Last Minute Pregnancy Pictures

December 24, 2022December 23, 2022 ~ breanamcdonnell ~ Leave a comment

Right before Bre went into labor we did a “bump” featuring shoot at Backdrop City. I tend to be pretty modest in fashion, so there haven’t been very many bump-centric pictures taken, and I wanted to capture these last moments. [FLRN DESIGN]’s Lae Love Momma Top & Sarong in store group gift worked pretty well for showing that curve off. *smile*

A little throwback to the 2 month pictures of the “peanut”, with the sarong set and the month banner. *smile*

I somehow failed to write down which pose this is; I am so sorry! I love it enough that I had to include it still. If you know, please drop me a comment and I’ll up the post with the credit, otherwise I’ll keep sifting through all of the poses I’ve tried lately so that I can properly credit it.

*Samia – Hannah pregnancy MODELING Mirror Bento Pose #77*

*Samia – Marissa Phone Pregnant Couple Bento Pose #74*

*{honeybee+peony}* *nine months pregnant*

*The Jellytot Photo Shop* *{JPS} – Showing Off The Bump*

I know it’s not your traditional pregnancy baby bump photoshoot, but I love how these turned out at Backdrop City and how adorable the Zooby LoveMomma looks at full term.

Credits

Bre’s style:

Body: Zooby LoveMomma Body

Hair: Truth – Adore

Clothing: [FLRN DESIGN]’s Lae Love Momma Top & Sarong in store group gift

Luke’s style

Hair: Vango – Bradley in Browns (link to MP store)

Bottoms: Lapointe & Bastchild – Swear Havoc Jeans

Top: Bron – Adam Vest

Shoes: {COLD-ASH} – Mens CHELSEA Boots (Single Color-Dust SUEDE)

Taken at Backdrop City

Poses

Samia – Hannah pregnancy MODELING Mirror Bento Pose #77 (link to MP store)

{JPS} Showing Off The Bump (standing holding belly with eyes closed) link to MP store

{honeybee+peony} months pregnant (link to MP store)

Samia – Marissa Phone Pregnant Couple Bento Pose #74 (link to MP store)

{RP} CP0028 * (Reina Photography – link to MP store)

Fall Wandering Part 1

November 10, 2022 ~ breanamcdonnell ~ Leave a comment

I think SL is a spectacular environment to embrace and soak up Fall/Autumn and Winter landscapes, decor, and sims. A lot of games/systems try to simulate seasons, but I truly love all of the creativity and skillfully designed within SL the best. (I’m not knocking how adorable Sim’s Cottage Living can be with Autumn, but I’m being objective here. *grin*) Although Halloween is quite the celebrated event in SL, gothic details can be appreciated throughout the year when used well, so I decided that I’d also feature a few favorite items I discovered during my Fall Wandering that were featured for Halloween, but I think there are more opportunities that make them either a good buy or a great location, and want to share. 🙂

If you follow my blogs or even Flickr, you know I am working through grieving the loss of my RL mother, so I’ve been slowly getting back into the “swing of things” in SL, and I’ve been late to a lot of events and such. One was the much-loved (and sometimes hated) Shop And Hop. I also am not above taking screenshots in stores of animations if I like the set up and such, so don’t pay attention to the sale signs in a few pictures. *laugh* For the record, I was so impressed I actually bought the featured item, but the store stall was set up cute enough that I wasn’t going to try to compete. The CHEZ MOI Cute Tomb (PG) is definitely an adorable additional to any Fall or Halloween decor, but if you’re a fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas like me, then it can arguably be pretty perfect for most of the year if you like to have little peaceful spots tucked away in your landscape with a bonus of cute poses included.

The CHEZ MOI Cute Tomb (PG) includes the pillows and rumpled blanket, plus a bunch of animations

This animation pulls at my heartstrings honestly and if you cammed differently, did a different background, etc., I can see this being an awesome prop for a memorial picture. There’s something so realistic and believable with this pose, in my opinion.

Add in a change of WL and using LumiPro to assist with lighting, and I think this is a really nice pic taken right there at Shop And Hop. I added a bit of contrast using my computer’s pic program, but no PS or such, and even with a less popular mesh body that carries the skeleton slightly differently due to being a pregnancy body, there aren’t clipped limbs even! (At 8 months PG in world, a lot of animations are now having some difficulty with the arms/hands disappearing into the baby bump *laugh*.)

