~Tea Lane~ Releases for October 6

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Hi y’all!

Wow, I know, we’ve been total slackers lately. What can I say, the RL thing is absolutely eating our time. But I think we’ve made up for it with this release. It’s so much fun, it’s… ahh, to heck with it, let me just show you!

First off, we have made hair like crazy! I don’t know how we both ended up working on hair, but we did, and we have some really fun things to show for it! First off, Teagan has created a totally kick ass male style with her UniHawk. This ‘hawk has short little horns made from hair paired with a messy fringe. This is a sexy style that would work for you girls, as well.

Then she’s brought us Kina, a pretty, girlie updo with soft fringe framing the eyes. The back is a simple bun surrounded by twisted hair and accented with a color-changing gem, giving a traditional style an updated kick. This style would work for anything from formals to jeans and a sweater while you’re enjoying the fall leaves with your sweetie. Be sure to throw on a scarf to keep your neck warm!

Since Teagan is the creative one of our duo, she looked at Kina and thought, “Hey! If I swap out the gem for a stem…” Sure enough, she turned that cute little bun into a pumpkin crafted of hair! Since it’s that time of year, she’s put together 8 special colors of Pumpkina and put them out at the shop for $2L. It’s still a sweet style for anything you want to do!

And then we get to Laynie’s contributions. Maybe I should begin by saying that I’m taking some new medications, and I’m adjusting to them. That might give you some insight on my new stuff… First came the hair. I started thinking to myself… “What if… a beauty pageant bouffant hairstyle fell in love with an ornately-decorated wedding cake? Ooh, and then, what if they had a torrid, steamy love affair with the Goodyear Blimp?”

Ok, I admit, that didn’t occur to me until after I’d finished it. But it definitely applies! Pageant of the Damned is the biggest hair I’ve made to date. This style is a lavish three-layer updo, spilling over with curls and decorated with swags and bows constructed of hair. It is reminiscent of the elaborate hairstyles of Marie Antoinette, if she’d had more of a sense of humor. It is hair that demands attention- are you brave enough to try it?

And finally, Caged. While digging around at Instructables.com, I found a fascinating dress. Someone had decided to make a couture gown with a birdcage skirt made from brass. The instructable walked you through the entire process of sketching the gown, purchasing the brass, bending the various bits and welding them together. It was fascinating, and most of all, it set my mind to rolling.

Caged is the result. I doesn’t really resemble the original inspiration very much, IMHO. I think it’s moved on to become its own creation, a melding of line and curve, harsh hard forms creating gentle waves and soft curves. I’ve been told by a few people that it’s got a real Tim Burton feel to it. I could only hope…

Remember, these and more will be available on the back wall of Tea Lane. We’ve got lots of goodies at the shop- hair, skins, clothing, shoes, accessories, all made by Teagan Blackthorne and Laynie Link. Stop by today and see what grabs your interest!

Until next time,
<3 Laynie & Teagan
~Tea Lane~ Main Shop

http://tealane.wordpress.com/

New Releases at ~Tea Lane~

Hi hi, everyone!

This is a very small update to let you know what’s going on at ~Tea Lane~ because we’ve been busy behind the scenes, working on some bigger stuff. But to tide you over, we’ve got some fun fun accessories for you.

First off, Teagan has put out an absolutely adorable necklace. This choker is perfect to pair with jeans and a tee, or your favorite casual outfit. The color-change script lets you match it to anything you own! For $2L you can’t go wrong!

Next up, I’ve released a cutepie pair of nerd glasses, complete with giant round frames and tiny little heart detailing on the sides. The glasses are so strong that they’re too thick for the frames, and the edges are greenish just like coke bottles! They’re too much fun, and only $20 lindens.

Finally, we come to my favorite part of this release. I’ve been around the talking pregnancy bellies entirely too much lately, and i was joking with Teagan that I should make a talking tampon to tell the world just how thrilled I am to not be pregnant.

