I finally made it!!

I need patterns for my Sims3 and have been trying for some time now to make them, but without success. Then I found this great tutorial by Sinastra, who tipped about a plug-in for Photoshop. That made all the difference in the world! After some fumbling around I finally managed to get started with pattern making. I'm really happy about this! Now I don't have to wait for somebody else to create something I can use, but can make them myself.

If you play Sims3, keep an eye on my downloads, I've already submitted the first ones!

Hooked on Sims3

I like the foreign adventures in Sims3 and have been playing them a lot. I also tried to make my first pattern for the game and managed to separate the channels ok, but the final colors were not even close to what they were supposed to be. Seems it requires a lot of patience to create stuff for the game... Hopefully I will find that endurance one of these days!

Gimme a break

Computer problems, work overload, multiple colds, artist's cramp... can make anyone crack. I just couldn't find the energy for Sims 2. On the other hand, my son got Sims 3 on his computer, and we have both been fighting for play time (he usually wins). It's same but different. I would like to create downloads for Sims 3, but just eyeing the manual was too much. Better stick to what I do best, or at least resonably well... ;-) So I'm back in business!

Love goth!

Oh, if I was young, I'd definitely dress in all goth... Love the dramatic style! When I was 15, I started a club for vampires. I think it had three or four members. I dreamt of living in a gothic castle with skeletons, skulls and black candles. Those were the days...! But at least I can play goth in the game... ;-)

A new season

Don't quite know what to make, clothes for fall or for some other season? I guess I will try to start a poll. I haven't quite figured out how to make the poll pod work, but as others have managed to figure it out, so should I!

The White House

I'll probably never get to visit the White House in Washington, but I sure can visit every corner of it in the game!

I've spent considerable time searching the internet for house plans and pictures of the White House. I still had to make lots of modifications, as not even the biggest Sims2 lot was large enough to house the Residence, West Wing and East Wing in their actual shapes and sizes.

My White House residence has 2 floors and no basement, and both wings have one floor only. As there are no descriptions and very few pictures available of the East Wing, I transformed it into a recreation area. The bowling alley that should be in the basement of the residence is moved here, as is the game room that should be in the residence top floor. The movie theater should be in the east corridor but did not fit there, so it was also relocated to the East Wing. Another problem is that the East Wing entrance should face east, but as there wasn't space enough, I had to turn it north instead.

The West Wing is compressed and includes only the central features: the Cabinet room and, of course, the Oval Office. The Press briefing room is in the west corridor. I couldn't fit in the palm room, so it is moved to the east corridor instead.

Have you noticed that the Residence is 2 floors high from the north side and 3 floors high from the south side (not counting the top floor on the roof)? I simply kept the 2 floors that are seen from the north. My ground floor includes the entrance hall, the cross hall, the East room, the Green room, the Blue room, the Red room, and the State dining room. The family dining room is moved upstairs. Other rooms upstairs include the Truman balcony, the west and east bedrooms, the Queen's bedroom (now the family gym), east and west sitting halls, the Lincoln bedroom (now a study), the Yellow oval room and the master bedroom. The presidential living room and the Treaty room are missing.

I've tried to keep to the actual color schemes (even though these seem to change with each president). At times I couldn't find Maxis walls and floors that were close enough to the original ones, so I made my own.

The main reason as to why I didn't build the top floor was that it didn't look good in the game. The actual roof balustrad is so high so you hardly see the top floor, but in the game I couldn't find a solution that would work. However, I but an elevator here so that your simmies can visit the roof anyhow. At least your Secret Service simmies will like to keep an eye on the surroundings from the roof top.

As for the exterior, I did make the Rose garden, but not the Jacqueline Kennedy garden, for the simple reason that your garderner would be overworked. I put a dog house both front and back, in case you want to have Bo in your game.

I re-zoned the lot because I first tought it should be a public lot, men then changed it back, losing the mailbox. Sorry about that...

PS: You can find the Barack Obama sim here at TSR, thanks to Jirka, and Michelle Obama at MTS2, thanks to Vera Marina. Just follow the links.

Back to my senses!

I've spent some time whining about everybody elses' creations being better than mine. So what was I to do that would be any good?!

At last I remembered all the wonderful comments I've got from you all, and got back to my senses. I might never make it to Featured Artist or get tens of millions of downloads, but I've been quite happy myself with what I've made, and grateful for so many downloading and appreciating my creations.

So I stopped whining and made some clothes I missed having in the game. Hope you enjoy!

Greek inspiration

Hi! I'm back from a holiday in Greece. We spent some time on Tilos and Rhodos, staying in small hotels (with pool and garden). Once home, I was inspired to build a Greek hotel so that my simmies could have a Greek holiday, too!

I loved the open-air restaurants with great food. We had Greek sallad every day. I made one when we were back, but it's not the same at all. Anyhow, the hotel I built has a restaurant on a open terrace so that simmies can feel the cooling breeze from the sea.

Hope I can pass on a bit of my holiday feelings! Enjoy!

Gone on vacation!

I will be abroad for a few weeks. Hopefully I'll be back with a bunch of new ideas. I wish you all a happy summer!

Oh, frustration...

This is the life of a perfectionist:

I just haven't been happy with the clothes I've made the last weeks.I haven't uploaded them because there is always some small detail that doesn't look good and that I can't quite fix the way I want to. At the same time, rain has been pouring down on my sim city for days, even though it's supposed to be summer and eternal sunshine! I don't know if the game weather gets me into a grumpy mood, or if my grumpy mood affects the weather...?