And how cute is this one?! Ignore the wonky finger pose from the natural hand positions getting a bit, well, wonky, please. lol This would be perfect for taking pics with sitting Zooby toddlers or so neat in a little Fall foliage landscape.

One last picture that shows how there are subtle postional changes within the animations that makes me like this decor prop so much that I splurged for a Chez Moi item which is usually beyond my budget. I am honestly seriously impressed with this little prop and plan to have it as part of my landscape most of the year (and not being supported or even blogging for the company). I love a versatile landscape and decor prop, and a little Jack smile puts it in my fav decor file. *smile*

Credits:

Body: Zooby LOVEMOMMA 2.3

Skins: [Glam Affair] Cherry Skin [Lelutka EvoX] Honey

Head: LeLUTKA Avalon Head 3.1

Hair: TRUTH Monsoon – Brunette

Top: *BabyCakes – Aadi – Flannel Blouse (and Tank) – LoveMomma – 18

Bottom: {bb} Basics – Mommy Outfit #13 (Bluebird Baby)

Shoes: -KC- Dania Ballet Flats/ Maitreya… (KC Couture)

(taken at Shop and Hop event at time but should move to in-store) CHEZ MOI Cute Tomb (PG)

LumiPro HUD (Marketplace)

LeLutka Evolution Makeovers

April 7, 2020June 15, 2020 ~ breanamcdonnell ~ 1 Comment

I’m a little delayed with getting this written, since I’ve been sick, but during the Skin Fair I decided that Bre and Luke both needed LeLutka Evolution makeovers. Partially because, you know, the newest technology so I have to get it lol, but also because it would make me fully learn BoM, to then help Luke and my friends switch over. I’ve done a lot of tweaking since the first pic, right after I got the main parts set up aaaaand I got used to the animations HUD (I swear I need to buy a magnifying glass for the static facial poses!). So, first round, not my favorite and a particularly unhappy looking one:

LeLu Evo Makeover 3 20_007

Luke got updated from Guy to the Evolution Skyler while Bre updated from Simone to Evolutions Erin, with updated Maitreya and Signature Gianni put on and Bakes on Mesh (BoM) turned on. His beard is one of the added features with the head and out of a selection that LeLutka generously provided, he liked this one (and the sideburns almost meet the hairbase completely, so he was really happy with that). I was stoked that I could still use my applier tattoo despite having BoM active, because it’s my favorite and the designer hasn’t switched to BoM yet. Poor Luke has no tattoos yet, since no BoM ones are hitting his Celtic open-my-wallet bone. (**Update: with a few missed clicks, Luke got to add his tattoo back on despite the designer not having it as a tattoo layer!) *grin* I had to change to a brighter red haircolor to match my wild RL dye job, of course (too bad it wasn’t that easy to change colors IRL! lol). He also got new glasses since the old ones don’t work well with the new “skeleton” of the Evo head.

After a bit of work on their shapes and a super handy guide on MP we looked a bit more like “ourselves”. (Naria Panthar also has some great tutorials regarding BoM over on YouTube if you are a visual learner.)

Bre and Luke 3 23 20_020

And what do you do once you’ve had makeovers? Go to Luane’s World and take sexy pictures, of course! *grin* She changed the regular sim over to Spring and there are so many hidden treasures in her landscaping that it is a must see destination, in my opinion!

Country LW 3 30 20 L and B_004 — “We are simply meant to be…” – The Nightmare Before Christmas

Country LW 3 30 20 L and B_011 — Wranglers – a country girl’s kryptonite

Since I refused to take off my new overalls from Addams (and an old Sn@tch lucky board system layer top now that we’re BoM!), he went country with the Rebellion cowboy hat. It took some head movements and perfect timing to get a good picture with both wearing cowboy hats, so over to short hair (I’m a Truth addict, so it was probably harder to decide on which hair to change to than taking the picture lol). I used LumiPro on both avatars for the lighting (seriously look into it if you want to take pictures; it’s totally worth the cost and if the other person accepts the light balls that you can position and hide, you can light up both of you with the perfect light without face lights making the nose so prominent *grin*). For the barn pose we used: Ardent Poses – Entrapment, with Ardent Poses – Always for the standing one, tweaked a bit with the [HD]multi bento pose HUD beta v.1.41 giving a little help for our head tilts.

