Second Life Shopping Sherpa

I'm feeling very Joan today

2008-11-20T17:40:00.000-08:00

****Update: There is a freebie gift hunt going on RIGHT NOW, but only until Nov.23rd*****

Mad men may be on hiatus, but I'm channeling Joan in my fabu freebie outfits from Ingenue's store on Lo Lo. The pink hawaiian halter dress and silver hollywood dress (worn two ways!) are on the freebie board along with a couple of other things. The purple dress with the sash is a group gift. You can join the group by clicking the board right next to the dress.

Haute Style & Co.

2008-11-06T15:30:00.000-08:00

I love Haute Style & Company. They have a very sophisticated style and beautiful textures. In the top photos are the front and back of their monthly freebie.

On Bryanna at left is a gown from the lucky chair. Sherpa models yet another lucky chair find. The lucky chairs change every 10 minutes and there are other items not shown here.

Pumpkin Hunt

2008-11-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been MIA folks. Life is what happens when you are making other plans. So there is a grid wide pumpkin hunt going on right now. I have only had time to hit Ivalde so far. It ends on November 2nd, so rush out. There are five pumpkins. These are just a few of the ones I found. I love the way Nef rocks the system skirt. I know a lot of people don't like them because they make your butt look big, but I think it's sexy. I like to think I've got a litte Joan from Mad Men going on. All of the dresses are from Ivalde pumpkins and so is the butterfly skin.

Nefaria of Ivalde is such a generous designer. Not only is she a genius with textures she is always giving things away. I have loved every item I have ever put on from this store.

The way the hunt works is that one of the pumpkins you find will give you a landmark another store on the grid. There are signs in each store that give you the option to stop searching and receive a landmark directly to the next place. That may be handy since the hunt is almost over.

***update: Nefaria Abel is taking some time off for carpel tunnel. Ivalde will continue to be open while she recovers. I urge everyone to shop, shop, shop at Ivalde and support this generous designer's store while she takes care of herself***

My go at Spike

2008-05-10T18:58:00.001-07:00

So, I'm a pretty silly Buffy fan and I've been working on creating the avatars in Second Life. I decided to start with my favorite. I think the only free things in this picture are the cigarette (actually I'm pretty sure it's a blunt) and the skin, which was a Minnu freebie a while back. Yes I know about the controversy, and I feel as if the jury's out. I didn't go buy the skin, I already had it in my inventory. (This I realize may be akin to my rationalization for wearing my grandmother's fur coat even though I'm a vegetarian) Anyhow, I digress.

The hair is from Philotic Energy, the leather coat, and red shirt are from Casa del Shai. The shape is my own. At some point when I get a bunch of the avatars together, I'll figure out how to take a group shot.

For Josh who sent me a notecard

2008-04-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

Hi Josh,

I didn't have your full avatar name to return your notecard. I have been offline for about a week. Atticus's hair is from Armidi. It isn't free, but it's worth it.

How can you miss me if I don't go away

2008-03-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been so horribly negligent. Real life has been sooo crazy. I was actually inspired by Ani_mations Drama Queen AO that is free until Monday 3/17. It's fantastic. In the top picture I am wearing a truth gift hair and the skin I got with my Fleur gift card. The tuxedo is the top of the dress by Celestial studios . The pants are a group gift from Veschi. The pumps are freebies from Maiteya.

In the middle picture I'm wearing the free dress from Ivalde and the valentine's day gift from Callie Cline Boa. I got the red sandals from Nyte n' Day a gossip girl event.

The bottom picture is the freebie outfit from Ingenue. The glasses and shoes were from the clover hunt at ETD.

Allure magazine aargh!

2008-02-27T19:04:00.000-08:00

I have had zero time lately, but I wanted to pop in and talk about the Allure magazine article I just read. It was just one of those annoying one page blurbs, but it made me ***crazy***. The title of the article was 'game on' and the author, Beth Kwon, compared four games and their avatars with your ability to customize the Avatar adn how hip the clothing is. She chose, The Sims 2,Rock Band, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw and Mass Effect. Hellooooooo. Ok, so these are actual video games and not online games but, still, huh? I think I'm going to write to her with a link to this feed.

I am wearing The Ivalde freebie, The headpiece from the freebie burlesque outfit from YIP, the freebie Maitreya hair and the Fleur Vivant Buff feline skin I bought with my gift card.

Valentine's hunt et al

2008-02-11T19:47:00.000-08:00

I joined in the Valentine's hunt for a bit. I admit to being kind of lazy. Not so much about the hunting, but waiting for things to rez makes me nutty. I did pick up a few cute things though. All of the hair in these photos in from Amorepacific. It's tricky to find, but worth it. Here is the link to creamy's post on SL*FreeStyle about how to find it.

In the top picture (reminding myself strongly of Lacey in the Rock of Love 2 roller derby challenge) I'm wearing the Vitamin Ci freebie from the hunt.

In the middle picture I'm wearing my own modified skins from Another Skin and the valentines freebie from CKS designs.

The bottom picture was my hunting costume. The dress is a freebie from Ivalde, minus the prim skirt. I'm wearing the pixel dolls belt , the cross and earings are an advent gift from Second Mirage. The skin is a group gift from MM skins and the glasses were a freebie from icings.

A conglomeration

2008-02-04T11:49:00.001-08:00

Wow, ok, so now I have all this stuff and I'm lucky if I can figure out where I got it all, never mind if it is still available. Arg. I shall endeavor to do my best. The skin is my own attempt to modify an Eloh skin from Another shop. I didn't really do anything creative. I am really excited because I keep going back to the LeO skin because of the eyebrows, now I can use the same eyebrows with virtually any eyeshadow and lipstick combo and that's all I need really.

Top: Earings and necklace are from the new collection at Second Mirage. They were a generous gift for those of us who attended the fashion show (the whole collection actually) They aren't free, but the collection can be found at the store. It is an amazing collection. The blouse and corset are a group gift (part of a peasant dress) from Tuli. The hair is a group gift from Philotic Energy that I recolored red.

Middle: The hair is a Fashion Consolidated free gift from bewitched that is part of a fat pack. It is probably still available in the notices. the earings are color change and from Artilleri and the necklace is from Alienbear. Shirt is the undershirt layer alone of the Bianca latex dress.Mask is from Illusions . All should still be in Fashion Consolidated group notices. Latex pants are from Wrong.

Bottom: Shirt is three layers from the Bianca latex dress. Mainline unisex jeans from Callie Cline. The necklace is from Illusions. The little cupid doll is from Valentino All in Fash Con notices. Hair is from Philotic Energy.

Stop Thieves!

2008-02-03T09:31:00.000-08:00

Bad people ripping off other people's skins and clothes is rampant. I'm at a protest today at a nasty little store that is selling stolen skins and blatently using stolen ads from them. If you want to come down and join the protest. This is he Slurl.

Laynie of Layniewear made this protest skin and eyes. The horrific little cupid is a Fashcon freebie from Valentino. The hair is a Fashcon freebie from Bewitched and the pearl necklace is from Bonita Popinjay. Sorry no Slurls on those, I will properly blog them when protest is over.

Frangipani Freebies

2008-01-26T18:54:00.001-08:00

After seeing the post for the new Frangipani freebie hair, I went on over and found several really great freebie hairs all in fat packs of lots of colors. I am modeling the color 'blood' mwwahhhaaaahh in all mine.

My skin is one of the original Eloh free skins, Le0, from Another shop, it's one of my favorites because I love the eyebrows so much. I downloaded her files and now I'm trying to figure out photoshop. Der.

Things I wouldn't do in real life...

2008-01-16T19:03:00.000-08:00

Unless I really looked like this, in which case, yeah I probably would. This is the gorgeous freebie lingerie from Ingenue. I know it's been blogged already, but COME ON will you just look at this?

