This texture is somewhat of a wood styled texture. It didn’t take me long to create it. I am one of those that once I get something in my head I kind of know exactly what I need to do in order to achieve it.

I hope you enjoy this. It is free to use.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed so you can get updates to Wildheart's Work's. Thanks for visiting, Have a Great Day!

If you read my blog and are involved in Second Life please come to this worthwhile event for Relay for Life. I am one of the contributors for auction items as well on the Third Life Events committee. I have also had my own personal scare with cancer so I support any initiative when and where I can to help with cancer research and education. So I don’t get the details confuzzled I am crossposting this exactly as it appears on the Alderson Charron Blog.

In case any of you missed it, Relay for Life is an American Society fundraiser.   Relay for Life in Second Life is something Mike Stackpole and I are heavily commited to.   On Sunday, June 7 at 6pm SLT.  Please arrive no later than 5:45pm SLT, so you have time to examine and exhibit products before the auction begins (read: we cannot wait for you).

The auction will be held on the Third Life grounds (SLURL provided later), and will be held in freestyle.  Our auctioneers will be in voice chat, all bids must be made in local chat. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the auction go to Relay for Life, and must be paid the night of the auction.  Some items may allow for matching bids, but there is no guarantee that any item will be available once the auction has ended.

Thanks to the generosity of our Third Life group members, we have some absolutely stunning things to offer.   Auction items include things for writers, items for first life, as well as very cool Second Life product.  Here’s a tentative list of what will be offered:

From Delaney Button:

WordPress Blog Redesign

Consists of :

1 background
1 logo/header
1 footer
1 sidebar background

• customising font family,size,and color
• customising width and sidebar configuration
• Customized, branded audio wrapper (for podcasters)

• Does not include install
• Does not include widgets with the exception of podPress
• Wordpress blogs only

This item carries a retail value of $300 USD.   Opening bid: 3,500 Lindens

—–

From Chivalrybean Ragu:

A chance to die to for the cause!

That’s right, writer Justin Lowmaster will kill you off in one his hallmark 100 Word Stories.   Naturally, you will die a glorious death… for cancer research.   The story will appear in an anthology with nine other stories.  The anthology will be published in Second Life in the THiNC format, and will also be available as a PDF.  Of course, the winners will receive a copy of the anthology.  The highest bid can be matched by nine additional bidders.   This is a great item to bid on for yourself, or as a gift for a friend!

Opening bid: 800 Lindens

—–

From Aplomb Pomilio:

Second Life fashion designer Aplomb Pomilio offers up two stunning, limited edition outfits!

Manga

“Manga” is a fun, casual outfit inspired by the whimsical Japanese drawings of that name — popular all over the world. There’s a bright, cartoonish drawing on the strapless top. It ties in the back with prim ties. There are scuffed leather accessories: long pants, lace-trimmed tights and a simple A-line prim mini-skirt. Just for more fun, Aplomb has added a well-loved leather shoulder purse to complete the young look.

Old Roses in Moonlight

Old Roses in Moonlight is a romantic dress made from an original Aplomb Designs texture. The chiffon-like fabric has a subtle rose pattern, gorgeous gradient blues, a rolled border and is detailed with gold threads.

Included in the outfit is a soft, peasant-style blouse with sculpted prim sleeves, long pants and an opulent long flexiskirt . The skirt is scripted with Cale Vinson’s skirt sitter script which allows the skirt to shift into a sitting position when you do! You’ll love it!

Opening bids will be posted later.

—-

From Kat Alderson:

The Hood River Collection

The Hood River Collection by Alderson & Charron is a limited edition furniture set inspired by the elements found in and around the Hood River Valley in Oregon.  Only ten of this set will ever be available, and right now one of the ten is in Kat’s living room!

Rendered in rich earthtones, this set incorporates sculpted and traditional prims, standard textures, baked textures, shaded textures and comfortable, familiar styling.  You and your visitors will feel right at home!

