's Blog

Night & Day

I've been dying to get my hands on the gorgeous ladies' suit mesh from Glamour Life Stuff for a long time and, now that I've finally installed this pack, I've at long last been able to have a go at re-colouring it. I wanted to make a slightly more modest version with less cleavage on display. I've made five linen suits in subtle pastel colours worn with a white lace camisole for everyday use and five silk suits in vibrant colours worn with a black lace camisole and black choker suitable for a night on the town. The changes are not major as I really liked the original suits to begin with. I didn't want to interfere with the original shoes which I like very much and I haven't changed the actual suits much beyond altering the colours and adding damask patterning to some of the lapels and trim.



All suits are available for adult and young adult females. You will need to have the Glamour Life Stuff Pack installed for them to show up in your game. The pastel suits are categorised under everyday wear and the dark suits are categorised under formal wear.

New poll!

Thanks to everyone who took part in my Hallowe'en poll. My first Hallowe'en set is currently being completed and prepared for upload - it's a "wig" (hair) set for cheerleader costumes and I hope you'll all like it.
There's plenty more to come, too - between now and Hallowe'en, I will only be making spooky/gothy/novelty sorta downloads (taking into account all your poll answers, of course).

I'm now looking for feedback on my hair sets. I only do the four genetic colours, because that's what I like to have in my game. But it's not me that downloads the sets, it's you! Please answer my poll, post in my guestbook, PM me, and let me know what colours of hair you like to download. From the results of that poll, I'll put together some swatches, and shortlist a maximum of around 10 - 12 "standard" colours that all my new hair sets will come in (and I may add new "extended" parts for my old hair sets with those extra colours too).

Thanks again for all your feedback, through polls and comments. Keep it coming!

Something Old, Something New

Well, they say everything old is new again, and I guess that is a little bit true. I am uploading a lot of my older works that will be new to TSR. These will placed in the free rotation on a permanent basis, there will be a one day hitch when they will not be free, but they will be free after the first day.

Many of these items were inspired by the work of other artists, namely: Cyclonesue, Gara (Gara's Boutique), Katy_76 (Sims Mod Board - dead site), Marina (Marina's Sims 2), Olemantiker (InSIM, etc), Padre333, Shakeshaft, Shannanigan, Shtinky00 (Holy Simoly & TSR), SimAddict99, Simtomatic, Solander (Pimp-my-Sims), Solfal, Suzanne (Sim People & Me), and Windkeeper -- and many others as well.

These items are meant to compliment the work of these artists and hopefully both you and they will find them satisfactory.

First up will be my Construction Set, then following in close order my Arkham and Post-Modernist Sets.

Edit 14 Oct 2007: The Construction set is now posted and free :)

Edit 15 Oct 2007: The Arkham Set is now posted and free :)

Back to Building

I'm finally doing some building again. Expect many new starter homes from me, particularly ones that would work well as vacation cottages for Bon Voyage. I also realize that I haven't made many new community lots lately. So, we'll see if I come up with some unique ones in the near future. What I'd like to do is experiment with terrain paints more.

Which reminds me.... if you'd like to do the same, head on over to the Challenges and Contests section of the Sims 2 Forum here at TSR. There's still time to enter the October S2HBAA contest. Our theme this month is Scary Cemeteries, so you can put all those creepy terrains to good use! :)

Poll Results

Thanks to all 81 users who took part in my last poll. Here are the results:

What do you like to download?(Check all that apply)

Lots 39.51%(32 votes)
Clothing 74.07%(60 votes)
Hair/Makeup 61.73%(50 votes)
Objects 77.78%(63 votes)
Wallpaper 28.4%(23 votes)
Flooring 23.46%(19 votes)
Sims 20.99%(17 votes)
Pets 4.94%(4 votes)

Roses and Spooky Lamps

Had a busy weekend of making objects, I completed two sets: Rose Flowers and Halloween Table Lamps. Preview pictures below...

Sleepy Hollow: Excelsior Mill

A very old mill that is still standing after all these years. If your Sims like dwellings with a history, this is perfect for them. The mill has been partially converted into a house, but does need some fixing up. Wonderful slatted windows and door by that famous german craftsman, OleManTiker, and a water wheel (which is decorative only) by reknown waterologist, MsBarrows. Comes with an invisible driveway (ah, just park the car on the grass). And there is one odd thing (only one?) .... there really isn't a front door. There is an arched doorway into the living area. Somehow it just seemed right to leave the arch ... a regular door just didn't look right. Excelsior Mill pix ...

Sleepy Hollow: Tiker's Mill

An interesting combination of old wood and crumbling stone is the base for this house. Small but roomy house and is perfect for a family just starting out. House comes with an invisible driveway by roddyaleixo. A special thanks to Olemantiker at InSIMenator, who has been most kind, allowing me to recolor and use his 'slatted' windows and door for this house. I have always loved these items and have used them for a long, long time in my game. The windows and door adds a special touch to Tiker's Mill, and this lot was named in honor of him! He is such a sweetheart!!! Tiker's Mill pix:

Your Guide to Easy Recoloring

I had made this guide for someone who wanted to know how to start designing custom content. Hopefully this can help one of you get started too! Please note that this guide does not cover image/graphics editing. I personally use Paint Shop Pro and have some knowledge of Photoshop. If you need help with image editing, please PM me. I'll consider making a guide for image editing in the future. :) What you will need SimPe, which you can find here: http://sims.ambertation.de/. A paint program. MS Paint, Paint Shop Pro, Adobe Photoshop are good examples. If you don't already have a paint program and cannot afford to purchase one, there are good free alternatives you can find by Googling "free paint programs" or "free graphics programs". Ultimate Paint is a good example, you can find that program on ultimatepaint.com. Recoloring We will start by opening SimPe and opening the Object Workshop. To get started, Object Workshop must load appropriate files. This can take several minutes. Click "Start" to begin the process. Once Object Workshop has fully loaded, you will choose the item you want to recolor. In this example, I have chosen the Cornerstone End Table. Once you have selected your item by highlighting it (click once to highlight), click "Next". Make sure "Recolor" is selected in the drop-down menu and that "Create Color Extension Package" is always selected. Once you have chosen these options, they will be this way for future recolors. Click Start! A window will open. Name your file and click "Save". Yet another window will open, as seen below. The following images will walk you through the rest of the process. Open the exported texture file in your paint program. :) When you've finished and saved your file, copy and paste the file into your Downloads folder to test it out and take a preview shot in the game. :) It's extra important that you give your file an original/unique name so that you can find it later for upload. Remember, this is an "easy guide", so there are things I have not included that you will learn along the way. This guide is to teach you the basics, give you a general idea of what is involved in recoloring, and provide you will a good foundation for other areas of creation. Once you get a feel for SimPe and your paint program, this process will take a very short time!

A Fix!

Enough people have asked for it - so I have done it. My Winter Wonderland set was based on a mesh by Athlan which no longer resides on TSR. So instead of trying to locate it (others had tried) I decided to just use a new mesh. I based the clothes on a mesh done by Madeleine2005. I hope you like it. The biggest difference is that the cowl is slightly larger and the jeans are tucked into the boots. Also keep an eye out for the Jefferson sofa recolours of a mesh done by Murano - really digging her stuff lately :) Hopefully I will have got myself sorted and get onto recolouring Padre's latest set - so keep an eye out for that! hugs Nancy xx