Most of my blogging time is spent on wearable items. But without all the amazing "stuff" in SL, it would be as boring at the platform where I spend most of my SL time. Lots of awesome creators of home items, animations and other things that make SL fun have jumped on the holiday bandwagon by either participating in hunts, advent calendars, 12 days of Christmas, and other ways and I wanted to take the time to feature some of my favorites. This is in no way an exhaustive list but a few I found worth the trips around the grid.
I would be completely remiss if I didn't start with
FD Decor. My friend, Fallacy DeCuir, has her entire sim decked out with holiday goodies. I swear it has more stuff than
Bronner's Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan, which is a place my grandparents lived near when I was a child and once caused my then 5 year old son to have his first anxiety attack, which he remembers to this day as "chest". If any of you know Fallacy, she tries to make off as if she is some scary mean girl but I think she is a doll and anyone that makes little flowers with happy faces definitely has a bark worse than her bite. You have to go there if only to see her sim. When you get over the shock and find the main store, you will find several lucky chairs and lucky presents with awesome prizes. She also has a log cabin in the Midnight Mania as well as participating in several hunts.
Next is
C&D Designs. Lovely Cherelle Capra, sister of Helena Stringer, fellow Free*Styler and maker of wild hair (we miss her terribly), has been creating for as long as I can remember. Cher frequently sends out gifts to her subscriber groups (supposedly a big one is coming as soon as tomorrow). She also has some spectacular items out in hunts right now. The two builds in the collage are hunt items. She also is participating in Royal Living's Snowman Hunt, which ends on the 15th. Those items cost 45 L each but are huge gifts worth hundreds more. I apologize for forgetting to take a photo. Cher also has an advent calendar at her store for members of her inworld group. The cost of each of those items is 1 - 10 L. The group is free to join now until 12/24. The group will have a fee after that and an extra special gift is planned for December 25 so get in now if you have the space.
Lots of bloggers have been showing items for the With Love Hunt. It is one of my favorite hunts right now and I will easily shell out 10 L for such high quality items. This includes a sample of some of the non-avatar items, though I did want to also mention Adorkable and Status, who have really nice pose packs in the hunt.
Page Eames from
LaFlat gave me permission to use her and Plurabelle Laszlo of Bliensen&MaiTai's ad texture for their 12 days of Christmas event which began today. The two designers will provide free gifts for the next 12 days at their adjoining shops. I adore these two women and highly recommend the visit.
A new place to me,
Dirty Little Secret, has a in-store hunt going on through the 25th with 10 prizes to find. I am showing one, the tree stump lounger, but there are others from furniture to cuffs/collars. They are hidden in the store and enclosed area as well as the skybox store.
Baby Monkey's 12 days of Christmas begins tomorrow with this gift. Yeah, this stuff is wearable but this is always a very popular event and includes shoes and accessories. It is free to everyone. The group is currently closed to new members as there is a big celebration but make sure to check out the numerous lucky boards, the midnight mania as well as super-cheap (like 10 L) cute shoes during your visit. You can find the item hidden in one of the ornaments on the tree. Pixieplumb Flanagan has told me she will keep each gift up for a few days in order to give more people a chance to get them. A new gift will be added daily.
Other places I've really enjoyed this holiday season have been the Advent Calendar at
KittyCats, which Sileny mentioned in a previous post. All items are free and I was able to get past gifts which I had missed, which was a really nice feature. Also,
Sway's, as in previous years has a fantastic advent calendar. Her's are a bit challenging because you have to go find the hints but it has definitely been worth it. Zacca and nonino have joined in this year and made it really special.
Adorkable has also been giving out a free pose every day during the holiday season and there are still several more to pick up. She is also participating in the With Love and POE hunts so she is offering an insane amount of free poses right now.
All these designers have put in countless hours at little to no compensation to provide us with wonderful gifts. When I think about where to spend my lindens, I feel it's important to support folks like the people I've written about above. Give back if you can!
Credits:
FD Decor Collage: (clockwise from flowers): Candy Cane Hunt, POE Hunt, Lucky Chair Prize, Traditional Christmas Hunt, Lucky Chair, Lucky Chair, Lucky Chair.
C&D Designs: (clockwise from fishing shack): POE Hunt, H&G Traditional Christmas Hunt, Subscriber gift (today), packaging (sometimes I love this as much as the gift! Am I alone out there in this?)
