Time to relax… now!

 

Today my post might be different as most of my other ones. I had a year full or work and joy, a year of stress and the most fun I ever could imagine.

About a year ago, in May 2016, an idea was growing inside my head. After seeing a wonderful musical, done by kids and adults of an amateur dramatic society not too far from my home, an old dream of mine came up again.

I always wanted to do a musical with mainly kids from a school I am working at. Until that time I never had the right people around me, or I was not allowed to do such a huge project as it would interrupt and interfere the normal school schedule too much and so many other reasons, which I do not even remember.

But this time it should be different.

I spoke to a very close friend of mine, that as well works at the same school and with me. She was at that musical I was talking about before as well and when I joked about, if we could not pull off something like that as well, she only answered “Why not?”. I told her about my weakness of organizing things and my strength of creativity, music and passion for musicals. She is like a soul mate for me or even the sister I never had, so I was totally honest about my fears. She only did listen and did not say a word until I was done talking and I already was scared that she would tell me I am crazy – Which would be no news :p

I was staring at her to wait for her reaction. She looked at me and said “If you are taking the responsibility for everything that has to do with music and dance and all the sound engineering stuffs, I can help organizing stuffs, help with reversals and costumes and as well I can do all the calculation with you”. I must have stared at her with an open mouth and she started to joke about it and asked me, if I did really listen to what she said.

I was speechless as I never would have expected such an amazing reaction. So all that was left – before proposing the idea to our school principal – was to find a musical, that could be done by kids and teens but as well would attract teens and adults as audience. We have kids from the age of 10 up to 18, so it should be something that catches all of them, plus it had to be something with cool costumes and many possibilities of accessories and styles. It took me about 4 weeks to find something that was affordable, would allow changes by me and as well sounded cool enough for the kids.

I found a muscial version of Dracula twisted for kids and young adults with a lot of humor and still the basic Dracula story in it. It was called “Dracula – the ultimate Grusical”. When I told my friend about it, she was all up for it immediately and already saw certain costumes and styles behind her inner eyes. Now the most difficult part was coming up… I had to propose the idea to our boss. He is a passionate musician himself, but as well he leads a school and so I was not sure what he would say about our idea.

His first question was, if I would be sure about all the work and effort and I told him, that I was part of a school musical 3 times before myself and that I am not exactly sure how much work it would be, but that I would know it would not be easy and as well a lot of unpaid extra hours, but the same time, that it would be a life time dream of mine and that I am not scared by a huge work load.

He said he would not have anything against the idea but all the other teachers would have a say as well, as some rehearsals would maybe go through some usual school times. When I entered the teachers room a few days later, I had really wonky knees as those folks who usually work with me, now would have the decision about my dream. Their reactions were amazing and they all told me I would have full support and even had ideas how we could connect the musical project with regular lessons and classes like making accessories and all the stage buildings in arts and have some parts of the text to work in the German language lessons. I was totally overwhelmed and more than happy.

After some mailing work with the publishing house of the musical, I got the text, the music, the songs and everything that we needed – by then it was July 2016, shortly before the long summer holidays. The holidays gave me enough time to adjust text and music according to some requests of our principal and as well to the roles for the kids. When school started again in September 2016 I was done with all this and as well had made a first choice of who would play certain roles. Now I just needed to ask the kids if they would agree and as well I needed my friends help for some more role assignments.

To make along story short, some kids did not like the idea and bailed out even 2 month after we started rehearsing and each of them nearly gave me a breakdown and I saw the whole project die more than once, but we always found a solution and  asked a few former pupils to take part as well. It was a very rough and exhausting year but I do not regret one second. It was a great time to know the kids way more than during a ‘norma’ school year and they all worked super hard. In May 2017, we got another shock 6 weeks before the premiere… Our Dr Van Helsing got a cruciate ligament rupture while playing beach volleyball and I again saw the whole project going down. But again there was an angel, who offered to help and a 16 years old guy stepped up and took over that major role.

14th of July 2017 – Premiere!