The Truth is out there

2008-01-12T19:24:00.001-08:00

*Update* The tee shirts are by pushbutton industries and they can be found in the gift shop at Le Zoo sim.
Sorry I've been away so long kids. I had issues (*cough, didn't pay bill,cough*) with my DSL and I've been using EEK dial-up. Not so fun with SL. I just loved thes group gift hairs for the Truth update group. I recolored them in red, coz' I'm a redhead. (click on hair, choose edit, choose texture then color, pick color, viola!) These gorgeous skins are the freebie Chai skins for those who purchase Secondstyle Magazine in world you can find a kiosk at Le Zoo. I love these Tshirts. I know I got them free from a store in LeZoo, but I've having a mind fart as to wear, if anyone knows please write to me and let me know. The white zip pants were an advent gift from Wrong and the earing were an advent gift from Second Mirage.

Cracking myself up

2007-12-31T12:53:00.000-08:00

So I was trying on some new skins that I aquired and I realized that they were male skins. Then I thought, "Hey, that's not so bad. I spend quite a bit of my time at music festivals and such, so this is, in some ways a more accurate reflection of what a whole lotta women I see everyday look like. I was especially amused by my 'Happy Trail' although I was disappointed that I don't have hairy armpits. (or as one potential but not for long beau put it, my 'goddess hair') So as I dance around to the happy sounds of The Animal Liberation Orchestra, I wish you all a great New Year and Peace out my Sistahs, and my brothers too!

In case you want to recreate my groovy style. I'm wearing the Minnu skins h pale shaved, Freebie Maitreya hair. Jewelry from the Second Mirage advent tree. In the top picture I'm wearing jeans from The L word orientation freebie pants from Dutch Touch. Microphage group gift tube top and Freebie LBD coat from LeeZu Baxter. In the bottom picture, both my pants and tank are from Dutch Touch and my bracelet is from Second Mirage and my necklace is from Reaction Girls. Lashes from Cake.

Pushing Daisies

2007-12-29T13:26:00.000-08:00

When I get bored I try to make avatars that look like famous people. I've been working on my Zooey Daschenal for awhile, but I just can't get it. In trying I managed to make a pretty good Anna Friel from Pushing Daisies. Anna is wearing a dress from the Ivalde advent tree, Free newbie gift hair from Diversity hair and the free Another Shop skin in (Le)brow 2, freckles, gluttony. Eyes are freebie from House of Zen.

Skin shocker!

2007-12-28T12:32:00.000-08:00

Wow, Another Shop is causing a real kerfuffle with this freebie. These gorgeous skins are completely free. The pictures in the Artilleri bikini are the free modifiable shapes they come with, the pictures in the Dutch Touch tank are on my own shape. The hair is from the Bossa Nova Hunt and the different eye colors are from the freebie eye set at Zen.

Here is the big deal with these skins. There are 4 skin tones, 7 makeups in each tone. Each tone comes in freckled and unfreckled and with a choice of 2 different brows. On top of that you get 4 different brow colors. So far I count 1792 combinations, but my math may be sketchy. As if that wasn't enough, each skin is offered with the files and full permissions. So if you have photoshop and know how, you could could play around and create your own makeup. I literally played around with these skins for over two hours! Have fun!

This warrents a whole new body

2007-12-24T11:02:00.000-08:00

We've been receiving so many free gifts from Vintage shops lately, that I decided to make a specific vintage shape. I hoisted up the puppies and cinched in the waist a bunch. I took my inspiration from the movie 'Anything Goes' with Bing Crosby that was on the other night. It still needs work. I know what I'm trying to achieve, but unfortunately hughe bouyant boobs and little waists are the benchmark of the newbie bod which is the last thing I'm trying to achieve.

Anyhoo. Here's some treats. All the hair in these picks are from the Bossa Nova ornament hunt. Which was HARD by the way, but someone sent out a cheat sheet. Normally I would not approve of that but Moire Georgette said it was ok, so if the designer is ok with it, so am I.

The purple dress is from the Ivalde advent gift tree as is the long green gown. The red dress is from the Bossa Nova hunt. All jewelry is from the Second Mirage Advent calendar.

Also thanks so much to Gogo for all the free poses! Her store is Demouiselles. Oooh, and let's not forget the skin is a group gift from Tete a Pied.

A mish-mash

2007-12-20T18:43:00.000-08:00

Someone came up to me today while I was at Ivalde and told me they read my blog. I LOVE that. I'm serious. You just never know when you do this, if anyone is reading or not. Please always feel free to talk to me if you see me around.

So I'm wearing the blow-pop Mellie group freebie skins and The Philotic Energy group hair. The jewelry is from the Second Mirage advent calender.
All the clothing is from the Savvy Avvy present hunt which they didn't make too hard thank God. Although, when I was having problems with rezzing and I couldn't see anything, I kept asking "what are we looking for?" like, um, candy canes, or, oh, santa hats or something. ..No one answered me. This became obvious to me when I realized that no one wanted to say, "the big giant present you just tripped over, dumbass" There were way more gifts than I've blogged here. Including more of those great purses and a bunch of stuff for guys.

More new skins and pretty dresses

2007-12-18T19:05:00.000-08:00

I don't think I can remember a time when there have been so many free quality skins (and shapes) available here in SL. I went over to Love,Aly and got the L'oreal Paris skins she has on display. For freeeeee. In the Yellow dress, by Ivalde, I am wearing the pink one. I had a problem with that one and two of the others. The eyebrows were really low. I tried changing bald caps and screwing around with the eyebrows in apearance, but I still looked angry. In the large picture I'm am wearing the vintage one and it looks nice. I'm showing them all on my own shape by the way. I did try on the others with the shape they came with and they looked much better. In the beautiful purple *icing* group gift, I am wearing the TaP skin I won on their opening day.

You stay off the internet for one day....

2007-12-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

I had a RL Christmas party at my house Saturday night, so I was nursing a hangover all day yesterday and didn't log on. My first thought when I woke up this morning was, "oh shit! I missed an Advent day at Ivalde!" I haven't even done any RL shopping yet, and this is what I'm worried about....?

But I made up for it today. I hoofed it quick to Ivalde and got this pretty white slip dress. Then I found out that Tete a Pied was having a hunt to win a free skin. I love love love TaP skins, they make me want to lick myself. (Like and ice cream cone, coz I'm delicious, sheesh)

So the White dress is from Ivalde, the hair is a freebie from Diversity hair. And this gorgeous skin and swanky suit are from the new Tete a Pied Sim on Fleur.

I did want to say one more thing. When I was at the TaP sim I couldn't find any of the tickets. Roslin was there so I asked her for clues. Being one of the nicest, most awesome designers out there, she gave them to me. I still hard time, but I was kind of a dumbass. The thing is, I have made it a policy of mine on this blog not to tell you EXACTLY where the freebies are. Part of the reason designers are so generous is that it brings you to the store. So while looking for the freebies, you have to kind of look around which may inspire you to buy something. If everyone knew exactly where they were, you could just grab them and leave. The same goes for hunts. Hunts are set up to have fun, be social, promote the store and say 'Thank you' to customers. It's more fun to actually go there and talk to other people and help each other find things than to just have a map. Anyway, that's my two cents about that. The quality of freebies has taken a huuuuge leap and bloggers and shoppers have a responsibility to make sure that it is worth the while of the designers.:)

Some now, more later

2007-12-14T14:10:00.000-08:00

Todays score from Ivalde is the lovely yellow party dress. Crucifix is Advent gift from Second Mirage. Skin is group gift from Dutch Touch. Hair was a group gift from Philotic Energy.

In the second Picture, I am wearing free group gifts from Dutch Touch of the tank top and the pants. Which are supposed to be for guys Pffffth! The cameo necklace is from Second Mirage.

2007-12-12T18:08:00.001-08:00

I got tagged by Myllie which I can't really complain about since I whined so much last time about NOT getting picked.