With Love Hunt: (clockwise from Lamp Post): each item 10 L
Lost Angel: Winter Street Lamp: multipose
Awesome Blossom: Madison Loft Skybox
Artilleri: Bixleta Toaster Fatpack
Intrigue Co.: Unicorn Carosel (w/ and w/o rainbow - but why wouldn't you?)
oOo Studio: Cozy: multipose
Hanaya: Canadian Cedar Greenhouse (winter)
Adorkable Poses (not pictured)
Status Poses (not pictured) sim seems to be down! Look up Gidge Uriza's profile, leave her random IM's and find the store location in her picks.
LaFlat/Bliensen & MaiTai 12 days/12 gifts
Dirty Little Secret: 2011 Holiday Hunt
Baby Monkey 12 Days of Christmas - begins TOMORROW
And the Big Hair Giftie news is: a free double-cinched, double-ponys long style (featuring 4 color-change hairbands), in the full color faptack, by Truth (!) (yup I saw it + other sales infos here). I'm also wearing some fabby free winged sneakers; free new Easter-themed gifties by Olive Juice (also new today) + oodles of free or $1L cute bunneh + eggs basket accessories (many of which have already made the feed rounds, but are still worth a grabbie).
How did I find myself without my fave purple Peeps this year? Happy Easter love + fashionista kisses to all!
This is a denim version of the white linen sofa that was a previous gift-with-purchase in the Choice 2011 event (which is also 1 of my fave pieces in our home). It's scrumptiously textured + sits 3 people; you can even change positions for the sits (if you click the pillowed end, it also gives you a free pillow to hold). Plus the adorable woven baskets underneath the couch are free as well!
All these lovely free housewares are motivating me to finally change up our home for Spring. Happy home decorating love + fashionista kisses to all!
For hunters: the bench is the gift from Sway's; the floor lamps are a (copyable) lantern prize from Nonino + the last gift is a pretty silver charm bracelet. The preztel is a freebie from a corner concession stand at the Lloyd Gatcha Carvnival that's going on now (you can check my flickr here to see the most adorable milk toy that's a $35L find at this gatcha event; my strappy arm gloves also come from the Pig booth there as well).
![[Echo] group gift jacket + free Analog Dog wearable demos](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vMs1G_OvVlOgsU1x3pPGDgwsM6bY2aFNrKf-qrfMDP6WMXJgGkcPn6dfcGCy0azOhmYOy6fHCvAsQNQKeX5cLM4x5mNSol58Nop5vYHmJ9MdPKTgaD_FaBrBa_ViQow_uH=s0-d)
I'm also wearing the luscious caramel-hued free subscribo gift hair by Exile, already much-blogged but shown here 'cuz it's 1 of my fave "shortie" styles to date (the gentle hair "part" just above the back nape area is sooo naturally done). Also, I wanted to tell all you accessory fiends about this elegant purse: it will be $1L in a beautiful caramel light brown by PRISS for the FTLO scavenger hunt that Eden mentioned in her post below (this darker chocolate brown color here was the free Xmas gift in a darker brown, in case you were lucky enough to grab it). Be sure to get the free strawberry-toned clutch still hanging on the wall too!
Check the Styling Credits below for deets; nearly everything I'm wearing is free or $1L, several of which are going bye bye soon.
Say what you will about guns, but this badass stance put me in the mood to shoot something. *spies Gavin waddling around in a duck avi; takes careful aim*
Here's another close-up so you can see these suuuperthick lashes by Glow Studio at The Dressing Room that I just can't seem to take off, tinged with 2 different colors for a nicely dramatic addition to a frex face. I'm also wearing a nice free lariat necklace that I found at Purple Moon (both the beads + metal are texture-change, so they go with just about everything).
Time for this huntress to find something more fashion-friendly than guns. New purse huntress love + fashionista kisses to all!
The other pieces to this look essentially are a mini-round-up of the loot available at the Seraphim skybox; join the group for $0L + you can take your pick of the truckload of free goodies there.
In other news, my friend Rhed Rhode has organized the annual For The Love Of . . . hunt, and I wanted to mention an under-publicized aspect of this much-beloved event: the special discount items available for purchase in the hunt area. Check out this freaking stunning "vampire princess" skin that Esuga creator Eilfie Sugarplum has set out for a mere $100L; the detailing around the eyes is simply incredible, plus you get the ridic cute Esuga nose + mouth, featuring fanged lips dripping in yummy blood. *peers around for a tasty human snack; spots Gavin on the run*