Woo! Hand-Drawn!

I don't know about you other designers out there, but I'm constantly trying to keep things interesting for myself in creating things for my store. I'm always trying new things to keep the experience exciting and challenging, soooo... I'm going to treat myself to a drawing tablet this weekend (a Christmas present to MYSELF!)

I used a Wacom tablet years ago for Photoshop and Illustrator projects at work, but lost the pen along the way, was too lazy to get a new one, and well... just lost interest in using it. Well, now I have these amazing professional-level artist friends in SL like Donovan and Noam, who've created awesome hand-drawn products for SL and do these totally impressive anime-style drawings. I'm so in awe of their skills and talent, and I'm sooo jealous! But I've also been inspired to up my game a bit and give it a try. My drawing skills don't even come close to Noam or Donovan's, but I'll certainly do my best :-) I do have lots of drawing and painting classes under my belt from my school days, as well as lots and lots of photo retouching experience from work, so I guess we'll see how prepared I am for my self-inflicted challenge! I'll probably continue incorporating photo elements as well, but I'd really like to create my own shading, folds and detailing for the clothing bases.

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to my first Photoshop endeavor using a pen and tablet in creating some cool stuff for Miau Haus. Keep your eyes peeled!

Miau for now! ^.^

I ♥ Japanese Snowball Monkeys

OMG Noam! Sooo cute!!! (HeeHee... Noam mentioned studying Japanese Snowball Monkeys in a class in his previous comment.) I just HAD to share this pic with everyone! Seeing stuff like this just make me smile :D

I ♥ Meerkats

I had to research some stock photography yesterday at work to find a dry desert ground shot for a direct mail piece I'm working on... and I ran across this cuuuute shot of a meerkat! They're the cutest animal on the planet (next to kitties, of course). This girl has spent hours watching animal documentaries on Animal Planet, and the meerkat is definitely on of my favorites to watch, well, that and the ring-tailed lemur and the Japanese snow monkey. I just realized how dorky this blog is... oh well :-)

Rudra's Tree... Lonely No More

First of all, thank you for the wonderful suggestion Rudra ^.^ I made some Sandy Paws Stockings on Friday and put them in my main store... hope you all enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them for you.

Holiday Kicks!

Just released these babies last night... okay, no licking the Candy Cane Shoes!

Suggestions please?

Hey gang!

Ya know... I just finished putting out some new jeans and tees, and I'm a little-jeans-and-teed-out, so I'm looking for a new fun project. The other night, Noam gave me an adorable shoe idea I'm definitely gonna take a shot at (my prim work has something to be desired though...lol). I would love to get some input from my fellow bloggers (if you don't mind, that is)... sooo, if there's a Posy-perfect idea you'd like to suggest, I would love to hear it! Something that you haven't seen in-world, but would like to... something you have seen, but would like to see Posy's spin on it... neko-related... human-related... anything! If I use your idea, I'll give ya lots of free stuff :D

Meow for now!

More Naughty Than Nice :P

Wooohooo! Since Zab encouraged to make more singles (that are more affordable) than complete outfits, I've been on a fun creative roll! It can be so time intensive and stressful to create an entire outfit that you're happy with, so making singles has been kind of fun and liberating for me... each t-shirt is like a little piece of art, and I think I've refined my templates where I'm super happy with the quality. (I've come a long way since my simple tees that say "meow" and "purr"!)

Sooo... here's the newest release... a creative sampling from my little kitty brain. A little nice, and a lotta naughty! I tried to do some edgy, gritty stuff for the guys, and some fun cutsie, kind of mod retro stuff for the girls. There's also a new t-shirt style I'm trying out... a raglan sleeve tee that's 2-toned, kinda like those longsleeve baseball tees.





I also did some new unisex jeans that I'm calling "Tagger Jeans" intended for you to look like a tagger just finishing up a grafitti masterpiece. Such delinquents, I tell ya!



You'll find all the new gear at my main store in Yelas, or at The Block (soon to be in the Unlimited and SPE locations).

PosyCat on the Prowl!

Beware SL citizens! Don't be surprised if you're pounced on by a fluffy giggling furball as you walk thru a dark alley or seemingly deserted street. She means no real harm though... she may only want to know where you got your cute hair or boots... she may start a tickle-fight... or she may give you a quick lick on your cheek with her rough kitty tongue, then scamper away =^.^=

I just didn't feel like working last night, so I did a lil photo shoot with the adorable hair Noam gave me (such a talented kitty!)

*flicks her hair seductively with a wink, then scampers off*

My Boyfriend is a Cyborg Ninja

Sure, he may be a cold steely metal mass with laser beams and a few dials and switches on the outside, but he's my sweet cuddly kitty boy in the inside =^.^=

I fuckin' love you Donovan!