~What I want for Christmas ~
Copy the below text into your posting, add your reply, add your tagged members (5 please), then leave them a post or email letting them know they’ve been tagged. I can’t wait to read what everyone has for an answer…
Question 1 – What is the one thing you always wanted for Christmas as a child, but never got. Even now, as an adult, it would be pretty cool if you got it.
Hmmm, I don't really remember any traumatic no shows. I always eye those huge gift with purchase makeup things at department stores, but I usually buy one for myself and then wrap it.
Question 2 – What is the one thing you wish for this Christmas (for yourself)? I wish someone would completely disregard my common sense and get me a puppy. Then I could tell my landlord that I couldn't say no because it was a gift!
Question 3 – What would you wish for, if the sky was the limit, and nothing was impossible?
A full ride scholarship for my daughter for college. That my dog could live as long as me, young and healthy. A cute, managable home and a car that would work all the time.

I tag: Creamy Cooljoke,Cherlindrea Lamont,Karina Mayflower, Bryanna Davies, Esmeralda Homewood

Ps. Sweater is a group gift from Artilleri, Hair is Advent gift from Wrong

Supercalifreebieliciousexpialidocious

2007-12-12T11:48:00.000-08:00

Some stuff I threw together via giftiness. Grey sweater, red and black striped dress and skin from Ivalde. Shiny black pants from Wrong. Sunglasses from Reaction Girl. Gold chains from Second Mirage. Belt is part of the Christmas gown gifts from DeFleur and the hair is, of course, from Maitreya.

DeFleur deconstructed

2007-12-11T18:11:00.000-08:00

Defleur Fashions has four long Christmas freebie gowns. They are all pretty, but my first thought was how all the pieces could be taken apart and used in other things. So I put my own spin on it and created my little 70's Jersey houseparty outfit. I copied the little fur muffs and stuck them on my ankles.I used the belt and corset from the set and just the pants without the prim skirt. My black beaded necklace is an Advent gift from Second Mirage. Hair is the freebie from Maitreya. Updo is from Marlys

This is what happens....

2007-12-10T17:43:00.000-08:00

So there I was just minding my own business, happily wearing my Tshirt from [Random] my brand new Advent earing fromSecond Mirage and my capris and skin from Ivalde and I realized I was up to my earholes with Xmas shopping. So I did what any reasonable person would do, I jumped in the ocean in my Reaction wet suit and bling raindear antlers from Callie Cline. Of course that made me cry like a little baby, good thing I was wearing my freebie skin from Ravenwear!

I can't keep up

2007-12-07T19:48:00.000-08:00

Oh Golly, I get so confused sometimes. The shear numbers of freebies happening right now is outstanding. When I think about what to blog, I find myself not wanting to blog things that have already been featured on Fabulously Free in SL or SL Free*Style because it would get boring seeing the same things over and over. But then I had someone remind me that there are people reading this who aren't necessarily on the Fashion World of SL feed. So why not?

Also, I wondered if people want to see pictures of group gifts or Advent gifts that are no longer available. Wouldn't that be frustrating? But then I thought it would still give them a good idea of the kinds of stores they like and which groups they would like.

So on that note, I present some findings. The striped shirt is an advent gift from Wrong. The pink halter dress is a freebie available at Ingenue. (It has been brought to omy attention that this is actuallly a 5L$ item, it's really beautiful, the back has great detail. None of which are shown photographed. My bad)The diamond necklace in that picture is an advent gift from Second Mirage.The maroon dress is a freebie from the Tuli Zoo sim, the shoes I'm wearing in that picture are from the Maitreya group gift and the gold jewelry is from Second Mirage advent tree.

I'm wearing the freebie MM skin available for group members. I am a member of the Free*Style group and during a group chat, there was an offer for a free $L50 gift card for PopFuzz, so I took one and bought two pairs of eyes, dark hazel and light hazel. I am on my never ending quest for my perfect eyes and I'm really digging the dark hazel.

It should go without saying that everyone should be stopping in once a day at Ivalde, Reaction ,Wrong, and Second Mirage for Advent gifts and SYD for Hanukkah gifts. Right, right?

I'm officially back in elementary school

2007-12-03T14:15:00.001-08:00

O.K. So I've been reading the Fashion World feed today, getting sadder and sadder. Hoping and hoping that someone would tag me (which is silly, because really nobody KNOWS me) which started to make me feel more and more like the kid I was in elementary school that no one picked for teams. Then I though to myself, "Sherpa" I thinks.."You are no longer in elementary school, it is no longer necessary to throw yourself into books, pretend you have an invisible pet lion and that Donny Osmond is your boyfriend. You are a grown up now and you are playing in a world where all those things are possible, so suck it up and take some control of your whiny inner baby"

On that note, I tag myself, (and anyone else who feels like they are sitting on the bench) and I now present.

8 Random Facts about Myself that you may or may not care to know

*I am old enough to have wanted Donny Osmond to be my boyfriend (and would take him in a heartbeat if he decided to completely throw away his religion and family and run away with me)

*I no longer have an invisible pet lion, but I do have a very real black lab, Mastiff, Great Dane named Amos who weighs well over a hundred pounds.

*I work in a library and read A LOT and could keep up with the best of them parsing the classics, but have a soft spot for graphic novels and chick lit.

*I also am addicted to reality T.V. and I think Tila Tequila should pick Danny and New York should be with Tailor Made even though I hate him.

*I have a difficult time making friends because I am very shy. This goes for SecondLife as well as First Life. I counter this by being "brassy" which makes people forget that I am shy. So if anyone wants to take me under their wing, I would be grateful and forever loyal.

*I have raised a daughter to adulthood all by myself.

*I am a theatrical costume designer in my free time

*I am a "Fag Hag" although I've been told by the kids that the new term is "Fruit Fly" which for some reason I keep thinking is "Fairy Dust" and my very first boyfriend is a professional Drag Queen in New York.

Ok, that's eight. So for all you kids out there who weren't tagged, I now proclaim (with the power invested in me by absolutely no one but myself) that you should all consider yourself it.

Addendum: Creamy tagged me. "You like me, you really like me!"

The overwhelming freeness of it all

2007-12-02T11:02:00.000-08:00

Wow! All the freeness is coming faster than I can blog it. Not that I'm complaining. I would be so psyched if I could gift some of these thing is Real life too. "Here Dad, I got you a pair of sunglasses from Reaction, party on Pop!" So what we having going on here so far today (and I haven't even gone to the pearl hunt at sin skins yet. Is it just me or did that sound dirty?) Ok, focus. The skin is a group giveaway for Soda's new subscribe-o-matic group. The hair is a freebie from Marly's. The green and blue jewelry group is day one's advent give from Second Mirage and the purple jewelry is day two's. The beige lace top is the top half of day two of Ivalde's advent giveaway and the camo top is todays gift from Wrong.

A few tips.

At Wrong, there are two Christmas trees. All day long yesterday I kept going to the (no pun intended) wrong tree and couldn't find the gift. I am a dumbass. So it might be a different tree each day, look under both.

At Ivalde you have to be wearing the group tag. Ok, phew. I think I will take a break from virtual shopping and go actual shopping. Nothing says 'relax' like a day at the mall before Christmas.

Free eyes and Ivalde happiness

2007-12-01T17:02:00.001-08:00

Went over to Ivalde to get my first advent calender gift. It's beautiful, the embroidery detail on the bodice is amazing. Sometimes the dresses here literally make me gasp with happiness and this one was free! Rendili has some freebie christmas eyes. One has a candycane design and the other is a gold ornament, which actually looks very pretty. I'll probably sport those while on my search for the perfect free eyes.

Tis the season

2007-11-30T09:49:00.001-08:00

I thought it would be hard to top Halloween for generosity, but the designers of SL are going all out with gifts for this the Chrismukka season. Right now both Wrong and Reaction are having a free gift a day under their Christmas trees and starting on December 1st Ivalde will be giving away a free dress everyday!

Right now I'm wearing todays gift from Reaction, the awesome white sunglasses. I'm also wearing a group gifts from *Truth* of both the shirt and the hair.

Chai Skins and Taco, Taco, Taco Shapes

2007-11-28T18:51:00.000-08:00

This was great fun. Launa Fauna sent out freebie Chai skins for group member. You need to join by using the subscribe-o-matic. They are so pretty, these are just a few of them, they come in both freckled and non-freckled and with several different color brows.

