -- including a really cute Halloween jewelry set for free! We're using her hay bales on the sim, along with her Old Wagon (seen below, and I love it!), and I picked up her Witches' Brew cauldron, too, perfect for our haunted house. Here are some favorites!

The Old Wagon - great shadowing on this one!

Skull Hot Tub - hands down, the best bloody hot tub I've ever seen. :) Yes, that is a femur (or is it a tibula?) floating on the surface.

Mystery also has the most delicious looking edible goodies -- available in packs of 10 for $L45 or $L25 (for the small candy). It's hard to see in the picture, but those are plastic spider rings on the bottom row to the right! I want some!! They weren't marked for sale when I was in there; I'm sure Mystery will remedy that soon. :) I did grab some of the apples and the treat bags -- too cute!

More to come as soon as I find it!

*Halloween Goodies, part 2!*

We've got the sim mostly decorated and ready for our Fall Festival and for Halloween...but I'm always still on the lookout for great Halloween decorations! Here are some more goodies that you need to check out!

First, a quick hit from Aimesi Designs -- Mea Carnell has a very nice hay wagon available for $200L...just perfect for your moonlight hayride!

I also popped into Passionate Neko Dreams' Halloween shop...really, to look at their outfits (which are awesome and totally worth checking out, but since this isn't a fashion blog...we'll move on :) ) and found that Saur Holt also has a great selection of really cute sculpted jack-o-lanterns. They're $100L each...and well, they're precious.

Then I made a stop at Ramos Designs, one of my self-declared must-shop places in SL. Susan and xTrojan Ramos really go all out for Halloween -- a huge selection of detailed gravestones, a full haunted house, floating ghosty things, and tons more. Here are the things I love the most!

Halloween characters -- these are so cute! The mummy, reaper, and Franky are each $150L, and the witch with the cauldron is $250L. The witch is animated with very shifty eyes as she stirs and stirs and stirs and stirs her brew. (see what I did there?) They're all great fun, and the mummy, reaper, and Franky are also each available in large or small (same price, I believe) -- I have to say the mummy is my favorite. He's cute, AND looks like he's being held up at gunpoint. :)

There are also very realistic coffins available for $275L...animated for boys and girls, and including the classic "I'm rising from the dead and this is how I will sit up" pose. I love that one!

My absolute favorite thing from Ramos -- because I love all things wee and precious! -- are these tabletop jack-o-lantern candles!!! They're $25L each and are so so so cute, even sitting in front of a very large pool of blood. I love that middle guy!

I will keep updating as I find more Halloween things that you have to have! Be sure to swing by each of these shops and check out all the goodies...tell them Elle sent you! (see what I did there, too?)

If any of you, my dear readers, see something awesome that you think I should blog, feel free to IM me in world or email me at ellekirshner@aol.com. Thanks!

*Halloween Goodies!*

Halloween is a HUGE holiday in SL -- I know the lengths we went to last Halloween...and this year could be even bigger. :) We've started decorating the sim, so I've been keeping my eyes open for cool decor, and I'll share what I come across with you, dear readers. Here's the first batch!

CAS -- I've blogged CAS before. This is THE place to go for SL food and drink, and so much more! Here are my favorites that Casandra Jackson has released this year:

That's Spider Venom, Zombie VIrus, and Ghostly Spirirts. Ooooohhhhhh! $250L each, and perfect for your Halloween party(ies)!

These are so cool -- Horror Changers! That's before/after from top to bottom -- the pics change magically every 10 seconds or so. Casandra has just a ton of these -- $100L each, or you can pick up an entire gallery.

Greene Concept Furniture: Peter Stindberg has released a Halloween version of the Berlin Sofa, as well as special edition of the Quintos Chronometer. Very cute!

Christos Creations: Christos Atlantis has a freebie pack of Halloween goodies available at his main store. I love the wee pumpkin candle!

Check back regularly -- I'll update as I find more cool stuff that you can't live without! :)

*New Release* Coffee Redux

The Coffee set was one of my very first creations, way back when. It was pretty simple and basic, and really, not very well textured because I just didn't know what I was doing back then...not that I know now, either, but I have at least made progress. ;) Anyway, amazingly to me, the Coffee set has always been a fairly good seller. I decided, though, that it was time to bring the Coffee set out of 2007 and into 2008 -- so Second Spaces introduces the Coffee Redux set!

The set includes custom-made menu-driven animations: 4 in the loveseat and 2 in the chair. This is me and my pal Giskard tryin' them out. The Coffee Redux set also includes updated bookshelves - what you see below is a grouping of three. The bookshelves are available individually.

The Coffee Redux set is great for small spaces, and is now available at Second Spaces. Swing on by and try it out!

Chance of blogging is high!

I've been a bit absent, I know. The club's birthday kept me busy, then I went on RL vacation...so now I'm back and getting back into the swing. There will be a new/old Second Spaces release in the next day or two, and I'm beginning to hatch plans for the next Design Contest! So, don't give up on me, please!

We've come so far together!