Tits & Ass Preview!

Wooohooo! Well, now that I got your attention... it's not REALLY a preveiw of tits and asses... it's what COVERS them... heehee :P

I've always loved collage as an art medium, and have always wanted to do more of it... so here I am whippin' up collages on tees in SL and hoping that people like them. In any case, it was super fun to do, so plan on seeing more of it in Miau Haus. Oooh! The tees come with two longsleeve undershirts (one dirty and dingy, one clean and white) that you can layer under your shortsleeve tee.





I also made my first pairs of long pants (I've only made shorts, clamdiggers and capris til now), and with a little technical help from Zab, I was able to make the bottoms look right :-) And they're unisex!



Now, this is just a preview of the new tees and jeans that will be officially released tonight. I would have done it last night, but Donovan and JellyBean lured me away from working for a ninja romp thru Nakama (naughty kitties!)

Later Pussycats!

Goin' Retro!

Well, I went to the local Swap Meet with my RL best friend a couple of weeks ago and I got my first vintage cashmere sweater! I usually don't pay that much for sweaters, but it was so cute and unique, and I just HAD to have it! I've been doing the Swap Meet thing with my friend for years, because we both love the styles of the 30s, 40s and 50s, and some of the Swap Meets in the Los Angeles area have lots of great stuff. I've started several random collections of things from those eras (I'll share those with you in future blogs). Anyhow... the cashmere sweater inspired me to make a collection of little button-up vintage sweaters for Miau Haus. It's funny, I've realized that when I start making stuff I'm really interested in, the ideas just flood into my little brain... I could have made so many more! Sweater overload!!!



Then I had to make some cute cuffed clamdiggers too!



Oh! I just finished making some fun tees and jeans... I just need to get off my pixel butt and do the ad photos and stuff. (Doesn't help when SL is being such a butthead like yesterday.) *sigh*

See you cats later!

Copy-Cats Suck!

On Wednesday, I logged on to an offline IM from Noam, saying someone was ripping off some of my Miau Haus ideas. He left me a landmark as well, so i TP'd there to check it out... sure enough this person (who's name I won't mention) had copied several items from my store: my Asian-style tea set, my kitty head cuddle cubbie, my mod cat chairs, and my leopard-print stools and table... hell, he even made an attempt at copying the cat head facade of my store!

The guy had added cat face textures and flexi tails to several of the items, but the concepts and shapes were obviously "lifted" from mine. I dunno, I didn't really want to cause any drama... I've experienced my fill of that during the past month or so, so I just sent him a simple IM, saying I was in his store, noticed that he had copied some Miau Haus items, and that he was now banned from my store,

So many things have been running through my head during the past couple of days... the obvious being the CopyBot fiasco, that I'm sure has been on every designer's mind as well, and how someone will copy you if they're so inclined, regardless if they have a fancy contraption to do it with. And I was thinking about the CopyBot meeting we had at The Block, and how that guy was saying that CopyBot wouldn't really threaten our profits, and not to confuse it with threatening our "pride". Well dammit, it DOES threaten my pride..it threatens my pride in my work! And isn't that what it is to be an artist and designer in this world? Sometimes pride is all that an artist has... pride in one's work is what gives us satisfaction and defines us as individuals. Just look at all those "starving artists" out there... they would choose another line of business if profits were always the ultimate goal, but they're not. As artists we are driven by our abilities to create, and our hunger to do so... profits are just like "icing on the cake." I don't mean to minimize the need to make money and to be able to maintain a comfortable lifestyle for you and your family, but I guess that my point is that money isn't everything for us, it's much much more.

I had an awful, sinking feeling as I browsed through that guy's store the other day, seeing my creations replicated there... in a way, I felt a little violated. I'm sure many designers in SL have felt the same at some point. I wasn't thinking about him taking my profits... I was thinking about him taking my ideas. (In fact, since my IM, he removed all of the copied items from his store and gave me the profits he made from them... nice gesture I guess, but it doesn't excuse what he did, and it confirmed that he knew full well what he was doing.)

Well, I'm adding this to my blog just to vent I guess. I don't think there's a real solution to preventing someone from copying your hard work and original ideas. Maybe we can all look out for each other, like Noam did for me *hugs her Noamy tight*... and let each other know when someone is copying them. Maybe one by one, we can try to shame those people into doing the right thing.

Newbie Improved!

I was reading Canimal's article on PXP last week about the listing she's creating with products in SL that will fit the budget of the average Noob. As I was wracking my brain for things to add, and reminiscing about my own days as a Noob...checking out all the "Places" that came up when I typed "free" in the search... the hours of unpacking those freebie boxes...