Then I just decided to play around with the free shapes from Taco!Taco!Taco!
You can get the gift shapes by joining the You Quiero Taco group

Is it just me or does the Dennis Rodman shape look just like Chandra Wilson from Grey's Anatomy?

Philotic Energy

2007-11-27T10:26:00.001-08:00

These tips come courtesy of Creamy Cooljoke at SL Free*Sty le blog. Check it out if you haven't already. The eyes are a Callie Cline gift. They are cute and have little hearts in them. I'm still searching for my perfect eyes though so keep the tips coming. The hair is all from Philotic Energy. The one with the little white pom-pom is from the store and is a freebie, the rest are group gifts. I also received a complaint from 'Anonymous' in my comments about not having my mesh turned up high enough. I didn't realize they weren't, so I took new pictures and the ones on the right are with the object mesh turned up all the way. I found the comment a little rude. I appreciate that it would really suck for a blog to not present the product at it's best, and for that I apologize to the creators of Philotic energy, but I didn't even realize that the slider wasn't up all the way.

The Free Ring

2007-11-26T12:59:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Jasmin Loire for pointing me in the direction of The Free Ring. The free ring was created to bring attention to and raise funds for War Child International.

"War Child was founded upon a fundamental goal: to advance the cause of peace through investing hope in the lives of children caught up in the horrors of war.Please take a look at www.warchild.org for more information."

Everything is free but they have a donation box. I donated because it is a great cause and they have some really cute things.

Ivalde group gift

2007-11-23T14:59:00.001-08:00

On group that is definitely worth joining is the Ivalde group. this is the latest group gift. They give out freebies to group members all the time.

Yes, I do still have stuff to give away too. IM me. It's kind of dregs now to be honest because most of the really good stuff is non-transfer. But they do say, one man's trash......

By the way. I need new eyes. Mine make me look insane. I really like the color but they have no life in them. Because of the nature of this blog though, they need to be free or almost free. Any ideas?

Diversity hair and feeling like myself

2007-11-21T23:09:00.000-08:00

I went on over to Diversity Hair on their new Island and picked up the mega pack of $L1 hair. I really like the color Cherry on me but there are tons of other colors. Speaking of liking things on me. I get a lot of freebie skins and sometimes try on other shapes too, but I find that this is the one that feels like me. I keep coming back to it. The shape is one I tweaked myself from a freebie I got way back and the skin is the TaP Newbie in Buff. I just love the softness of Tete a Pied skins.
I am still giving away any transferable items I have in my inventory.
OK, it's friday and I'm still giving things away. Go ahead and IM me!

Want some random free stuff?

2007-11-20T19:40:00.000-08:00

Ok, I have accumilated waaaay too much stuff. Anyone who IM's me inworld will receive a random gift. Some of it is stuff I got free, some of it I paid a bunch of lindens for but never wear. No guarantees on what you get but what do you want for nothing...rubber bisquit?

-Sherpa

Just Im me and let me know you read my blog and I'll send you a treat.

*Sooo much of my stuff is non-transfer. I'm totally hip to why, but I still wish there was a way to give it away. Oh well, I'm still purging if you IM me. If you did already and didn't get anything for some crazy SL reason, just IM me again. -S

**still lots of stuff left!-s

***c'mon down folks, come and get it

Ps. whomever I gave ETD shoes to, you only got the base IM me again for the rest of the shoe.

Please accept my condolences

2007-11-10T14:31:00.000-08:00

In lieu of today's post, I would like to add my voice to those expressing sorrow for the loss of Ginny Talamasca. I am grateful for the beauty he helped bring into the world and incredibly sad for those who have lost his company.

Neil Gaiman is my friend!

2007-11-10T13:48:00.000-08:00

Well, I have arrived. I am Neil Gaiman's friend in SecondLife. After the Q & A about Beowulf I decided on a whim to ask him to be my friend. He said yes. Delusions of happily drinking stout while discussing the philosophy and theology of the endless or "how to make death funny" Ah yes. We did have a quick little chat, but I could tell he was pressed for time and decided to err on the side of not being obnoxious.

CSI: NY Fashion Avenue Freebies

2007-11-08T16:44:00.001-08:00

The CSI: Fashion Avenue Sim is a great place to stop for some cute freebies.

The maroon dress is from Rebel Hope Designs. The Green Sweats, tank and shoes (awesome shoes) are from Popfuzz. Nice ripped jeans from Callie Cline. Cut off shorts from Tomboy, Painter shoes from Shiny Things and a killer watch from Muse. There are other great items also, too numerous to photograph.

Really? 50,0000 words? In one month

2007-11-02T23:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been lame and not posting. I took the challenge upon myself to participate in National Novel Writing Month. In a nutshell, starting on November 1st with a deadline of November 30th, you have to write a 50,000 word novel.

I received a message from the SL Wrimos group that there was a free Beowulf Avatar and a drawing to meet Neil Gaiman (Sandman, American gods, etc.) inworld at the SLiterary Sim. Don't I look Pretty? I tried it on with my own skin and shape, but most of the clothes are painted on the skin. There's a scripted sword too which is pretty cool.

Wonder Woman!!!!

2007-10-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

I've blogged this store before, but since it is so close to Halloween I think it is worth noting that there is a store giving away free costumes to newbies. The store is Szentasha Fashions and they have several different costumes. Xena, Playboy Bunny, Naughty Cop among others.

I've also been checking out the CSI:NY set and dowloaded OnRez as my SecondLife viewer. I'm not sure how I feel about it. The buttons are in different places, but it does seem more Newbie friendly. Also the beginner avatars have better shapes and skin and clothes. The hair is prim hair and even the shoes are decent. If you are interested in creating an alt or just want to check out their options go here.

I thought the episode was cute and I was thrilled to hear some of the second life lingo used. I was even more thrilled that Dwight has a second life avatar on The Office, "I'm a paper salesman in Second life and my name is Dwight, but I can fly"

Adam n' Eve freebie shoes for the under 30 set

2007-10-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

Adam n' Eve is giving away a free pair of shoes (any shoe in the store,excluding boots) to avatars under 30 days old. Just go to the shoe department and you'll see a box for the newbie gift certificate. Click on it and you'll receive a notecard and gift certificate on how to get your shoes.

There is also a free black lacy robe in the store for everyone.

Random Freebie Roundup

2007-10-22T11:41:00.001-07:00

Ok, for sure this post is a mish mash of different designers. I have had a bunch of different freebies and gifts hanging around waiting to be blogged and since it's my day off I decided to finally do it. The cute little rhinestone glasses are a gift from *icing*. I honestly can't remember whether I got them at the store or from the update group so you should just go over there. It's worth it anyway because it is a supercute store in a great sim with lots of other freebies. The purple top and corset tops as well as the peacock earrings were gifts from Microphage courtesy of the EFA Fashion week group.

The camouflage shirt and lost shirts are both gift freebies for the ::Dutch Touch:: update group.

This cute little hat with the sticks and the black fuzzy hat are freebies from Chapeau Tres Minions Hats or the EFA fashion week group.

The fruit earrings are from Quinlan Quimby for the EFA fashion week update group

MG Fashion

2007-10-22T09:06:00.000-07:00

I've been seeing all these blogs for the gorgeous silks at MG Fashion and just drooling. (so bad for the keyboard) so I went over there praying that they have some freebies. Yup, yeah! Not the silks, nor would I expect them, I might have to save up, but some other really great things. I am never taking off these black pants. No seriously. I realized recently that I was being so diligent about clearing out and storing my inventory in boxes that when I went to a fashion show all I had to wear for pants were the glitch pants to my freebie icings dress. I just hoped people thought I was making a fashion statement. I was, I was stating ,"I need pants."