Well, much giggling and experimentation later, I am proud to present the ~Tea Lane~ Talking Tampon, perfect for all your needs. Just wear it and it begins to tell the world all about your time of the month. It’s even modifiable, so if you want to add in your own phrases, you can! For only $10L you too can go horseback riding, swimming, and mountain climbing while wearing your Talking Tampon!

Remember, ~Tea Lane~ has things for many tastes and every budget. We’ve also got gift cards that make the perfect gift for those you love!

Also, check out Laynie’s artfire page for her RL wire wrapped jewelry!

http://www.artfire.com/users/Laynie

Until next time,

<3 Laynie & Teagan
Granymyr (245, 189, 41)

http://tealane.wordpress.com/

New Releases- Crys, Carolyn & Caroline

Wow, it has been entirely too long since we had a new release at ~Tea Lane~, so it’s a good thing i’ve got goodies for you all! It’s a small release, but a fun one!

We’ve got two new hair releases, both updos. Crys is a bit funky and fun, while Carolyn is an elegant style.

Carolyn is so elegant, in fact, that my friends all said, “You MUST put together a tiara for it!” Then, once the tiara was made, everyone said, “OMg, I LOVE THIS!!! Where is the necklace? What about earrings?”

Yea, you can imagine how that goes, I’m sure.

The result is the Carolina jewelry set. It comes in 7 rich metal tones and has multiple attachment points, so hopefully you can wear it with your other accessories (hello, lashes anyone?)

But what about the dollarbies? I know, I can’t do a release without doing a limited one for cheap. So, I made a cute cute pink set of Carolina with fewer attachment points. I get the feeling I may need to do a funky colors release, because I’m loving the pink too much.

Let us know in comments if you’d like to see more funky colors/patterns in Carolina. (Or just leave a comment in general, we love getting comments!)

Pardon my language, but “F*ck you, b*tch”

Teagan has been jumping up and down all day, even calling my house, because she was so angry. Apparently, someone posted an incredibly nasty blog, implying that I’m not really sick (yes, I’ve got a ton of illness-related issues, which is why I don’t have a RL job. I just try to keep the whining off the blog), and implying that I didn’t use the funds I begged for to send my kid to camp, because I didn’t post any pictures.

Truth be told, I forgot. Again, that illness thing? It affects my memory as well.What makes it flare up? Stress, among other things. Like, the stress of having to plan and make 2 whirlwind trips where I was in a car for 24 hours over 2 days? Oh, and the Hair Fair, which I helped plan. Oh, and wait, I did just get so sick from going to camp that I had a chest cold develop into bronchitis that I spent another $300 at the doctor’s for. Don’t worry, I didn’t ask for donations for that one, though. I just sucked it up.

Bottom line? I screwed up, and I totally forgot to post the pictures. I did save them, but I completely forgot to do a thank you blog post. But instead of, oh, I don’t know, asking me to post the pictures,  she posted publicly, and included this for her last paragraph.

Now I’ve mentioned no names here, although it’s prolly fairly obvious. But believe me, I’d dearly like this person to show me a buttload of photos and say ‘fuck you bitch’ to me, I really would. Cos I hate that SL makes me suspicious like this. But at the same time you really do have to wonder what some peoples needs really are.

So for everyone who gave, for everyone who couldn’t give but sent warm wishes, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. Kiddo says this year was the best year ever.

Kitty, on the other hand? Fuck you, bitch.

Kiddo standing in front of the Camp Sweeney Sign

Kiddo and myself, while standing in line for check-in

Unpacking the car

Kiddo, carrying stuff you guys helped buy!

Kiddo’s cabin- the Morris Men

Kiddo’s bunk- he got a top bunk this year, he was SO HAPPY!

Kiddo before the sock hop- they had to escort the Dillard Dolls.