It inspired me to make something for the hair-challenged, pasty-skinned Noobs wandering SL (we've all been there!). Sooo, I created a set of "Newbie Skins" that would sell for only $10. As you can see, I did a "Before and After" Ad, rooting thru my inventory for the skins and hair that came with my avie over a year ago to create a "Before" image. Donovan and I had quite a laugh, as I stood there flaunting my pale shapeless nipples at him, flipping my weirdly-shaped hairdo with a little wink in his direction ;-) For the "After," shot, I went to ETD and got their $10 hair package... duuude! there were like a ka-billion colors of hair in that folder, and as you can see, it looks great! Isn't it amazing what a change good hair and skin will make?

The Newbie Skins will only be sold at my main store in Yelas, so send over any female noobs you see... they'll thank you :D

Better to see you with!

Okay, I've had human eyes made for-EVER and finally got them out last night! They're very lifelike, mainly because I photosampled real human eyes (and did lots of retouching). I also added highlights insipred by some anime eye highlights I really liked. Another designer, Miriel, released some gorgeous eyes last night as well... hers have smaller pupils than the Linden templates... well, mine are the opposite; the pupils are a bit more dilated (as if less light were shining in your eyes), plus my irises are a tiny bit larger...I have big eyes in RL :-) So it's great that there are some subtle eye varations that will suit different preferences out there in SL. Anyhow, check 'em out!

Big Brothers are uhhh... the Best!

Well, the first week or so was a little rocky for Stewie and the new kitten, Daisy... there was hissing and growling and big fluffy tails to be seen. But as you can see, they're the best of friends now :-) They play almost all day long, especially during the wee hours of the morning (when I'm trying to sleep, of course). It's like the kitty version of the WWF most of the time... Stewie will pin Daisy down (who is about half his size)... she'll whine and cry... he'll let her go... then she'll come back for more! That's my girl! Then there are the bathing sessions... Daisy is never quite clean enough for Stewie, so there's a lot of grooming going on. Let's just pray that he doesn't lick her bald :-)

Skin Sale next weekend!

Well, I was planning on having a sale on my skins this weekend, but SL has been a total butthead and I couldn't get anything done. Sooo, I'll have a special super low price on all skins for 48 hours only, then they'll permanently go to a bit of a lower price permanently after that. So keep your eyes open on the SL forums and here at my blog for more details later in the week :D

"I've got you...under my skin" *sings in her best Frank Sinatra imitation*

Done! Zeee skin prices will be lowered due to popular opinion (believe me... I truly value everyone's comments here). Just so ya know, I set my prices because I personally buy skins somewhere between $1000 and $1450, so I picked an amount somewhere in the middle, but now I'm realizing that maybe that was too ambitious for my budding skin business. Hey! Ya live and learn! Sooo, if you're gonna buy skins at Miau Haus in the near future, please wait til after this weekend because that's when I'll get a chance to take care of the vendors. PLUS, I'm hoping to get a fun new round of make-up options out this weekend as well. (I'd do it now, but I'm too sleepy and I'm gonna go curl up with Stewie and Daisy and go to sleep.

Thank you again for everyone's honest input and ideas, and for sparing the life of my darling sock monkey!

Skin-ny Dip?

Dear SL Gods,

Hellooo up there! I have a lil problem... my new tattoo skins aren't really selling...I sold very few *sigh* In fact, I only really made sales of my initial "Tasty Skins" during the first couple of days after the release. I know that the quality is very good and comparable to other successful skins out there, and I've received great feedback from friends and peers in the SL community, so I'm not sure what's wrong. I advertised in the forum, I got great reviews from the gals at PXP...

1. Are they overpriced?
2. Is there more I can do to market them better?
3. Are there other types of skins that would be more popular?
4. Should I give up on skins, and focus more on clothes?
5. Should I just finish the giant cat head condo I've been tinkering with?
6. Do I need to make a sacrificial offering to the SL Gods? Like my sock monkey doll? *cries*

The skins are just so dang time-intensive to make, I don't want to make more if they're not going to sell :-( Please help!

Signed,
Discouraged

Exotic Tattoo Skins NEW @ Miau Haus

Hmmm...what's new? Well, I've added a 2nd floor to Miau Hause to hold all of the new skins I'm gonna make! I started off with some Exotic Tattoo Skins, inspired by the art and imagery of Asia, Egypt, and India. (Noam and Donovan have given me more ideas, so I'm sure I'll be adding more in the future.)