*New Release* Caroline Living Set

I'm a big fan of the shabby chic approach to decorating -- not just the wonderful cottage style, but also the opportunity to take what's old and make it new again - and then make it look sort of old again. ;) I also love to watch those TV shows where the host scours yard sales and street markets for 'pieces with potential', then transforms them into something that makes me go 'oooohhhh!'. With that in mind, I took a look around SL and found a few pieces with potential...I checked swap meets, thrift stores, even found one or two pieces on the curb where folks had placed them outside for trash pickup. Here's the collection I gathered, straight off the street (that was me in your driveway last night):

The sofa and chair were in great structural shape, but that fabric! No no! I got to work on some slipcovers, and that established the color scheme for the whole set.

Next, I got to work on the bookshelf and the sideboard. I stripped them both of their finishes, and of course repaired what was broken. I decided to make the bookshelf into an armoire, so i added legs and doors. I really like the beadboard panelling on the doors. :) I repainted them both, added some hardware, and ta da!

For the wood tables, it was the same thing - I stripped them completely and started fresh. The wrought iron table base got a coat of paint and I had a glass top cut for it. The round side table seemed to be missing something from the center, so I splurged just a bit and had marble cut to fit it. End result, light and airy tables to accent the set.

I added a rug, table lamps, a great burnished metal planter, and an adorable chandelier, and voila! The Caroline Living Set!

After much sanding, two fainting spells from the varnish remover, and 4 broken nails (!), the Caroline Living Set is available now at Second Spaces! The sofa and chair include menu-driven poses/animations (thanks, [HeZ] Multi-Sit!) -- 6 in the sofa and 3 in the chair.

Swing by the shop and try it out!

*Designer Review* Touche'

I stopped by (late) the grand opening party of Touche' this past Saturday to check out the new shop by designers Shay Savon and Abe Ruff. My pal GIskard tagged along and, after I shouted my love and devotion for the sexy DJ Kalia, we went in to explore. It's a nice looking shop; it's not filled yet, and I know Shay and Abe are working to fill it up. There are some nice basics to be had -- the style is warm contemporary, along the lines of West Elm (RL), with some cute accessories mixed in. A few pieces that caught my eye --

Just some basic shelving, but with a tiny bit of a 70s retro feel, which I love. I really like the wooden bowl, too -- it's the little things!

The Cafe Haus set is really cute -- I can totally see this in ...well, in a coffee house.

The other piece of the Cafe Haus set is this super-sized mug of hot chocolate. So cute! And mmmm....chocolate-dipped Elle.  ;)

There were also little goodies scattered around, scavenger-hunt style. I only found three -- but check 'em out!

Definitely swing by Touche' and take a look - the prices are very reasonable, and the prim counts are just right. Keep your eyes on them, I'm sure there's more to come!

*Toolbox* [HeZ] Multi-Sit Script

SL old-timers will remember the days where pose balls were the ONLY option for furniture animations. Back when we would find really nice couches...with 6-8 pose balls for sitting, lounging, etc. That also meant 6-8 additional prims in the overall count. We've come a long way, and the majority of furniture these days has the anims built in to the prims, is menu-driven - really, just anything that affords lots of options without any pose balls.

My newer furniture sets are minus pose balls, but I've never been fancy enough for menu-driven poses...and I want to be just like all the cool kids, let's face it. HeZkeZl Slade offers a multi-sit script that allows for a few ways to have multiple anims in a single prim, including using a menu. He was kind enough to shoot the script over for me to try it out...and so I did. :) First thing I realized upon reading the info notecard is that I needed something to help position the anims and to provide the sittarget coordinates. Hez recommends PrimSitter, so I picked that up, and it was very helpful.

To summarize, here's how my experience went:

1 - I used PrimSitter to identify my sittargets for each anim I wanted to use.

2- I got rid of the PrimSitter scripts and turned to the (HeZ) script. It's a basic drag & drop of your anims, a notecard, and the script. You do have to reformat the notecard, which isn't especially tricky, just takes some coordination (at least for me). This is what my SL looked like as I was pulling the pieces together:

It was a little overwhelming the first time, going thru the steps, making sure I had everything in the right place, etc. I think once you've worked with it 2-3 times, it becomes second nature, and the logic to it is more apparent. The notecard does look a bit scary, but if you're using PrimSitter, it's really just a matter of copy/paste what PrimSitter spits out.

3- Exit edit mode, and you're done! That is, if you did everything correctly...which I did not. :) Here are a few things I learned:

• If you intend to have more than one person sitting on a piece of furniture, then each prim (intended for sitting) needs to have its own script, anims, and sittargets. So, in my example, there are two prims linked together (like a couch) and I've split the anims between the two. Otherwise, only one person can access the anim menu.
• Hez is very helpful. :) As I explained my issues to him, he helped clarify a few points AND he also identified some corrections needed within his script. He made the changes right then and sent me an updated version.
• Menu options are fun. :)

I know there are more tools out there, and fancier ones; I like Hez's script as a first step for me. Once I used it a few times, I got the swing of it, it's a quick answer to adding anims to my furniture, and I've still accomplished my goal of being a bit more like the cool kids. ;) Swing by Hez's main store here - there are a lot of great scripts available (his gift script is awesome!), and I found the Multi-Sit script version 1.03 for $500L. The version I have is more recent, and I'm sure Hez will be updating the vendors soon. Have fun! Menus rule!