The base limited edition set of 15 items includes:

* Two menu-driven couches (8 prims, 17 sits each).  Transfer only.
* One menu-driven chair (6 prims, 11 sits).  Transfer only.
* One menu-driven chair with an attaced ottoman (8 prims, 8 sits).  Transfer Only.
* One menu-driven reading ottoman (4 prims, 9 sits). Transfer Only.
* One coffee table (11 prims). Transfer Only.
* Two end tables (7 prims each).  Transfer Only.
* Two matching table lamps with 3-way switches (4 prims each).  Transfer Only.
* Two double-sided library bookcases (5 prims each).  Transfer Only.
* One fireplace with a realistic fire and lighting (20 prims). Transfer Only.
* One set of decorative shelves with books, a basket, and working candles (12 prims). Transfer Only.
* One area rug (1 prim).  Copy and Modify.

The auction set includes 23 supplementary items:

* Eight sets of decorative sculpty books to fill your bookshelves (2 prims each).  Copy and Modify.
* One set of decorative prim books to display on a table (5 prims).  Transfer Only.
* Five coordinating throw rugs (in spruce, tan, rust, chocolate, and gold) (1 prim each).  Copy and Modify.
* Three coordinating menu-driven throw rugs  (in spruce, chocolate and rust)  (1 prim, 8 sits each).  Transfer Only.
* One linked set of scatter cushions (2 prims, 2 sits).  Transfer Only.
* One set of empty decorative shelves (4 prims).  Transfer Only.
* One bowl of Hood River apples (8 prims).  Transfer Only.
* One vase with poppies (14 prims).  Transfer Only.
* One Native American wedding vase.   Transfer Only.
* One decorative frame with can be used with a picture of without (3 prims).  Transfer Only.

You get the base limited edition set AND the auction set, for a total of 38 items!  More than enough to decorate one very large room or two smaller rooms.  Can’t use everything?   Most of the items are transferable, so you can make gifts out of many of these limited edition items!

Opening bid:  2,600 Lindens

—–

From Noble Charron

$200 USD gift certificate to the Stormwolf Store

The winner of this auction item will, upon registering with the Stormwolf Store, be sent a $200.00 gift certificate to the store. It can be used to purchase any *virtual* products for instant download.

The Stormwolf Store is the official store of New York Times Bestselling author Michael A. Stackpole.  Grab some great fiction, instructional books such as 21 Days to a Novel and Serial Fiction, or go ahead and get one or more of the blockbuster sets of  The Secrets Newsletter!

If the winner wishes to purchase physical items, shipping charges will be calculated and will have to be paid to Michael Stackpole prior to the shipment.

Starting bid: 10,000 Lindens

—–

From Noble Charron:

$40 USD gift certificate to the Stormwolf Store

The winner of this auction item will, upon registering with the Stormwolf Store, be sent a $40.00 gift certificate to the store. It can be used to purchase any *virtual* products for instant download.

If the winner wishes to purchase physical items, shipping charges will be calculated and will have to be paid to Michael Stackpole prior to the shipment.

Starting bid: 6,000 Lindens

—–

From Noble Charron:

$25 gift certificate to the Stormwolf Store

The winner of this auction item will, upon registering with the Stormwolf Store, be sent a $25.00 gift certificate to the store. It can be used to purchase any *virtual* products for instant download.

If the winner wishes to purchase physical items, shipping charges will be calculated and will have to be paid to Michael Stackpole prior to the shipment.

Starting bid: 4,500 Lindens

—–

From Noble Charron

Autographed, first edition, trade paperback set of the Age of Discovery novels

New York Times Bestselling author Michael A. Stackpole is offering a signed, first edition, trade paperback set of the Age of Discovery novels: A Secret Atlas, Cartomancy and The New World. The author will personalize the books, and they may be purchased as a gift. The book will be shipped to the winner. The books, at retail, would run $45 for the set, IF they were still available.

Winners in the United States agree to pay a L$2,500 shipping surcharge.

Winners outside the United States agree to pay a L$5,000 shipping surcharge.

Starting bid: 4,500 Linden

—–

From Kat Alderson:

KatAlley Hosting - RFL Gazelle Hosting Plan (One Year)

• Monthly Limits:  500 meg storage / 2 GB  bandwith
• All KatAlley terms of service apply.
• See KatAlley.com for all of the plan details.
• WordPress installed if requested.
• 30-day money back guarantee does not apply.
• Domain name is not included.
• Winners will be required to supply their first life name and contact details, including a working email address. (All information held in the strictest confidence.)