The Asia Tattoo Skin incudes a stylized dragon on the chest, a beautiful geisha on the back and delicate blossoms covering the arms and legs. This skin pack has a skin with full red lips and one with small painted geisha lips.



The Egypt Tattoo Skin shows the Winged Isis on the chest, Cleopatra and a Winged Scarab on the back and the Eye of Horus on the upper thigh. This skin pack has stylized Egyptian eyeliner, and comes with berry- and sandy-colored lips.



The Indian Tattoo Skin indludes an array of Mehendi tattoos on the chest, arms, hands, legs and feet. A colorful image of Ganesha (the Indian Elephant Deity) appears on the back. This skin pack has Bindi on the forehead and includes a red and blue version.

You'll find the new skins in my main store in Yelas. They're in the new upstairs area. Demos are available, so come by and try one out! Later pussycats! =^.^=

oooOOOoooOOOooo!

Tuesday night Donovan and I were doing the... "What do you wanna do?"... "I dunno, what do you wanna do?"... "I dunno, what do YOU wanna do?" Then, I remembered Canimal's review of the haunted house in Mew, so that's what we did! We TPd there, and waited for things to rez...and...and...I couldn't move because of the lag :-( Donovan could walk, so we put out our "carrying on shoulders walk" so Donovan could carry me on his shoulders thru the haunted woods and house (I SWEAR...I wasn't faking!) He carried me along the spooky path and up to the house to walk thru the rooms among the ghosties and ghoulies. We had a great time checking out all the rooms and listening to the creepy sound effects. Check it out if you haven't already.

Later pussycats!
=^.^=

Meet Stewie!

You all met Daisy the other day, so I thought you should meet her big brother, Stewie =^.^=

Stewie is a 6-year-old Tabby Cat who I fell in love with at the SPCA.

Stewie's "Likes"
• Eating people food (especially string cheese and Fig Newtons)
• Eating cat food (mealtime is the high point of the day!)
• Chewing on anything plastic
• Balancing on anything narrow (he's such a show off!)
• Playing with the wire cat toy thingy
• Getting scratches behind his ears or on his forehead
• Licking his belly which is almost bald (over-groomer!)
• Napping
• Watching his new little sister, Daisy, and her spastic kitten antics (he's always giving me that look that says, "What the heck is she doing?"

Stewie's "Dislikes"
• Going to the vet (especially the part when they take his temperature)
• Having his nails clipped
• Waiting for me to wake up to give him breakfast
• Riding in the car
• That stupid cat outside that keeps teasing him

That's my lil buddy. He's the cutest :D

The SL exile has ended!

WOOOHOOO!

I FINALLY got into SL last night! I got to see Donovan and give him a pixel hug and he gave me a frisky pounce :P ... I got to see Noam who looked adorable in his skeleton kitty costume for Halloween... I got to shop for some hair and some outfits I've been wanting (YESSS!)... and I lowered our skybox and began to put in Noam's amazing pond and waterfall, plus I got started on our house. Sooo... all's well in Posy's world now :D *happy sigh*

Second Life Exile: Day 6

Wooohooo! I FINALLY got a reply e-mail from someone at SL, Andreas König...he wanted the "Second Life log" from my computer to diagnose the problem. I sent it right away on Saturday, so let's cross our lil kitty paws! Hopefully I'll get back online today...otherwise, I've been toying with the idea of getting a PC. If anyone has any other suggestions, please share them.

I'm... going... through... Second... Life... withdrawals... cough... cough :-(

On to my RL kitties... my sweet gray baby girl Scout went to kitty heaven a few weeks ago (liver disfunction) and my other cat, Stewie, has been lonely ever since, so I thought it was time to get him a cuddle buddy and playmate. Sooo... I got a new kitten last weekend and she's AAA-dorable! I had originally wanted a ginger tabby, but the first kitten rescue we went to had this sweet little kitten, looking part Siamese and part tabby (see pic above). She was so beautiful, I HAD to hold her, and she nuzzled up into my chest and began to purr like that was her favorite place in the whole world. We were going to go to other cat adoption locations, but, honestly, I couldn't put her down! She had totally stolen my heart (and she still has it).

Well, I named her Daisy thinking it was a cute girly name...it wasn't til later when we discovered her flatulence problem, and that the name was quite fitting...lol! Daisy spends her days galloping around my apartment like a tiny racehorse and getting into mischief... then, when that wears her out, you'll find her lounging anywhere on or close to me, purring loudly and making biscuits :-)

Stewie wasn't sure what to make of her the first couple of days, so there was a bit of hissing and growling... and one "bop" on the head from Stewie. Now they've gotten used to each other... the hissing and growling has pretty much stopped. There's been lots of smelling and sniffing and watching from afar. Daisy has been trying sooo hard to get Stewie to play with her, he's still not sure, but I'm positive he'll come around. In fact, I was holding her last nite, and Stewie came up and gave her a couple of licks on her head... it was pretty darn cute.