Super tweaked freebies

2007-10-20T16:57:00.000-07:00

First I went over to BooN and picked up the freebie hair. I wasn't super psyched about the black scarf so I changed the texture. I used the ad for Zhao shoes as my texture and now it looks like a cool scarf. I went over to Zhao where Melanie Zhao is having a hunt for these freebie Halloween shoes. How cute is that little spider on the back! She's super nice too, even if she can't keep a secret. (Don't worry Melanie, I can)

Hey I found a $L100 Gift Certificate in my Inventory

2007-10-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

So I found a random gift certificate in my inventory from Launa Fauna of LF Fashions in Port Serafine. I don't know where it came from or why I have it (Launa if you are reading this, thank you!) of course I ran right over and picked myself up the two (purple and black) freebie tee shirts and this "you girlfriend is a man" (snort) tee also.

I takes my Vitamin's (Ci that is)

2007-10-20T09:47:00.000-07:00

Ciera Bergman of Vitamin Ci put out a call to the first ten people to visit her sim and say "I want something to wear heffer!" would get any outfit from her store free. I hightailed my slightly too big for prim skirts ass over there as fast as I could and grabbed this retrolicious number called 'Jolee Olive'. Works perfectly with my super awesome Armidi hair.

Skin within freebies

2007-10-18T18:58:00.000-07:00

Skin within has some fun freebies for their new sim opening. There are three boxes that randomly appear and disappear as you find them. One holds this free Ava Skin, One holds this blue gown and the other has a HUD with animation overrides including a sexy walk and modeling poses.

Free plus sized shaped at Zada

2007-10-18T18:28:00.001-07:00

I've been sporting my own plus size shape for some time now, but I was happily surprised to find out that the shape designer Zada offers her Demeter plus sized shape for free. It's not quite as big as my own, but definitely curvier than usual avatar shaped. The package comes with prim lashes to fit this shape and some alternative shapes to help fit skirts and prim skirts better.

Bikini is from Casa Del Shai, hair is from Armidi

Free to be You and Me and me and me and me

2007-10-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

It's so nice to spend time in a world where having multiple personality comes in handy. Not only do I have several, ahem, alternative personalities, each of them has them too. I'm a whole world all by myself. First I went over to DG innovations for their grand opening and picked up the gorgeous freebie gown on display. Then I almost stepped on a spider which normally would have freaked me out, but this one contained jewelry so we came to an understanding. After spending all that time being so damn elegant, I decided to get my freak on and donned the freebie hoochie outfit from Savvy?. A most fulfilling day all
around.

Silent Sparrow Group Freebie

2007-10-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

I love Silent Sparrow for it's dark gothic sensibility. They periodicaly give out freebies available only to group members. This one is the 'murder' shirt. It's named for a murder of crows and the ribbon has black and red crows on it. It is fantastic detail. The skin is the Minnu Skins freebie skin given out a while back. Hair is ETD freebie Airy and eyelashes are by Cake.

Real Life Person Challenge #1 Natascha McElhone

2007-10-12T12:32:00.000-07:00

I was watching Californication the other night and I felt myself fascinated by Natascha McElhone's face. I decided to try to recreate her. It was kind of hard. Her features are all so distinctive. To make her eyes I had to put the eye bugging slider almost all the way up. The nose was hard. I made the lower and upper bridge high, but there was no way to lengthen it. I tried putting the mouth closer, but I had to make the face shorter because her chin then looked too big. I think it turned out pretty good though. The skin made a big difference. The skin is Tete a Pied, the shape is my own modification of the free newbie shape that I got at *Icing*. The hair is Armidi.

Ok, one more Armidi Post and then I'll shut up

2007-10-08T09:06:00.001-07:00

It is really hard for me to find hair I like for men. Most of them look ok from the front,but then the back looks like a bowl of bananas. I bought the Ibiza from Armidi because it is the best hair I have seen so far. I have even told newbie men, "go bald until you find good hair" because it just looks so stupid when you have bad man hair. Like you are wearing your grandma's wig. Not sexy.

The only problem I have with this hair is the weird way the widow's peak is shaped in the front. I'm not sure if it is the size of my head or what but at $L295 I've been a little afraid to play with it. All in all though, I'm pretty happy with it. This is the aesthetic I was going for. Slightly androgenous but not emo. *UPDATE* Thank you Tenshe! She wrote me a comment that said it wasn't the hair, it was me and all I needed to do was move the hair back. Voila!!! It's official, Armidi hair for men is perfect.

I've seen so many men wearing this already though. I think I can live with that.

I just couldn't help myself

2007-10-05T09:50:00.001-07:00

Oh, I though Armidi was finally open and they WERE, but then they closed again for a day. They will open again tomorrow. I had to buy this hair though. This is a whole new standard for SL hair. Just so you aren't confused, this is NOT a freebie. It was L$275 . It was so weird though, because when I saw the thumbnail for this picture I thought for a second it was a photograph of me. Strange feeling.

This item however was a freebie. The dress was a free gift from Bossa Nova for their update group. Since I am plus sized, I sometimes have a problem with the fit of prim items. I had to resize the prim skirt to fit me. I have a better time with system skirts because, who cares if it makes my ass look fat? My ass IS fat. LOL.The hair is ETD beginner, which can be found in the ETD discount area.

New Newbie Skins at Tete a Piet

2007-10-01T00:25:00.000-07:00

There is literally no reason at all for new players of Second Life to look like crap for ten seconds. These skins are absolutely free for avatars under thirty days old and they are ravishing. Look at those lips! Available at Tete a Pied. Go go go go!

The lashes I am wearing are from Cake and cost a hundred lindens. I saved up. I said right from the beginning that I would only spend money I earned because I want to be in the same position as the average Newbie. It took a while, but theyare absoluely worth it.

Your Martini Mr. Hefner?

2007-09-29T18:41:00.001-07:00

I really want to than The Fabulously Free in SL
bog for this great tip. If you go to Szentasha Fashions
and you are under 60 days old, you can pick out a free costume. Just click on it to buy and it will ask you if you want it as your free one. I couldn't resist this colorable bunny costume.

Who says you have to be fifty to go platinum and wear a red hat?

2007-09-28T19:29:00.001-07:00

Bewitched is one of the most generous hair designs in Second Life. Everything here is either from the hair drop or a free gift for the hair update group.

Mixing and matching me some RealSkin

2007-09-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

With the release of RealSkins freebie skins, I thought it would be fun to mix and match the free shapes with the free skins and see what the results would be. The top row is the result of mixing up the Asian shape with the African American, Asian and White Skins.

Next up would be the African American Shape with the Asian, White and African American Skins.

Next up is the Causasian shape with the three skins.

Last and sort of least, I used my own shape with the three skins. I think the African American skins works well with all three. The white skin is fairly hideous on all of them and there are mixed results with the Asian skin.

PS. I tried an experiment today where I bought some prim lashes and tried to size them to Atticus since every cute guy I've ever met has long lashes. As is he looked like a drag queen. Has anyone had anyone has success with this? Is there a mens hair or skin designer that makes lashes for men? If not does anyone have a trick? Thanks, Sherpa

Sumptuous Skins

2007-09-27T09:59:00.000-07:00

I have a couple of free skins to show you today. These first two are free for newbies under a month old. They are from Sin Skins. They come in five different colors with a choice of freckles or no freckles. You can also change the eyebrow color from default black. (I changed them to red, but with this hair I probably could have warn black also) and as an added bonus, there is color changable naughty bits hair. Nice. The whole range is beautiful and natural.

The Minnu Model skins update group received this gorgeous gift skin. So often, skins that come with red lipstick are too hootchy for me. But this skin is lovely and fresh.

Groups are Grrrrrrrreeeaaatt!!!

2007-09-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit of a late comer when it comes to joining groups. Now I'm an addict! Here are some great gifts I recieved this week. The most amazing gift was []::Tuli:[] I recieved new skins in four different shades with a choice of brown or black eyebrows. Bryanna is wearing the Medium with brown brows and Sherpa is wearing the light with brown brows. It is sooo difficult to find beautiful free skins and these are exceptional. Since Bryanna has such big hoo ha's you can see the lovely shading in the cleavage too. She's usually way more of a tart that it's like seeing Pam Anderson without makeup. It's like, "wow, you're kind of pretty".