I have no idea how we made it and time seemed to fly in the last 3 weeks but we made it to rock the first show of 4 with a sold out house of 200 people in the audience. we are a small school and only have round about 120 kids and having a sold out premiere was more than I ever expected. The kids were super nervous, none of them had done such a huge project before. The musical is about 2 hours long and we added a little break of 30 min between the 1st and the 2nd act. 2,5 hours of high concentration, lots of text and singing. In the end we had about 70 kids involved with acting, speaking, singing on stage, a choir and the school band. All had costumes and makeups and we had amazing help from a few parents who helped with all that behind the scenes during the shows. During the break we had Dracula themed snacks, cakes, sweets and drinks, sold by the association, that supports all kind of our school activities.. it was so amazing really.

Now after the 4th and last show… I only can look back and I am so grateful for all the help and support we got. The kids grew on that project in an unbelievable way and already asked when we would do something like that again.

I probably do not have the power and strength to do something like this right again, but I did not say “Never” either 😉 We will see what the future brings 😉

Maybe now some of you do understand, why I was not blogging as much as I used to in the past months, or why I was not online that much in the past weeks… but that project really took a lot of me – not only time wise – but I do not regret even one second! But now it is time to RELAX – at least for a bit 😉

Details

Outfit: PurpleMoon – “Oriana” (Maitreya)

Shoes: Eudora3D – “Nina” (Maitreya)

Hair with Hat: EMO-tions – “Paola”

Rings: MEVA – “Boho Bento Rings” (Maitreya)

Glasses: Earthstones – “The Yesterday”

Necklace: BEO – “Vanessa”

Nailpolish: Nailed It! – “Lace Set” (Maitreya Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Lami Lips” (LeLutka Applier)

Tattoo: [White~Widow] – “Silence” (Maitreya Applier)

Vehicle: Atelier Visconti – “Paolino”

Location: Wicca’s Wardrobe

Basics

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 2.7”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Eyes: IKON – “Hope Eyes”

Shape: Selfmade

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin

Flight of Fancy into the Darkness

At the moment I am trying to learn new PS tricks and techniques. I discovered my likings for dark background pictures with a very simple set and more extra ordinary poses, so that the focus is more on the person and the items that are being showcased.

When I started to work with black backgrounds, usually they looked kinda flat and I was wondering how you can still have the imagination of a room even if it is all dark. But som subtile lights which are not even really noticeable, will do the trick I read. The shadows on the avatar will as well help with that if you have something throwing shadows on your avatar that you, that you not really see. There are so many more things like reflections and what not, that I still try to learn properly before I am coming up with picture :p

Today it would be The amazing lingerie from Blacklace, the super sexy high heels from Glamistry and the adorable and incredible jewelry from EarthStones, which I would like to showcase.

I had the great pleasure to take a photo of Abraxxa Anatine, designer and owner of EarthStones, for the last issue of the Spotlight magazine. Abraxxa is such a wonderful and lovely person and her creativity has no limits. While we were shooting she was wearing one of her latest releases, the “Flight of Fancy” jewelry set.

When I saw it, I immediately fell in love with it. It was made for the last round of TLC but I am sure it will be in her main store now.

The set contains a pair of earrings, 2 bracelets as well as a short and along necklace. The details on this set are incredible. With the butterflies and the little studs and gems and all the filigree chain links… just amazing. The Set as well is HUD driven so you can customize the colors to your personal likings and your look.

For the shoes, I decided to go with the latest release of Glamistry. The “Lilium” heels are a pair of super sexy pumps. I love the high plateau heel on them and as well the simplicity. With that you can see the wonderful leather texture if the shoes and as well the great details like the seam.

The super cool nail polish was made by ChloeElectra for her brand .alme. I love the golden geometric lines that run over the colored nail 🙂 and with the color they matched amazing to the jewelry and the lingerie!

