at my finest

This morning was one of those mornings. I woke up way too early and fell asleep just as I was about to get up. So when I did get up, I was in really still sleeping. So doing the things I had to do in the mornings I was surprised that I actually had time to eat breakfast and water the plant babies. Feeling very happy and relaxed when I know I should really be in a rush, but taking it cos you know… how often are you happy and relaxed in the morning. 

That was until I walked into the office. Not only did I forget to any put jewellery on, I’ve put mascara on only one eye. It also slipped my mind to prepare and bring my lunch (what!!??) and of course my phone was left at home too. On the bright side, I did not put two different shoes on… yup that has happened before. Not only did I put different shoes on the last time, but I was standing at the printer looking at my shoes and was wondering what was off… not even realising! Only much later, after I have been through the office a few times I sat on my chair, and it just hit me… not one of my finest days.

But lets get back to today, I can cope with most of my slip ups today, but my vain self refuse to let me go without mascara on my one eye… It is really noticeable since I have blonde eyelashes and I wear black mascara. I’m not going to do the Cruella look today! I had to slip out and buy myself a new mascara, even though I don’t need it, but I’ll keep this one in my drawer at work for days like these. I need to start covering my bases. This is happening way too often.

Now just to get through the day without my phone… that in itself, is a massive challenge.

The picture doesn’t have much to do with this theme, but hey that’s food I don’t have today. 

worked from a cafe today

I always wanted to be like the people in the movies, where they sit in their favorite cafe and work away on their laptops. Always thought that was pretty cool, but it can only happen if you are self employed or working from home, right? And I’m one of those 9-5’ers that slog away the day.

Well today I was working from home and decided to try it. Goodness, I really loved it! I felt the buzz around me and it was just all happening. Such a weird thing to be excited about, but I had recently had very mild Covid and couldn’t go out as I was in isolation. I worked from hom and have to say, I actually miss the interaction with my colleagues. It also felt like my life was standing still while the world seemed to be moving on. So today, working from home (not sick anymore), I did it! I wrote a 12 page report and did it in a few hours. When I’m doing it at home or work, it takes me days! To be fair normally I’m also interrupted a million times.

Weird what a little change in location and inspiration can do.

This is just an old picture I took in 2018, not new, but it fitted the theme, so why not?

Something different

Hi all

I’ve been a bit quiet again, but blame RL. I had a blast, still do, but taking a breather. Looky I took a pic of something different.

Couch: Scarlet Creative Mesh Lucky 8 Sofa – Lily

Globe: -tres blah- Eclectic Collection – Globe (The World is Yours)

Cup and Muffin: Apple Fall Coffee & Muffin

Frames: Apple Fall Annan Reclaimed Frame

Plant: Apple Fall Reaching Plant

Tutorial: How to make your avatar pop

This is my first tutorial in Photoshop and I’m actually a bit nervous. I’m not doing it in a video, but if you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment.

From years of fashion blogging I liked to make my avatar stand out when I take a picture but I got really bored with the same wall background. But sometimes my avatar just blended into a more busier one and you never really notice her fashion. Sooo if you have the same problem. I have a really subtle but effective way to make it pop.

The picture below is not totally raw, I have already liquified the parts that was a bit jaggard and blended the neck where there was a bit of a line.

 

1. Firstly, duplicate your layer. (CTR + J).

2. Change your layer mode to “Vivid Light”. This should make your picture really dark.

3.Then go to Filter > Other >High Pass. Play around with the Radius slider. This will make your image much more defined. Take care not to make the radius too high, since it’s a second life picture, it is already a cartoon and if it’s too high it may appear cartoonish. We don’t want it to be too strong. In my case I decided on 1.8. Three is about the maximum I normally go. The trick is to just define it, so if you turn off the layer, by clicking on the eye icon, you can see the difference.

4. Then click on Alt and your layer mask button.

5. Use your paint brush tool to paint the color white over the parts you want to highlight in the image. In this case I’m painting over the eyes of my avatar and the sides of her nose as well as her arms and stomach parts. Again this is really just a very subtle way of drawing attention to the part of the picture which you want to be a bit brighter. If you turn the layer off and on, you will see that it is just a little brighter, subtle but enough for it to stand out. Suddenly, when you look at the picture for the first time, you don’t see the back ground first.

You can play around with it until it’s to your liking. I just find this is a really soft (?) way of doing it and to still looks natural.

Below is the final picture. I added my signature and a border.

Much love!