Unfortunately, I don’t have more from during camp, because kiddo was always surrounded by lots of people and I don’t want to post their faces without permission.  Besides, he tends to avoid the camera at camp.

Again, I can’t thank everyone enough. He had such a wonderful year, and it’s entirely because of everyone who helped toss a few lindens in. I’m sorry it took me so long to get the pictures up.

Pinchyface loves you all…

I was working on a new release tonight. I know, I know, it’s been forever. But I’m working on it! Really, it’s almost ready to put out, and…

Wait, what was I saying?

Oh yea! While I was working in the terribly cluttered workshop I share with Teagan (it’s all my clutter, don’t listen to her if she tries to claim any of it), I looked up and saw that fickle darling, Pinchyface! I haven’t seen her in absolute ages, and I think she’s cheating on me to tell the truth.

I don’t care, though. She came back tonight, and I had to document it with a snapshot, one that showed just how amazing she is.

She takes my breath away…

Cut down on lag- the new and improved version!

EEEK! This post took FOREVER to put together! (Ok, who am I kidding… RL took a giant hunk outta my tushie again. It happens!) But finally, here it is- Laynie’s NEW and IMPROVED guide to cutting down on lag.

There are a million things you can do, and a million theories on what works and what doesn’t. You can read one great one here. All that aside, I’m going to tell you how I do it, so that my not-so-fancy laptop can get through Hair Fair with very few issues from lag.

First off, go for a nice, easy-to-render outfit. (See my older post on lag here). Leave the primmy, flexi alpha’d hair in your inventory (flexi curls like Zero Style, Calico Creations, Analog Dog… the ones with the pretty painted curls that move so well!), or if you’re like me this year, go bald. Bald is beautiful!

Then, detach those HUD items- yes, you won’t die without your Mystitool. Anything that’s scripted needs to stay in the inventory, because it won’t work worth a poop anyplace that has a ton of people.

Honestly, though, this is all a small portion of controlling lag for me. The real magic happens in the settings…

First, if you look at your preferences, you’ll probably see a basic graphics setting that SL chooses for you. You’re going to want to click on the “Custom” settings box I’ve circled for you. (Click the picture to view it bigger.)

Once you check that box, a whole new world opens up for you. You can make all sorts of changes to make SL look pretty here, but we’re going for just the opposite. We want to turn off everything that makes SL pretty- the sky and the water and complex sculpts and all of it. I recommend turning it all down- set your graphics distance to 64, turn all your settings in yellow down to the lowest they can go.

However, you want to keep Avatar Imposters checked (the blue box). This means that instead of keeping the actual movements of the avatars around you going, it puts a picture up to represent those farther away from you. Works like a dream to speed things up!

If you want to get even fancier, you can go into your advanced SL settings. I’m posting a screencap of the menus you go through to get to them. Follow them, and uncheck what you like. At a minimum, uncheck water and sky. However, do not uncheck volume, or suddenly all prims will poof out of existence! Totally not what we want.

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Then, you can go into the render features. I turn off flexible objects and foot shadows. That way, flexi skirts and hair still show up, they just don’t move.

The good news is that once this is done, you’ll notice things go much faster on your machine. Now, if you can just keep your point of view away from other avatars, you’ll be able to get around fairly decently. It’s not perfect, but it definitely is better than nothing.

I hope this helps. If you have any tips to add, please, share them with me in the comments. I’m always looking for ways to make my experiences in SL even better.

And finally, thanks for reading, and have a happy HAIR FAIR!

