New release in the works...

The grand opening and fashion show were quite the project to complete. It's a thrill to be open for business again, to see Spirit City free of ban lines and open to the public. But in the wake of so much clothing design and event preparation, like eating too much of a good thing, my "designer's palette" needed a bit of cleansing. So I returned to a project that I've been working on for a quite a while now, one that has at times left me alternately yearning, frustrated, depressed, and resigned. Skins. You hear often from skin designers how difficult skins are to create, and I'll admit that before embarking on a line of my own, I sometimes wondered if those designer remarks were a tad bit of overdrawn artist postering, lol. Well, I am here to tell you emphatically and soul-baringly honestly that the skin designers weren't lying, weren't postering, weren't overstating the case even a bit.

Designing skins is HARD!

I began designing my own believing it would be a breeze to do, that perhaps they wouldn't turn out perfectly right off the bat, but like clothes, my skin designs would start off fairly well and improve the more I practiced. Ha! Time and again I spent days working a layer, only to throw my hands up in frustrated despair and give up for a while. Designing skins takes every bit of skill ever learned from designing clothes, plus much, much more. Because if you choose not to photosource your skin, you are choosing to be in effect a true artist. Every muscle highlight and shadow, every ripple in the skin, every line and curve of the eyes and nose and mouth, is a digital brushstroke resulting in guesswork and decision based on countless hours of studying photos of real people in every pose imagineable. I couldn't even tell you how many uploads I ended up making, testing and retesting, tweaking, lightening, darkening, moving a single shadow higher or lower over the body until it looked right in-world. Only to hear from my rl family that what I thought looked great was definitely not and needed to be fixed fast, lol.

And after ALL this dramatic prelude, all this explanation of the sweat and toil that truly goes into a designer's first skin... I am happy to announce that I have completed a skin I am finally happy with! It's not perfect, and I know I will be adding to it continually before I release the first line for sale. But for my first skin, I'll confess I'm pretty darn proud.

Want to see it? No, I will not be putting up pics here, at least not yet. It's not ready to be released for sale. I still have tons of versions of hair color and freckle layers to make and alternate makeup options and skin tones to complete. So you'll have to wait a while for all of that to be posted here. BUT if you're a member of the SPIRIT Fan Group, you'll receive the very first SPIRIT skin, one created especially to go with the Nutcracker Sugarplum Fairy set released last week, completely FREE! I would appreciate all feedback offered on this first skin, but do try to be constructive in your criticism so I know specifically what needs improvement and what you'd like to see in the form of options, changes, etc. The freebie release to the group will be going out momentarily, so don't miss it!

New Reviews!

Check out Teagan Blackthorne's review of the new hairstyles for the Nutcracker Collection over at the Savoir Hair blog! Thank you Teagan for the review and kind compliments!!

And Cherlindrea Lamont at the Fabulously Free in SL blog was extra sweet and wrote up the quickest blog post I've ever seen so more residents could take part in Monday's Freebie Gift Hunt at the Spirit City grand opening. Click here to see her showing off some of the free goodies from Spirit that were featured in the hunt!

Ads and details about the Nutcracker Collection release coming soon!

The Hunt is ON!

Don't miss today's Freebie Gift Hunt at Spirit City! With 10 numbered, red and gold presents hidden around the city, you're sure to find at least something you love. Be sure to find all 10 gift boxes to get all the items shown below! All items are supplied by SPIRIT, and include the following...

* Snow Queen Ballgown with corset, skirt, and glitch pants

* Snow Queen Hooded Cloak

* Snow Queen Freebie Tiara

* Snow Queen Gloves

* Snow Queen Ballroom High Heels

* Cheer Pink Plaid Pajamas with tank top

* Dance Pink Plaid Pajamas with tank top

* Pink Cheer Varsity Letter Jacket

* Face Lights

* Cropped Dance Hoodie (not shown)

(Hair shown is the SPIRIT Graceful II in Light Blonde, not included in the freebie gift hunt.)

The gift hunt ends TONIGHT at midnight SL time, so don't delay in searching for your freebies! Some of these items might be gone forever after tonight! Here's the landmark to the new store...

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plush%20Tau/81/83/22/

Opening dates are set!!!

WOOT, the opening dates have been set for Spirit City, and by extension the new main store for SPIRIT!!! Here they are...

- Spirit City is now open to all invited designers who have cheer/dance themed designs (if you didn't receive an invitation, send me a notecard in-world with the title "Cheer/Dance Items for Review" with pics and descriptions of your cheer/dance items you want to be considered...if I don't respond, IM me too because I might not have gotten the notecard); ban lines still effective for everyone else who hasn't received an invitation

- Saturday, Dec. 8 through Sunday, Dec. 9...sneek peek for invited members of the fashion press and for members of the SPIRIT Fan Group (no invitation necessary for this group, just be a member and have this group activated when you teleport in; look for the landmark in an upcoming group notice!)

- Monday, Dec. 10...open to the general public

- Dec. 15-16...fashion show (specific date, time, and featured vendors TBA)


I am SO EXCITED, I can barely sit still!!!!! Off to make more freebies now. :D

-- SavannahAnn McMillan
Owner, SPIRIT...for everything cheer and dance!

SPIRIT Now the Official Costumer for SL Ballet!

That's right, you read that correctly, lol. SPIRIT has recently been honored to become the official costumer for SL's one and only SL Ballet! This company produces amazing ballets that are held twice a week. Admittance to a SL Ballet production is free, and all donations to the company go to charity. These ladies and gentlemen work hard on a completely volunteer basis. Perhaps most impressive of all is that they aren't simply playing one animation for the entire performance...just like real dancers, the members of this ballet corpe have to time their dance steps to the music and each other, as well as go through several costume changes in just one performance!

SL Ballet proves that the emotional journey produced by real ballets can also be produced in Second Life, and SPIRIT is extremely honored to have the opportunity to help costume these talented individuals for their performances. Don't miss the upcoming holiday ballet for a look at some of SPIRIT's latest creations in beautiful, graceful action!

Spirit City Grand Opening Pushed Back

I'm sorry, everyone, but the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S. and the hectic rush of rl events that will be coming with it for me and my family forces me to have to push back the grand opening of Spirit City and SPIRIT's new store. Instead of opening this coming Friday, Spirit City will open in 3 weeks. This gives me time to get all the releases ready that I have planned, as well as the freebies and fun gala events.

The good news is that you can add a LOT more new items to the list that will be released at the grand opening! I'm also working behind-the-scenes to bring you some exciting events to help make the grand opening even more fun for everyone. Stay tuned for more info soon!

The New SPIRIT Main Store...Opening This Friday!!!

The new SPIRIT main store will be opening along with all of Spirit City on this coming Friday, November 16th, early in the wee hours of the morning (because that's when I do my best SL work! lol). To celebrate the grand opening, I will be giving away a few new freebies, as well as releasing a new cheer clothing line, a ballroom dress in two colors, and possibly a new ballet costume or two!

Stay tuned here for the landmark to the new main store and pics of the new releases coming SOON!