Explore your heart out

I always loved photography and to explore. I have 100s and 100s of pictures since I started. I joined Koinup and just loved sharing them. But then I got into blogging and starting doing events and that lead to sponsors and soon all I did was log on, blog, log off. The whole cyber world and creativity of amazing sims for years and years passed me by without noticing, but recently, I stopped and I started exploring again. So the last two pictures I posted, was all somewhere on the grid.

The one below is a sim that has the most amazing fields and flowers and shabby equipment with pretty chairs and decor. As I continued exploring I found a door that lead into a cave and I found this amazing dark space with all the glistering lights and sparkly trees. I could not resist. The picture is a little dark, but the idea was to show the lights. It was really a hidden treasure. Go visit Tillicum Island and see for yourself. Explore your heart out, you never know what you might find.

Much love!

In the Deep

I spent some time playing around in Photoshop to add depth to a picture that didn’t have any. I prefer to do it in SL, but I don’t think this came out too badly.

Have a great day everyone!

How to be creative: It was never a secret after all

Today I was lucky enough to stumble upon a blog by Scott Berkun. It really caught my attention as he released a book about company culture, which is really relevant to my current work situation and very much under the spotlight. But, then I visited his blog and he had a link to his most read blogs, which is always really interesting to see what people love reading about. The first entry (not to my surprise, as it’s my personal number one most asked question!), is How to be Creative: the short honest truth. Of course I read it.  I want to be creative, I want to be interesting, I want to be good! The answer?… WORK. You have to work at being creative. By learning and doing it over and over. As you learn new techniques. The more you learn the more you can do, the more you can do the more creative you can be. This was never a secret.

Clearly, my avoidance technique (the one I recently adopted) was not helping. Time to get back to work!

While I was not being very creative in Second Life, I have been a little more creative in real life. Winter has finally arrived and I have been out and about in the snow.

Have a great day working hard!

Jasmine Flower

Hope you are having a wonderful Monday. Mine was pretty busy at RL work. I skipped gym today because I worked late and since it’s almost winter, it is already dark when I get home. That should really not be an excuse to not go to the gym. To be honest I can make up a million reasons to not go to the gym, I normally try to ignore them.

Well I’m off to go snuggle with my hubby in front of the fire and to watch Game of Thrones. I heard it was the creepiest and most disturbing episode ever. So looking forward to it! Happy Monday World!

Body:
Skin: Lumae :: Adore – 4 – Peach // Darkling
Body: Maitreya Mesh Body – Lara
Hair: Magika [03] Things

Clothes:
Top: …Mutresse... Bira Jacket –
Pants: …Mutresse… Lana Shorts
Heels: Bens Boutique – Rachel High Heels

Accessories:
Chest Piercings: .Pekka. Rake Piercing (Chest) Unisex
Make Up: #adored – eye extras and #adored – sorrow shadows – The Dark Style Fair 
Face Piercings: PUNCH / Dimple Piercing / Spikes
Septum Ring: PUNCH / Cross Septum

Pose:
(marukin) clous [c88]

Location:
Home Sweet Home

Comfortable Enough

Body:
Mesh face: LOGO Infinity Chloe Hybrid Mesh Avatar
Body: Maitreya Mesh Body – Lara
Hair: Alice Project – Indigo – 100 Block Event

Clothes:
Top: {Reverie} ‘L.A. Woman’ Tucked Tee Olive – Shabby Chic Event

Accessories:
Facial Piercings: :Hebenon Vial: Alice [Metal]*Mesh*
Septum Ring: ::Duh!:: Septum Pierce – 100 Block Event
Collar: *MUKA* Collar Love

Pose:
Sari-Sari – Spring

Location:
Home Sweet Home

♥ Spring Fever ♥

Body:
Mesh face: LOGO Infinity Chloe Hybrid Mesh Avatar
Body: Maitreya Mesh Body – Lara
Hair: [ANONYMOUS]  Skye Hair-Brunette-Roots – Whore Couture

Clothes:
Top: [ SAKIDE ] Reveal Top
Pants: .:Vein:. sport Shorts – Luck of the Irish 
Boots: -DG- Sydney Boots (Slink, TMP, Maitreya, Belleza)

Accessories:
Hand Piercings: .HollyWeird. Punkture -Mesh Hand Dermals- UNISEX
Bracelets / Hip Attachment: -Death Row Designs- Ravishing roses – body jewelry – Whore Couture 
Collar: (r e d) mint Posture collar

Pose:
RACK Poses – Moments Like This

Location:
Home Sweet Home