Bryanna's hair is bedded attitude by ETD, it can be found in the discount section. I paid L$10 for a pack of all different colors, but I think it may be L$5 now. The dress is the first dress I bought that wasn't free. It's also from ETD but my short term memory is shot so I can't remember what it cost.

The little cute little orange tops in yellow is from the vitamin C update group. There are other colors and matching pants. The pretty dress is a free gift from the Icings update group.

Dutch Touch

2007-09-20T17:26:00.001-07:00

Dutch Touch is a great store for edgy urban clothes. The striped shirt was a freebie for update group members. it comes in lots of colors and both a shirt and jacket layer. Notice the awesome skull on the back of the shirt.

The tank top is a freebie that can be found in the store itself and comes in other colors.

Introducing some cohorts

2007-09-20T09:38:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends. You may have noticed that freebie blogs are popping up all over the place. I think it is great. Competition and cooperation hand in hand inspire ingenuity and quality. However, I can't stand redundency and dont' want to keep blogging the same things as everyone else.

I will continue to look for new and exciting free and dollarbee items because I still believe that the easier and more satisfying a new person finds SecondLife, the more likely they will be to stick around. For my own satisfaction and to keep me from going crazy with boredom, I have decided to add a few more elements to my blog. With the help of my friends, (who in the name of honesty are my alts, I am now officially insane) here are some of the things I will be trying.

Esmeralda: She is a beautiful fuller size woman. I will be on the prowl for items that look particularly good on her. Diversity, diversity, diversity. She is the most like me in real life and I want to honor that.

Bryanna: Bryanna will be looking out for bargains that aren't necessarilly free, but which are good deals for what they are. Quality skins for less than a thousand dollars say, or buy one get one free and the like.

Atticus: Hot stud man. I'm in love with him. Since he imbues my idea of male perfection with my own personality he has pretty much ruined things for real life men. I will add a picture when I get a good one.

A word about my using Alts. Although I will probably be writing in first person as these people, I intend to be honest and upfront about it. For one thing, if someone doesn't realize that it is all me and I end up with four different ballots for something, I will only vote once. It will be more fun for me if I can use different 'voices' so I will try to do that, but that may or may not work. Please feel free to comment on this I am interested in what you think.

Love, Aly

2007-09-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

I think this is my favorite picture I've ever had taken of me. Looking fabulous while dumpster diving. Delicious.

Here I am outside of Love,Aly where she has lots of lovely freebies, as long as you are willing to get a little dirty. On the upside you can always enjoy and ice cream cone afterwars.

Our little lesson for today is if you see a trash can or a dumpster outside a store go harvesting. You never know what you might find. You can do it over and over again and get a different prize each time. The thermal top I'm wearing comes with a default of grey, but you can modify it in appearance and make it any color you want. I made it green because of that whole redhead looking good in green thing.

Jewelry Expo Sepember 15-22 2007

2007-09-17T09:58:00.000-07:00

This is just a small example of some of the freebies I picked up at the Jewelry Expo It is only going on until September 22nd so hurry over.

I wish I could tell you all the individual stores that I got thes freebies from, but the truth of the matter is that I walked around in such a state of blind, materialistic lust that I can't keep track. Well, half the fun is finding the thing for yourself. (cough *rationalisation* cough) . It is such a huge place that my recommendation is to start on the outside wall and just walk around in one direction going to each store. Then hit the middle. That way you won't miss anything.

A word about jewelry and accessories. They don't always fit on first try. Everyone's avatar is a different size, so just like trying on bikini's in real life, sometimes they look like hell at first try. Unlike real life, you have a couple of options. You can change the size of your avatar in appearance and save different sizes. (some people have many different shapes and label them by designer; ETD shape, Last Call shape, etc.) or you can edit the item itself. Make sure you make a copy first. If you take a look at the tutorial "Hair 101" in the sidebar, it shows you how to edit hair prims. The concepts are pretty much the same for jewelry and other accessories.
I paid a visit to the 12Avatars site to try to vote. The lag was sooo bad, I couldn't even walk around, not to mention see anyone to vote for. Then, somehow, I ended up voting for someone. I have no idea who, but they must be fabulous.

Alady Island

2007-09-13T19:30:00.001-07:00

Just look at these photos, what a difference. I went to Alady Island. In the ladies only dressing room, there are a whole slew of freebies. For me, the most important where my prim eyelashes, new eyes and facelight. Compare this photo to some old posts and see what a difference these things can make. I think I'm a little in love with myself right now. Alady Island not only has freebies, but they also have a women only dressing room. There are lot's of clothes and animations also, none of which I had time to try on because of a lag problem.

Back to ETD

2007-09-11T09:15:00.001-07:00

ETD has a brand new store. It's huge! Luckily, there is a teleporter that can take you directly to the part of the store you are looking for. When I went there was even a friendly salesperson who actually walked me over to what I was looking for. I was looking for this great new hair. It is a freebie that comes in a whole bunch of colors and the hat is attached. I find the only really good hats in SL are attached to hair,but maybe sculpties are going to change that.

There is a whole wing dedicated to freebies (and some 5L$ hair that you should check out). There are some outfits too. I picked up this pajama shorts and tank set, that comes withseveral colors in the pack and a little summer dress that also comes with multiple colors.

She's so unusual shoes has also added some new freebies to their store including these open toe sandals.

I also wanted to add that one of the best ways to find out what is new at stores, or get free gifts is to join the update groups. Tanya Book has published a list of stores that carry the Subscribe-o-matic, which is the easiest way to join groups. The Link is here.

GuRl 6

2007-09-08T10:41:00.001-07:00

There are lots of things that are great about GurL 6. They really take care of the new kids for a start. They have lots of freebies and avatars under thirty days old get a voucher for any free hair pack they want. The pink hair is from a freebie newbie pack.

On the hammock, I am wearing the Felicity hair which is a free gift through this weekend only . 9/9/07. The pink shoes are part of a freebie pack.

The pink bikini in this picture is also from the freebie pack. For my free newbie voucher hair, I chose the September 2 Mega Heat Pack.

I took these pictures at the Rasta Beach and Resort Club

Freebie Planet

2007-09-06T13:59:00.000-07:00

My friend Mica sent me a link to Freebie Planet.

You definitely need to search and watch for lag, but there ar bargains to be had. This sweater set and capris come in about ten different colors.

The hair is a freebie I got from Motorati and I'm not sure if it is still available. (It is available from it's original store Gurl 6, but is not a freebie)

One of the things I like to do to switch things up is to buy men's clothing freebies. I am wearing two different men's tuxedos. They both come with hats but it didn't work with my hair. The hair is a freebie from Diversity hair

She's so unusual shoes

2007-09-04T18:43:00.000-07:00

She's so un usual shoes
As a fashion blogger, sometimes you get free things given to you for review. This is actually the first time this has happened to me so I was pretty excited. My dilemma however, is that; although these items were free for ME, they wouldn't be free for you so I probably shouldn't blog them. But....they do have freebies at this store that you can get so I can show you those. These cute purple sunglasses came in a box with other free jewelry, including some great Celtic rings.
These high heel stiletto were in a box for L$1. I'm going to go ahead and show you a pair of the review shoes that I was sent because I want to talk about my prediction for freebie shoes in the future. Designers in Second Life have recently been given a new too. Sculptie Prims. Now, I'm not a designer so I don't know all the details, but I do know this...sculpties are the wave of the future in shoes, an example are the pumps below. As more and more designers start using them, they are going to start giving away or selling their old prim shoes. I don't know how long that will take for this to happen, but I'm pretty excited about it. But just so we are clear, the paisley pumps shown here are not freebies.

Microphage

2007-08-30T17:46:00.001-07:00

Found a brand new store (for me at least) Microphage There are freebie bikini's and tank tops in loads of colors. The Packs are L$1 and come in lots of colors per pack.

I wanted to do a quick little update on Microphage. Another good way to get freebies is to join update groups. The little red and blue keyhole number on the left was my free gift for joining this group.