Camp update

AAAAH! *runs in circles, arms flailing* It’s almost time to leave for camp, and I’m starting to get really anxious. Still so much to do…

We’ve almost reached goal, but it’s tight. I am so thankful for everyone’s help. I can’t even begin to tell you how much this means to me, to my family. Can we reach the goal by the time we leave for camp? *crosses fingers*

We’re starting to shop for camp. There’s a purple power day, where the kids wear as much purple as they can cram onto themselves. There’s the luau, where the kids dress up in Hawaiian leis and grass skirts. It seems the shops here are all filled with luau gear, and kiddo has his heart set on a fake grass skirt and coconut bra… *shakes her head* He’s adorable, and I can’t wait to see the pictures. Then there are the dances… several times during the camp they let the kids dress up and go on “dates,” pairing the older cabins with the younger cabins. The older boys get roses to give to the younger girls, and they walk their “dates” down to the gym, where they play music and dance in giant groups.

They post pictures on the Sweeney website, so that family can see what the kids are up to. It’s fun seeing what a great time the kids are having, and knowing that they’re squeezing every bit of fun they can out of the three weeks. The kids end up sleeping 4-6 hours a night, between early mornings and late nights. I have to admit, I’d love to go to the family weekend they have during the winter. Maybe this winter we can squeeze it in.

Keep watching this spot. There will be new releases for Tea Lane soon, and I hope to be able to show the thermometer bursting at the top because we’ve reached goal. Thanks so much, and take care!

Camp fund update and my lack of proofreading skills…

Wow, the camp meter continues to grow. I am amazed and so incredibly thankful for your support. But the date creeps closer. We’re shooting for first session, which means we need to be ready to leave on June 6. EEEK! Scary!

In other news, a friend IM’d me  this afternoon to tell me hey, there’s no way to donate on your journal! I thought no, I definitely remember pasting in the code for the PayPal button, it’s there!

I hopped into another browser window and opened the page, only to find that wordpress strips out html from your entries. Oh yea, I knew that. (This is one of the reasons I can’t work at a real job, because of problems with my memory thanks to the fibromyalgia.) So for anyone who has wanted to donate and couldn’t, I’m stupid and I apologize so much.

Rather than try to figure a way to add the paypal button on here I’ll just leave a link to my LiveJournal, which doesn’t strip out the donate button code. If you want to donate, go here. I can’t thank you enough.

If you’re interested in this sort of thing, I will also be updating my blog with stories from the trips to drop him off and pick him up (with pictures!), as well as bits of information from while he’s at camp. This is the best way I can think of to help you share in what you’ve helped to make happen. Thank you.

So much love…

This is just a quick update to thank all of you who have donated to help get my son to camp.  We’ve passed the halfway mark, and that absolutely blows my mind. We leave for camp on June 6, so we’ve got time to reach the goal. Do stop by the shop soon, because there will be new releases as well as some new thank you gifts. Also, if you’re looking for some adorable hair, stop by Exile to pick up Laynie, and all proceeds from that style go towards getting my son to camp.

Every year we make the 1100 mile round trip to drop him off, then turn around 3 weeks later and do it again to pick him up. We laugh, we sing song, we tell stories in the car on the way. The ride to camp is filled with excitement, with him looking forward to seeing old friends, doing all those wonderful camp activities. The ride home is filled with stories about paintball, about the campfires, about all the things they did during that three weeks.

It’s exhausting, but I look forward to this trip every year. Being able to spend this time together is a precious thing, and I’m going to miss the trips once he’s too old to go to camp! Thank you for helping us continue this tradition.

I am so amazed by the outpouring of love and support. Seriously, I feel so incredibly loved right now. I can’t thank you enough, all of you, whether you blogged it, gave a large amount or a small amount, because together we’re doing it. He’s going to get to go, and I feel so blessed that a group of people who’ve never even met my son care enough to help him go to camp.

The camp fund is at $620 right now, and I can’t even begin to say how amazed I am at this. His birthday is going to be amazing this year, (yea, he’s spending his birthday at camp) and it’s because of all of you. I love you guys!

I’m working on some special gifts for you all, because I can’t think of any other way to thank you. Honestly, these don’t express my gratitude enough either, but it’s the only way I can think of, other than continuing to help everyone else as much as I can. Again, I just can’t find enough words to say thank you.