The lingerie is not just an applier! This time Blacklace came out with a wonderful negligee made of mesh with a sexy transparency.  The panties and the garters are made of mesh as well, only the stockings are mesh body appliers. “Kelsey” you can purchase in many different colors as always with Blacklace designs 🙂

The sofa I used was made by Katink. originally it comes with some poses, but for this post I just used various other poses and adjusted them to the sofa 🙂

Details

Outfit: Blacklace – “Kelsey” (Maitreya)

Shoes: Glamistry – “Lilium” (Maitreya)

Jewelry: EarthStones – “Flight of Fancy”

Nailpolish: .alme – “The Edge Dark” (Maitreya Applier)

Makeup: Zibska – “Sirra” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: je suis… – “LeLutka Lips no. 005” (LeLutka Applier)

Hair: Truth – “Ximena”

Basics:

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 2.6”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara V4.0”

Eyes: IKON – “Hope Eyes”

Shape: Selfmade

News at 24 Shoo Shoes!

Today I have the pleasure to show you the newset creations of 24 Shoo Shoes 🙂 Wonderful high heels with a special design…

The new “24’s Wow! No. 30” are available in different colors, gold, platinum, red and black. As always for 24 Shoo Shoes you have 2 different HUDs for the skin tones. One for the pastel and one for the darker skin tones. Also included is an extra HUD that let you change the nail polish to different ready set colors with an amazing shine on the polish.

Again we can see the special sole and heel that we know 24 Shoo Shoes for. The design is as always very filigree and detailed. The texture of the shoes are shining and sparkling what adds a very glamorous touch.

The outer side of the shoes is made of that amazing sparkling texture and the inner side is bare so you can see the skin.

The upper part is a sweet little strap very filigree made that ends the shows above the ankles.Aslo the show comes in 2 different sizes a “usual” one and one “Betty Boop” shape that’s a little bigger.

But this are not the only lovely designs that 24 Shoo Shoes has to buy for us ladies. So make your way to the 24 Shoo shoes Mainstore and get your favourite pair of shoes 😉

Details

Shoes: 24 Shoo Shoes – “24’s Wow! No. 30”

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin

Soon it will be the day… NX-Nardcotix will release the new MANA Dezi Flat Sandals!!!

I had the great honor to be one of the BETA testers for the new “MANA Dezi Flat Sandals”, that Nardya Rousselot, designer of Nardcotix created last. I am very happy that I am now allowed to show you this great shoes that are perfect for the summer! As a little special release surprise I was asked to be part of the NARDCOTIX MANA Blogger Challenge (for more information please visit http://nardcotixsl.wordpress.com/)

The first 3 entries with all the questions correct get their pick of a MANA shoe pack.But now lets take a look on the great new shoes 🙂

This incredible sandals come with a lot of  features and a very great HUD that’s very easy to use and also in laggy places it is still to handle! The the menu came up very quickly and still worked and not too slow. The HUD itself is self explaining and good to handle also easy to use.

They are wonderfully made and have so nice details that they look very realistic. The shape of the toes is beautiful… the toes are not too long also not too short ..perfectly 🙂 They are wonderful and I tested it for a few days also I got the extra nail polishes.
The menu is very easy to handle and very good to understand. Also the adding of the new nailpolishes is very easy and good to do.

You have the choice to change the color of the leather straps to black or brown, you just need to click on the strap for the buckle. The studs also change colors between old gold, silver and bronze.  Simply click on the top back stud to get the pop-up menu.

Two separate color packs will be available, one being a suede finish and the second a canvas finish. To change the color in the color packs click the top prim of the bootie to get the pop-up menu.

A nice addition are the above mentioned extra nail polishes that extend the possibilities to match each and every outfit. There is a basic nailpolish set and also different nude shades included but for the special nailpolishes you have to get the extensions packs.

 Nail polish packs give NARDCOTIX MANA’s a unique variety and new twist on SL toe-shoes.

The release will be part of the great,  long-awaited Main store Re-Opening of Nardcotix. On Sunday, June 13th at 1pm SLT it will reopen its doors and you should not miss that:)

Shoes: NX-Nardcotix – “MANA Dezi Flat Sandals”

Model &Photographer: Wicca Merlin