Male Special Edition

2007-08-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

Special guest model Atticus is here to show you a few freebie options I found for men. The shape store /Edit/ has a free newbie shape and skin. It comes with hair, but I didn't like it so I went for the Lex Luthor instead. I like this shape store because she has all kinds of non traditional shapes that look like real people and don't all look like they come from Muscle Beach. I thought I'd give you all a little skin shot too, because I really love the perfect amount of hairiness that Atticus is sporting in this skin.

The free tuxedo comes from Sand Ranch.

Kumamoto Japan

2007-08-29T17:42:00.000-07:00

Thanks once again to Lavender for the tip (Hey, who's Sherpa'ing whom)

she teleported me to Kumamoto Japan where there are lots of cute Japanese clothes, including two Kimono's one of which I'm modeling here. I also bought myself a little friend. That would be my little parakeet. (I named him Joey) I splurged and paid L$5 for him, but a girl has to have a companion.

I won! I won!

2007-08-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

It pays to read the fashion blogs. Another great way for a gal low on funds is to watch out for contests. Ciera Bergman of Vitamin Ci announced a contest that the first ten people to go to her store on Hefferoo and IM her could pick out any outfit from her store. I hoofed it over there like I was ON FIRE because I love that store and I won. so I picked up this little outfit (perfect for back to school) called 'bundle up' in cream. It's very versatile. The turleneck itself and the skirt can both be romoved, so you can also have a plain sweater and some plaid shorts if you want.

Blades of Glory!!!

2007-08-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

Today's freebie is brought to you via the suggestion of Lavender at Sand Dollar Sea. If you go to Torva skating rink you will find the free ice skates and these skating outfits. The skates come with an animation that makes you ice skate on the rink. Much fun had by all.

The Gnubie Store on Indigo

2007-08-25T16:39:00.001-07:00

The Gnubie store on Indigo is my favorite freebie store. It's really well organized and not as laggy as it could be. There is everything from clothes to skins and animations. These tights are in a pack with about fifty other pairs. The Doc Martin type (or OI) boots were a freebie from a Motorati promotion which is no longer going on.

There is a "Scotty" from star trek Avatar you can get, I ditched the rest of the avatar but kept the skin, in case I ever want to be old for some reason.

Shiny things has jewelry a jewelry wall and there are waay more than I'm showing here.

This black and white dress is one of my favorite dresses. My hair is a freebie from ETD.

A day late and a linden short

2007-08-24T23:45:00.000-07:00

I should have blogged this earlier, but oh well, it's still worth a mention. A few weeks ago Emma Gilmore of The Surf Shack put out an S.O.S. She had spilled a strawberry shake on her keyboard and fried it. She had to come up with much dinero pronto (I'm such a polyglot). She held a fundraiser and put on a major sale at her store. I decided to go check it out and coughed up ten hard earned lindens to buy a fundraiser tee-shirt. Much to my surprise I found a whole slew of freebie goodies in my inventory as a thank you. So I really made out like a bandit and all for a good cause too. She got her computer back and all is right with the world.

The fundraiser is over now, but she still has a major sale going on and it's a really fun store on a really fun sim. All these pictures were taken in the surrounding area from the store.

Hurry to Last Call

2007-08-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

If I had a dollar for every time I had to hurry to catch last call...but that's a different story. What we are talking about here is Last Call the clothing store. They have a 1L$ dress sale on this nice party outfit in four different colors. This is only available until August 31st. I can't find a Slurl at the moment but I will add one. There I actually made one myself. It's so easy I have no idea why all designers don't include them in their blogs. It would sure simplify life. Well, second life.

Also, and this almost never happens, there are cute heels on sale too. I bought the dress in Aubergine (sported with freebie purple ETD hair) and Sangria (ditto on the hair only different color)

The only problem I found with the dress is that I had some fleshy muffin top action between the top and the skirt. I tried editing my appearance to make my hips shorter or smaller and fiddled about a bit before deciding that my body was perfect so forget it. See wouldn't that be nice in real life too.

Miriel!!!!!!

2007-08-21T23:50:00.001-07:00

Miriel has some beautiful freebie jewelry. The pieces I am showing here are just the tip of the iceburg. Each of these pieces come in a variety of metal combinations and there are some pieces I didn't even get a chance to photograph.

One of the main things I love about this store are her eyes. Unfortunately I can't show you here because I can't afford them yet, but I'm saving up! Her eyes come in many colors and you can choose sizes, either a traditional size or slightly larger. Eyes are one of those things (along with shoes, prim lashes, and a host of other things) that are worth spending a little money on. I really like the ones I'm sporting now, I got them as a freebie and I'm damned if I remember where, but they can make a huge difference in how 'alive' your avatar looks.

The hair I'm wearing is the freebie I got at Icings and the skin is from Skin within, it is the free Adhira Opal skin they were giving away for free. (no longer, sorry)

I thought I saw Posh Spice at Free Dove, Weird.

2007-08-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

Every Newbie should take a road trip to Free Dove. It's another treasure hunt. Some awesome, some crap, but fun to search. After slogging through a great ocean of merchandise I came up with these lovelies. I feel like Posh Spice, I mean Beckham in this black evening ensemble. I usually hate second life hats, but this one isn't too bad. There is also a halfway decent pair of shoes, which are very hard to find for free. They have bling, but it can be turned off.

For those of you unfamiliar with bling, it's the script that makes things look like they 'shine'. Not only is it not amusing and kind of tacky, it also can severely slow down a sim. It's good manners to turn it off if you are in a slow place (like Free Dove) Frankly, I just hate it, and don't recommend it at all unless your Avatar is actually a gangsta and it's necessary for the look.

I also found these cute color change hairsticks (although I was too tired to change the color) and nice button down shirt. The nice thing about freebie boxes is they usually contain a landmark to the store where the freebie originated. So, if you find something that is really your style you can head over there and buy more stuff. That is actually the point of freebie things for most designer.

Hidden in another box was this cute little bikini and sarong. They describe it as 'tartan' but I would be more inclined to call it 'madras' Not just a cocktail anymore. My hair I've been modeling for this blog is a freebie from ETD.

Pixel dolls can do no wrong

2007-08-17T11:39:00.000-07:00

Once again Pixeldolls comes through. Nephaleine has released another cute freebie. this one has assorted jeans and vests that come in all kinds of layers so you can mix and match. Even some cute gloves. These came in handy because I got a JOB there. I grant you mopping floors for lindens isn't glamorous, but hey, I spent nothing and made some money so I'm ahead.

My hair is another freebie from the hairspray freebie store.

Wearing almost nothing but my hair

2007-08-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

I paid a visit to Hairspray an entire sim made up of different hair stores. There is one whole store made up entirely of free and nearly free items.

The hairstyle on my left is from Sinsation one of the stores in residence. They have a few boxes of inexpensive items in here also. The 'do' on my left is from a box of items fro L$1. The box contains 8 different hairstyles in a bunch of different colors.

A word about free hair. Quite often, not always, but often, free hair is from an older style or the beta version of a style that has since been improved. So although getting free hair is a good reason to start at a store, it is worth it to splurge on some brand new hair once in awhile because the techniques for making it improve dramatically.

I am brushing out yet another lovely hair from the sinsation box. The bikini is from a freebie box found on the main hairspray freebie store.

Free Skin from Skin Within

2007-08-15T13:47:00.001-07:00

I trotted on over to Skin Within. They have a free skin that is always available for newcomers, it comes with a free shape and eyebrow shaping. Until 7am Aug 16 they are also giving away another free skin, but it's a treasure hunt so I can't tell you where it is. One of these pictures is the always available Allegra and the other is the super secret skin. After August 16th I will tell you which is which.

ETD is happy hair time!

2007-08-14T18:11:00.000-07:00

One of my absolute favorite hair places in ETD
They have beautiful colors and textures. They also have a bunch of freebies and newbie prices on hair. Both of these styles didn't cost anything, but they also have some really nice ones for $L10. That's a really great price since some better hair can cost hundreds. There is also a sale going on right now and most of the hair is 50% off. The Tee shirt and pants I'm wearing here also come in one of the hair freebie packs.