Great for blogs with smaller photo galleries - perfect for beginning bloggers, small stores, writers.

Retail Value:  $36 USD

Starting bid:  2,600 Lindens

—–

From Kat Alderson:

KatAlley Hosting - RFL Giraffe Plan (One Year)

• Monthly Limits:  1 GB storage / 10 GB  bandwith
• All KatAlley terms of service apply.
• See KatAlley.com for all of the plan details.
• WordPress installed if requested.
• 30-day money back guarantee does not apply.
• Domain name is not included.
• Winners will be required to supply their first life name and contact details, including a working email address. (All information held in the strictest confidence.)

Great for blogs with huge photo galleries, or even some sound and video files, perfect for mid-sized stores.

Retail Value:  $84 USD

Starting bid:  8,500 Lindens

—–

KatAlley Hosting - RFL Tiger Hosting Plan (One Year)

• Monthly Limits:  5 GB storage / 200 GB  bandwith
• All KatAlley terms of service apply.
• See KatAlley.com for all of the plan details.
• WordPress installed if requested.
• 30-day money back guarantee does not apply.
• Domain name is not included.
• Winners will be required to supply their first life name and contact details, including a working email address. (All information held in the strictest confidence.)

Ideal for growing podcasts, huge blogs, mega-photo galleries, audio, video, and large stores.

Retail Value:  $360 USD

Starting bid:  22,000 Lindens

—–

From Jordyss Paine:

Seahorse Fountain

The Seahorse Fountain is an auction exclusive with STUNNING cascading water, and 12 embedded poses.  It’s an impressive fountain for fantasy sims, aquatic sims, landing points, parks, larger courtyards and large foyers with cathedral ceilings.

Starting bid: 1,000 Lindens

—–

From Luta Lassard:

The Writer’s’ Dream Pack

The Writer’s Dream Pack is comprised of two email courses for writers, and a copy of the workbook from The Scriptorium’s Write That Story! workshop.
The email courses are normally available only through The Scriptorium.  They are:

1) The 2-Week Short Story (Plan and write a solid first draft story in just two weeks — eight lessons delivered over two weeks)

2) Short Story Workshop for One (Evaluate, redraft, and edit your story to achieve a more sophisticated draft — six lessons delivered over one week)

Each course consists of lessons delivered through email, which the writer can work through at the pace of delivery, or at their own pace.  Lessons include written course material, instructions, worksheets, and checklists.  These courses are very popular and have received very positive feedback.  The regular course price is $8 US each, or the combo pack of both for $12 US, but the price is going up soon.

More details on the courses can be found at:
http://www.thescriptorium.net/scriptorium/2weekstory.html
and
http://www.thescriptorium.net/scriptorium/workshopforone.html

The Write That Story! workbook is designed for writers who have a hard time finishing stories.  Outside this auction, it is only available by taking the full six-week workshop, which costs $40 US.  It includes all the course materials as well as a glossary of writing terms, a list of recommended books and software, and 50 writing prompts.  The full workshop description is at:
http://www.thescriptorium.net/scriptorium/workshop.html

Winning bidders will have to supply a working email address (which won’t be used for anything other than delivery of the auction items, of course) and their preferred start date for the email courses.  Email courses cannot be delivered in August.

—–

From Falconer Designs:

A Customized Wildeheart Original

A customized Wildeheart original, personalized with your name or a two or three word saying of your choice.  The winning bidder will contact Wilde Falconer to arrange the customization.

Starting bid: 1,0000 Lindens

—–

*** All winning bidders will also receive a L$500 gift certificate to the Cad & Tart store. ***
*** All winning bidders will ALSO receive a L$300 gift certificate to Third Life Books.***

There are still items to be listed from Luta Lassard and Jordyss Paine.

Special thanks to Delaney Button, Chivalrybean Ragu, Aplomb Pomilio, Luta Lassard, Jordyss Paine and Wilde Falconer for their generosity and huge thanks to the Third Life Events Commitee for their support and assistance!