That's it for today...later Pussycats! =^.^=

Second Life Exile: Day 4

Waaaahhhhh! As some of you may know, I haven't been able to log into SL since the upgrade on Wednesday, the 24th. I launch the program, but don't even get a log-in screen... I get the message "Second Life has unexpectedly quit" and... nothing :-(

Now this has happened once before, where there was a glitch with Macs, and they took a couple of extra days to get us on board. I tried to use my friend's Mac to get into SL and had the same problem, so I'm pretty sure that's the problem. Hopefully that's all it is, and I'll be able to resume my kitty antics in SL very soon.

This has been extra frustrating, though, because I haven't been able to find out what's going on through any of the avenues provided by SL. I've sent crash reports, sent e-mails, and called every number on the support page...I've only received generalized confirmation e-mails from them, and in the many many many phone calls I've made, I've only been directed to a voice mailbox system where I've left a range of messages from positive and cheerful to close-to-tears frustration. I'm seriously beginning to wonder if there are actual people working there...lol.

Heck! I have important stuff to do in SL! I gotta check out Noam's new hair because I'm sure he's bought some in my absence, I have some serious shopping to do because the gals at PXP have been showcasing some amazing stuff this week (I've made a list!), I have some skin and outfit ideas I want to try out... I'm dying to curl up with Donovan to wactch a movie...Oh! and most importantly, I have my big honkin' skybox to move (hopefully my new neighbors will bear with me on this..this is so out of my control). Let's all cross our fingers and say a little prayer that my exile ends very soon :-)

That's all for now...I miss you all!

Catch ya later pussycats =^.^=

There's a new kitty in Blogtown!

This is my very first blog entry *takes a deep breath* so here goes...

Thought I'd give you a brief autobiography :-)

Well, I started my Second Life as a human avatar with a slightly sordid past :P I was hanging out in the Welcome Area, and this guy named Zabitan (yes! that would be Zabitan Assia!) asked to speak to me... he was recruiting topless dancers for his new club "Expose" He showed me the awesome club he built and I agreed to work for him and Rosie. Little did I know that I would meet some of the coolest people in SL... most of whom are still great friends of mine... namingly Zab, DT, Rosie, Lanae, Kaejo and Vivi. Dancing was fun... hell, I got paid to flirt!

Then...the fateful day arrived... an old friend, Garrett, and a new friend, Noam, took me to get my first neko ears and tail...
BLLLIIIINNNG! *harps began to play and a beautiful beam from heaven fell on me* I was born a neko =^.^= Suddenly I felt the urge to bat things around on the ground... nibble on catnip...curl up in the sun for a nap...nuzzle strangers' legs. I knew that the neko life was for me! Then... I started looking for kitty stuff for my new life. I did searches in SL for "neko," "kitty," "cat," etc...found some wonderful kitty things... but I wanted more!

And that's how Miau Haus was born *smiles big* I tried making things to sell in the past, but it wasn't until I decided to have a kitty-related store, that the ideas came rolling into my little neko brain. You see, I'm a big cat lover in RL, so I just started making stuff that I liked...turns out other people liked them too! I just sit here and crack myself up at some of the things I make, like the Kitty Head Kuddle Kubbie or the Hellcat Fireplace (I'm easily entertained, I guess!) I'm just lucky that others find them amusing too and actually want to spend money on them. I'm so grateful for all of my wonderful customers and am so happy that they enjoy the store I've created and the things that fill it. I also added other designers to Miau Haus because I really wanted a one-stop-shop for all the kitties out there, and there are things that I'm just not skilled at making. So I invited Noam Sprocket, Krysis Gall, Ren Eliot, Ishida Dye, Ephraim Massiel, Valin McTeague, Anisa Naumova, Fa Nyak and most recently, Donovan Brennen to join the Miau Haus family...I'm so honored to have such talented designers in my store.

Well, I think we're up to the present...I've expanded into other locations like The Block and Someplace Else. When I'm not working on things for the store, I spend time with my wonderful friends in SL... playing Greedy with Thorn and Marcan... getting tackled, shopping for hair, and brainstorming creative ideas with Noam...kickin' it at The Block with Zab, DT and the gang (hey! when's the next Block Party???)... and hanging out with my sweet, romantic, sexy boyfriend, Donovan :P

Whew! Finished my first blog entry! Hope you enjoyed it. =^.^=