Hair is another one of those inventory gobblers that should be edited often. Many freebie packs come with tons of colors, many of which you will never wear. I decided early to be a redhead, so I just delete the others. I do keep an occasional different color in case I get invited to a costume party or I'm just being crazy. You can also store the ones you don't need in a cube. See Torley Linden's Inventory tutorial on the sidebar if you want to find out how.

The skin I'm wearing here is Realskins Rose which is a free skin they are giving away at the skin expo Unfortunately the expo is only going on until August 17th.

Welcome to Vienna, don't mind the Lag

2007-08-11T16:16:00.000-07:00

Today's adventure (and it WAS an adventure) takes us to the Vienna Freebie Store. Everything in the store is L$0. There is lots of good stuff and also a fair amount of junk too. It's like thrift shopping. My advice to you is not to buy everything at once. The store is super laggy and you aren't doing yourself any favors by loading up your inventory. I had to log in and out several times during my trip. But, hey, it's free so quit yer bitchin' Sherpa.

A word about inventory. Delete, delete, delete. Go through and just get rid of any freebies you won't ever wear. It will save you lag and many headaches. Check out the inventory tutorial by Torley Linden that I linked for you. He's cute as a button too, so it's worth a watch.

I had to dig through a lot of stuff to get to these cute clothes and the crazy hair, but sometimes that can be fun. If you like flea markets, you'll dig this place.

Feeling Irie Mon

2007-08-09T09:39:00.001-07:00

All this blogging is exhausting me, so I decided to take a littlel vacation. All work and no play and all that. I headed off to the Rasta Beach and Resort Club. When you get there the first thing you see is a groovy little bikini with boy shorts for free. There are also some surf shorts for guys.

I tried my hand at windsurfing for the first time too which I must say was pretty fun. Even if I did end up in the water. I decided to wear the men's surf shorts for that little adventure.

Eventually I just fell back into my old habits and decide to kick back and lounge with a glass of wine, thoughtfully provided by the resort.

Bikini L$0
Men's Surf Shorts L$0
Glass of Wine L$0

Hurry to PixelDolls While Ye May

2007-08-08T14:25:00.001-07:00

Pixeldolls has some of the most beautiful clothes in Second Life. They have some GORGEOUS freebies available too. They are also having a big sale. They are working on moving from the ginormous store they have now into smaller boutique type stores. So run, fly or teleport there as fast as you can while these things are still available. The turquoise dress is the fantastic dress 'celeste' it comes in lots and lots of colors. The thing I love about it the most is the texturing. Even though it is a shirt, pants and prim skirt, it looks like a dress.

A word about skirts. Most items that are created using the actual second life skirt template (you'll recognize it from the purple skirt icon next to it in your inventory)otherwise known as a 'system skirt' tend to make out avatars asses look really big. There are designers who have found ways around this and they are genius. However, for the most part the best way to make a flattering skirt is to use the pants templace (glitch pants) and attach a prim to it that makes it look more tight fitting. You'll understand what I mean when you've tried a bunch of things on.

The other freebie pixel doll folder has lots and lots of really pretty tank tops, even a ballet leotard and a black shrug. It is perfectly acceptable, even recommended to mix and match different parts of different outfits and even different designers. It's called STYLE baby. In this picture I have put on the Wrap tank: dragon and then used the bottom half of the violet celeste dress as a skirt.

Celeste Dress: L$0

Wrap Tank; dragon: L$0

baubles and bangles and beads oh my!

2007-08-07T14:10:00.001-07:00

I found some lovely free jewelry today. At SecondMirage

You have to hunt around, but that is the point of freebies. They give you a reason to go in and then you see all the other fantastic stuff they have. Pretty good idea. So sometimes it's a hunt, but that is half the fun.

One tip, if you see something that looks like a gift box anywhere, try right clicking and clicking buy. A menu will come up with what is in the box, but you haven't actually bought it until you hit buy again.

gold bangles L$0

I also took a little trip to Caroline's Jewelry on Lo Lo and got these groovy wooden bangles and mother of pearl necklace.

necklace L$0

bangles L$0

A whole new you IN A BOX!

2007-08-06T13:07:00.000-07:00

Another great place to start is LindenLifestyles, they have a couple of great Avatar Kits. The Jill in a box and the Jack in a box. They also have some great free hair.

I always grab the male freebies too. They can look really cute on girls. Here I'm wearing the female skin and shape, tank top and cherry bikini top and flip flops from the Jill in a Box and the painter pants and matix sunglasses from Jack in a Box. The hair is the Calla Freebies I'm so Preddy V.2. The red ball in the picture is called a pose ball. when you click on it, you take on whatever pose or animation has been scripted into it. In some places the poses and animations are very very naughty.

Ok, here is the tricky stuff. How to get the gumdangit stuff out of the boxes.

1. Right click on the item you want to buy and then click on buy. It will give you a list of what is in the box. Click buy.

2. Now look in your inventory probably under objects and drag and drop the box on the ground. (sometimes the land you bought a box from doesn't allow you to open it there and you have to go somewhere else to do it, that's a drag)

3. Right click on the box on the ground and click 'open'

4. Then click on copy to inventory. It might give you an error message saying you arent' allowed to copy but it will put it in your inventory or some such thing. Just do it.

5. Now you have a folder with your stuff and you can just right click on the things to wear them.

More free skins!

2007-08-06T11:23:00.000-07:00

My next stop is to Tete a Pied for more lovely new skins. They have both a male and female set available for Avatars under one month old. There is range of skins from light to dark. I am wearing Tap Bronzage Light. It's a bit dark for my red hair, but might be good for times

when I would like to have a tan.

My friend Atticus is modeling one of the free Tete a Pied skins for men. Sorry, the awesome hat and hair don't come with it

This one is TaP rose medium, a bitter better suited to my coloring I think and a nice neutral classy skin.

Now, since I find it absolutely impossible to live with the shoes that came with my Avatar, I am off to Lassitude & Ennui, one of the best shoe and jewelry emporiums out there. They have some freebie sandals and jewelry. I am wearing the necklace and earings in silver above. The sandals I have on are the white and silver option, but they come in other colors too.

When wearing shoes, the best ones come with a shoe base that you put on and a left and right prim. You just wear all three together.

Desc: "L&E" Signature set - silver-jewelry

Region: Nouveau L$0

Desc: "L&E" Signature sandals - white
Region: Nouveau L$0

So you have an avatar now what?

2007-08-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

Ah, so you've got an avatar. You've navigated your way through help island and here you are ready to party. To get down. To get shopping with your own bad self. But, oh oh, things sure do cost a whooooole lotta lindens round here. Well fret not kids, you can look absolutely frickin' tastic in very little time spending very litte dough and I am here to help you. The bad news is that you really do need some money. Even 'free' things sometimes cost L$1. So get camping, get some money from your bank account or get someone to give you a couple of bucks. I don't care how you get it, but for $L10 I can make you a STAR!

Our first stop is Icings on Mischief Cove. They have a lovely skin, shape and hair for absolutely bubkus. Nada, Zero, Zilch. They also have this gorgeous tank top and skirt set for L$1. I have decided to be a redhead. Coz' I do what I want, and I want that.But the hair comes in several colors so have fun.

How to wear the hair. This can be tricky for first timers. The hair that comes with your newbie avatar is stuck to your head. You cannot remove it, you must replace it with the bald cap that comes with your new hair or else it will show through. Once you do this your Avi is bald when you detach the hair. Now, this is really important. Don't ever put on the newbie hair again. Delete it, it's horrible and will give me hives if I see it.

Desc: Mischief Freebie Skin and Shape
Region: Mischief L$0

Desc: Miko Omegamu - Valedictorian Hair
Region: Mischief L$0

Desc: *ICING* Gift: La Vie Boheme - Amethyst
Region: Mischief L$1