I have meant to do this at the first of each month to show my fellow Entrecard community members appreciation for stopping by and dropping on my blog, however things here have been helter skelter again in the absence of the  child support I was finally starting to get and I have been trying to get my bearings again. It is taking some time and some day soon things will even out.

So Without further adieu here are the top droppers on Wildheart’s Work’s for May 2009

1. How to Make Money on the Internet
2. Otak 3 Pagi Experiment
3. Oh Fer Cryin’ Outloud
4. Personal Finance Management Online
5. ArtJoolree
6. LovelyPurses
7. Crimsonsparkle.net
8. Slacker Heaven
9. Spontaneous Insignificancy
10. Multi Schemes for Income

You are invited to attend

A Grand Opening Gala
of
The Curio Shelf
and
Falconer Designs
Date: Friday, May 29th, 2009

From: 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. SLT
To be followed by an open house
Lasting until Sunday May 31st, 2009
at 8pm SLT

As many of you know from my last two posts I have been busy with setting up shop in Second Life to sell my best textures to builders inworld. This weekend my friend Pam Sargant aka Delaney Button inworld and I are having our grand opening of our businesses in Second Life. I will be running Falconer Designs where as I said I will be selling my best textures,hand created by me, to builders inworld. I will also be selling customized pieces to folks for their home or office wall.

Pam will be running The Curio Shelf and here is what she has to say about her inworld character and businees

The majority of my art is landscapes and is inspired by Bob Ross. It is mostly digital or what I call Sketchital which is a combination of sketch and digital art. I Also do some fantasy art. My first collectible teddybear was inspired by snowglobes actually, and commemorates my first grandchild. I continue to improve the original idea and find inspiration to enlarge the collection. My first life business is Delaney Design where I create original artwork for websites and blog customizations, as well as cover art and illustrations for children’s books. I also have on display one of my craft books which includes cartoons, coloring pages, songs, crafts, and games. I am a Canadian artist and mother of 6. The name of my business venture in SL is The Curio Shelf where I intend to use as an outlet for my imagination.

I thought I would mostly plug Pam aka Delaney in this post as she has been just absolutely wonderful in helping me with wardrobe and finding a great community on Second Life that is just great at positive reinforcement of goals and dreams of the creative soul.

Also watch out over on wildheartsworks.net I am going to be turning that blog into a Second Life blog soon.

Well ok not an empire but in light of a conversation I had with a friend of mine in one of my Skype rooms I decided to get serious about my presence on Second Life. I have been busy the last month setting up shop, networking, learning how things work with regards to how to build things such as simple pieces of furniture. I thought the learning curve for Word Press was huge. There is an even bigger learning curve in Second Life for the serious resident. I could run a whole other blog about my experiences on Second Life this past month or so let me tell you. I found two great sites for the virtual community to network, one is Koinup.com and the other is Mymmorpgspace.com. Both offer support for the Second Life community as well as World of Warcraft, which I also play regularly. I would like to share with you a few of the screen shots I have taken of my avatars over in both worlds.

This is the signage that hangs in my shop. Yes those are wings I am sporting. When I chose my nic on Second Life Falconer seemed the only thing that remotely went with Wilde and so I sport either the blue wings in the pic or black wings in the same style. When I think of Falconer I think of birds of prey more precisely the falcon. So it just felt natural to go with a winged avatar.

This tribute goes out to my grandmother who was a wonderful woman. Despite all the bad things that I had to see her endure at the hands of my grandfather who was at best an abusive alcoholic most of the time that we were growing up I love her very much. She taught me so much growing up, for that she will always have my undying love and devotion to her memory. I am thankful that because of her I know how to run my own household and that I can take care of my son.

She worked at the Hershey Plant during WW2 while my grandfather was stationed in PA. Her ancestors were from England and from what I understand they came from a well to do part of England. She had a love for nature that showed as we traveled the US extensively growing up to places like The Redwood Forest, Zion National Park, Royal Gorge, Crazy Horse, to name a few attractions that may be lesser known to some.

She was also very talented in the area of crafting. She would make rosaries with my grandfather and she would also make curtains for the house. She would can every summer after harvest. I never picked up her sewing talent. I can sew on a button at best.

