's Blog

Sorry...

I must apologize for my absence in creating and around the community. These past few weeks have been very busy with illnesses, schoolwork and operations, it's all go! I'll be getting some mini-projects out soon as I lost half of the Secret Garden files due to hard-drive failure.

Sorry for the inconvenience I hope y'all understand!

Some news

Hi everyone, I thought I should tell you about upcoming sets and free sets etc.

Let�s start with upcoming sets. I am creating 3 sets at the moment, a hair set and two clothing sets. But I do have one more clothing set that I am going to start on soon.
I published an outerwear set today, hope you will enjoy it!

So, let�s move on to free sets. The free set of October is Fashion set 36. Enjoy! :)

Prince Vlad of Somewhere

Yay! Someone has fixed the Windows Media Player bug that stopped me from taking screencaps, and I have finally been able to make the grey "Prince Vlad" suit from "Bram Stoker's Dracula". Sadly, screencaps don't provide the best quality (and I couldn't find any good exhibition pictures or publicity shots of the costume), but I have tried to add a bit of realism to this skin by doing something I have never done before (because I didn't know you could do it, silly me): I have made a matching "bump map" for the skin. Don't be afraid to tell me if it looks appalling, though, then I shall know to leave well alone in the future. ;)

Halloween Joinable Statues

This is a big project so it will probably take me a couple of weeks to complete. I may release these in two groups, one each week though. I'll have to see how much I have done at the end of the week. Anyhoo, once again using the joinable bases from Lost Sims, I will be making a number of Halloween-themed statues. I am using various Maxis skins for this -- the Grim Reaper, the Mad Scientist skin from LL, the zombie skins from LL, many of the Magic Town NPCs, and so on. Previews will be posted as I go.

Busy in Real Life

Hi everyone,

I am a bit busy in real life for the next three weeks. I am running as a candidate in an election and I need to concentrate on my campaign:)! But I will not abandon my sims and designing lots!

See you soon!

Tiina

Something ate my Sims! Part 2

Well, nothing I've tried (and I've tried everything) has brought my ailing game back to life, so it's time to bite the bullet and start over again with a clean slate. This weekend's project is to find my game discs and reinstall the game from the ground up.

Luckily, I was smart for once and backed up my old game files before I recently installed Freetime and Apartment Life, and all the SPs. So all I've really lost is a lot of time and a few fistfulls of hair. Plus I think my language scared the cats at a few particularly aggravating moments.

The lot I was working on for publication when my game went haywire is still okay, I think. If not, the cats had better put their little earplugs in!

Welcome to my New Minisite!

Hi everyone! Well I just have to say welcome to my new minisite! Thankyou to all that downloaded my creations, because with out you guys, I wouldn't even be here. You can check out all my Texture Challenge creations here. Currently I am working on TC108 and I am recolouring the Fia Dining Room by detimgi and texures are by Vanilla Sim.
Now that I have my minisite up and running I am able to take recolour requests, so just drop me a PM!
Also feel free to use my creations in your downloaded lots!

Death

I went outside yesterday to Ray's hutch and noticed how cold it was, so I moved him into the back portch to sheild him from the bitter wind. He hadn't drank very much water and he was freezeing cold. Then about an hour ago I went out to feed him and I was putting his food in the bowl thinking "Ray's sure quiet." I opened the hucth and when I didnt hear moveing I put my hand in and found his lifeless corpse. I was sat there crying. He shouldn't be dead but I have his body on my lap, hes dead. I want him back, hes my pig, he souldnt be dead. Its all my fault. Hes dead.

New House

Ok, I am back again with a new House. I hope you guys like it. i may make others in a series.

Those urban backdrops...

I love Maxis neighbourhood items. Power stations, cooling towers, radio satelites and the all-new junk ridden alleyways are fantastic, and mixing these with some neighbourhood lots that have some sort of urban/industrial visual impact really sets the grungy urban scene! (note: all links open in new windows).

For Picket's Trailors (pictured left), I placed the Container Shipping Yard to one side. This lot is not one I tend to play that often, but it does look very colourful and industrial, with a tall crane on top completing the effect. Behind that, I placed one of the Industrial Age lots: the Gas Street Power Station because the tall chimneys and large windows really stand out in a neighbourhood background.


Another lot I use extensively in backgrounds is the Gulf Offshore Oil Rig. In its own right, it's a large lot, but it stretches quite some way across the picture on the right and it makes a great background feature because of all the high cranes and masts. I tend to set it at a short distance in the background where it's still visible over the top of closer buildings.

And why am I telling you all this? Well, it's easy to download a lot because of its screenshot. I never alter screenshots of actual buildings or objects offered for download; I sometimes change the sky backdrop so it's a little less of a cheerful blue!) but surrounding neighbourhood decor can still mislead, with the lot itself seeming much more plain in an empty neighbourhood. That can be disappointing, so I figured I'd tell you what I used (and provide the links so you can easily do something similar if you wish).