There are so many things that I could go on and on about this wonderful woman, but then I would end up writing a book about her. One thing I do respect about her is that she did sacrifice her retirement to raise us. I know that my grandfather loved to use that against us every time he got angry, and so with him it lost its luster. However, with my grandmother I did appreciate the sacrifice she made to raise her daughters children. She had her work cut out for her that is for sure. We had all spent time apart in foster homes for at least two years with none of us knowing what the other was going through. To say that I was angry when she took us in would be an understatement.

So to my grandmother “HAPPY MOTHERS DAY”

I was catching up on my Entrecard housekeeping yesterday and the blog Oh Fer Cryin’ Out Loud dropped on me. As it appeared to be a new drop I checked out the blog and I came to this powerful poem on depression . I don’t think I have mentioned it here, but I suffer from chronic depression and myofascial pain syndrome so when I read this poem I had to blink back tears because I wish that I had someone in my corner to understand what depression looks like from my eyes in my life. Depression is a real illness, one that you just don’t “snap out of”. I really wish that people could get this. There are neurotransmitters in the brain that are damaged in a depressed person. Once those connections are gone they are gone and you can’t rebuild them which is why there are people on depression meds such as Zoloft-which is what I am on. This particular medicine regenerates serotonin levels in the brain that have been depleted in light of the damage done to the natural serotonin levels.

Yeah ok I hear the finger moving to the click off this page because this isn’t related to the purpose of the blog, but it really is because I have found solace in digital design. When I don’t feel like talking to anyone I open up my paint shop pro and I just zone out in making stuff and looking for things online to create with. I am passionate about Paint Shop Pro because it has given me a purpose in life that before I bought the program I didn’t really have. In becoming a person of authority in my niche I have created a way for myself to rise out of the ashes of my depression and give myself a meaning to my life.

Now without further adieu here is the poem.

You Have To Be His Brother To Understand

What is it like to feel anger, broken-heartedness, and love at the same time?
You have to be his brother to understand.

What is it like to watch your brother constantly hurt your mom,
And feel no remorse,
Because he hardly understands what he’s doing at the time?
what is it like to have to sit there, and remain silent,
All while you witness both people suffering?
You have to be his brother to understand.

What is it like to see someone close to you,
Having already flown as high as they can get
Or so it seems?
Professionals say he can’t go any further,
But you pray to God he can.
You have to be his brother to understand.

What is it like to witness someone you love,
Hurt to the point of tears because he feels he can’t make it?
What is it like to feel so much pain your body, heart, and mind,
Can hardly take it because you see your own brother’s life in shambles?
What is it like to hear people call your brother stupid?
You have to be his brother to understand.

What is it like to be the privileged brother,
Yet you watch his life spiral downward,
All as teachers have given up on him,
Saying he won’t amount to anything in this world,
Because he has trouble reading?
You have to be his brother to understand.

What is it like to have many true friends,
But your brother has next to none,
So he feels alone, even though you share yours,
But he knows that, he knows they’re yours,
It kills you because it’s killing him?
You have to be his brother to understand.

What is it like to love your brother,
With such a sense of protecting him because of his delicacy,
That your friends call you wrong because, you get angered at the
Slightest thing anyone says about your brother, at the times when
People laugh at him, you want to punch people’s lights out?
You have to be his brother to understand.

What is it like to see him depressed as he’s cycling through meds,
And most psychiatrists can’t help him because
they refuse to push aside their pride,
and so you watch him suffer because of their idiotic mistakes,
and it makes you so sad to see this situation unfold before your eyes?
You have to be his brother to understand.

What is it like to have the desire to tell him he’ll be o.k.,
He’ll make it no matter what anyone tells him,
He’ll spread his wings and fly much higher than anyone ever anticipated,
He’s always loved and prayed for by many people,
Yet you can’t muster up the courage to tell him because you’re afraid he’ll reject this statement of love?
You have to be his brother to understand.

What is it like to feel anger, broken-heartedness, and love at the same time?
You have to be his brother to understand.

I have been busy busy busy these last two weeks with trying to keep up with the 31 Days to Become a Better Blogger Challenge as well as looking for more how shall we say it teaching opportunities as well as some new learning opportunities. I am working on trying to get on a signature tag committee over at Paint Shop Pro Showdown and I am also being interviewed tomorrow for a teaching opportunity on Second Life. The long term benefits of the teaching opportunity on there is pretty darn great and I couldn’t pass it up after speaking with one of the staff members over at The Learning Experience . There is a possibility of an actual real world paycheck if you can prove you have the skills to teach in a virtual environment so I am really going to give this a major effort.

I was also contacted about doing another blog internship program and have began the process of applying and getting approved for that. Yeah I know I am on blog learning overkill, but I really want to make Wildheart’s Work’s the best that I can possibly make it and I am more than willing to try any legit opportunity out there that will help me achieve that end goal.

Also I have been working on trying to use Twitter as a job seeking tool. I have gotten a nibble or two and that is about all I can say but it is still a nibble. I also created my first Twitter background for a friend of mine.

So wish me luck as I am still working hard here at Wildheart’s Work’s to bring you the best I can be and more.

I have been wanting to do this post for quite some time now. I come across so many wonderful sites that offer just amazing free design elements. Everything from free brushes, free textures, free plug ins and filters to tubes for paint shop pro is out there for the taking. Today I want to share with my readers my arsenal of sites that I have found, used and love to check in with every day or every week just to see what is new.

First off is Obsidian Dawn , this is ran by a gal named Stephanie who is mind boggling talented with Photoshop brushes. She offers free brush packs for Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, GIMP, and Paint Shop Pro. There is also a Flickr group as well where users of her brush packs can share and show off what they create with her fabulous materials.

Then there is a new forum I joined last month or so called PSP Showdown . It has a small but active community full of wonderfully creative men and women. This forum offers masks challenges, tube challenges, has a safe tubes permission list for the newbie who doesn’t know what artists out there are safe to use and who isn’t. I think this is a must for every forum that is digital design related so there is less of a chance for copyright infringement. For myslelf I had to learn the hard way when I used an image for something and got a nasty email from a forum owner from the former MSN groups. That my friends was a good learning experience. PSP Showdown has already earned kudos in my book for fulfilling a personal request to have a set of masks emailed to me in a .zip folder because they weren’t saving correctly to my mask files in paint shop pro. Vivian emailed them to me post haste and by Monday evening of this week I had them and was off creating.

Torley Textures has a massive free texture pack offering. I was floored in drop jawed amazement when I saw the massive amounts of textures they were just giving away. Needless to say I was in snag mode as I immediately added these all to my texture files as well as my patterns files. They have unique abstract patterns which are vibrant and colorful as well as eye popping.

Lost and Taken has free textures as well. There are often texture packs that offer textures found in nature and the real world. I had to laugh softly when I saw there were even textures from the sides of garbage dumpsters. I like the rust textures the most tho. I think rust and grunge are just awesome. If you have ever looked at my site I mean really paid attention to the details in the sidebars and borders there is subtle hints of kind of a slight grunge effect. That is what attracted the theme that I use now to me.

Corel Paint Shop Pro Users Flickr Group has great discussions with users often contributing information on how to do things that you won’t find in the users manual when you open the box and install the software.

The Plug In Site offers free plug ins and filters. They also offer abstract and mutation packs at a reasonable price as well. I ordered them for less than a $10 bill. There are literally a thousand images with this pack. So yeah I got my money’s worth and then some. I really got these for a steal. Also Harrold Heim who runs the site offers great customer service. I had a question about how to upload this to my paint shop pro program and he was very timely getting back to me personally.

BittBox well for me is for those who are way more talented than I an armchair designer could ever hope to be. I think these folks who participate in the users group on Flickr must have some formal design training that I don’t posses yet.

I hope that you enjoyed this post and I encourage you to check these wonderful resources out. In parting I want to share with you a design I finished this week courtesy the materials I found at The Plug In Site and PSP Showdown.

• PhotoFX Plug In Link Information.

This is a little late in the day as I didn’t realize I had to upgrade my NextGEN gallery before I could post images again after I upgraded to WP version 2.7.1. Anywho I just wanted to wish everyone out there a HAPPY EASTER. I had fun with tubes on this one, did a lot of resizing and rotating.LOL.