Once he logged off and I couldn’t sleep, I headed back over to Luane’s and took a bunch of different pictures. I had been looking on Pinterest at photoshoot ideas while on bedrest and went a bit wild trying all the different country ones I found that I had poses to accomodate. And if you don’t have an overwhelming amount of poses to try in your inventory, Luane has a ton of items with built in poses scattered about!

Country LW 3 29 20_013 — Diversion – Book Lover Poses “If you find a girl who reads, keep her close…date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable…If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.” – Robert Pattinson

Bre at Luannes 3 24 20_007 — :LW: Poses – Heart of Gold, female pose with prop 1 “Charm is more valuable than beauty. You can resist beauty, but you can’t resist charm.” – Audrey Tatou

Bre at Luannes 3 24 20_059 — Built in pose in the barn “I don’t need to flirt. I will seduce you with my awkwardness.”

Bre at Luannes 3 24 20_193 — *~*HopScotch*~* Brooklyn 5 “The one who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. Those who walk alone are likely to find themselves in places no one else has ever been before.” – Albert Einstein

It was so hard to pick favorites to share, since I had so much fun. *grin* My top favorites are definitely the tractor and tree pictures, for sure. If you like any items I didn’t provide SLurls for, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments and I’ll share them ASAP. I just don’t want to overwhelm and look like a sponsored post, because this is all me (except for Luke obviously). Luane has lots of poses at the mainstore landing spot and tons on MP, like the Heart of Gold I used, so her poses are in my top recommendations.

Between being sick, makeovers, BoM, and working on improving my photography, I’ve avoided sorting my inventory really well. *grin* Oh, and one awesome tip, if you’re interested in some freebies during this crazy time of self isolation and quarantines, check out The Stay at Home Club SL. It’ll help bloat that inventory further and designers have been super generous!! Stay safe and healthy!

Roller Skates and the Beach

April 9, 2019 ~ breanamcdonnell ~ Leave a comment

I was goofing off and ended up with two scenes that I wanted to share. First, if you haven’t tried the Vista Animations Roller Skating you must go and try the demo! I am usually pretty frugal and super picky about any purchases above 250L, and anything above 1000L is really rare, but once I tried these after seeing Strawberry Singh show them off on her YouTube channel, I bought the AO immediately and the additional shoe pack, since I want the ability to change up the colors (yeah, I know, totally a girls and their shoes thing, but I don’t care *laugh*). I can literally sit and watch my avi skate around with the different animations on the HUD for a good half hour and probably have the goofiest smile on my face while watching. Try to skate today and I’d be in the hospital, so it makes skating in world even more fun for me. I then remembered that when I roller skated as a kid I was always blowing chewing gum bubbles, so I had to add that, and then hit Backdrop City to take a skating picture.

Skating and Gum_009

See?! I seldom ever do typing exclamations, but DOESN’T THAT LOOK FUN?! Plus, Truth outdid himself with the Zahlee hair, in my opinion. I am almost as obsessed with it, especially for a fun, youthful look. A ponytail up top with a color changing band and all that hair! *sigh* Those were the days. *laugh*

Anyway, after the Cool Rider shoot at Gale Retreat I couldn’t resist going back and getting some beach shots. Although there’s still some snow on the other side of the sim, the beach has a few awesome areas clear, and it really helped shake off the last of the winter blahs. Most of the pictures are just for my slideshow, but couldn’t resist sharing a couple of cute ones. They’re the exact same pictures with just different windlights, but they’re a great example of how much a windlight can totally change the feel of a picture.

Skating and Gum_137

Other than playing with the WLs (windlights) in world, the only other thing I did was increase the clarity in my computer’s built in software, so this just goes to show how a WL can totally change the feeling to a picture. I figure there must be others that are learning SL photography as well; when I learn something I plan to share it.

In the meantime, I had a lot of fun wandering and hope you enjoyed my non-themed post. As usual, credits will follow. I hope you have a happy and healthy day!

Roller Skating Credits:

Taken at Backdrop City (City area)

LeLutka Gum Gum Boom

-VA-Vista Animations-Roller Bento AO-V1

WilaRollerPro :: Woman Rollers :: 10 Colors :: {kokoia} (Sold beside AO)

Neve short – watson neutral

*Fishy Strawberry* Running Bra – Black (Out of business)

Truth Hair Zahlee

Beach Credits:

Taken at Gale Retreat

Pose: LW Bento Poses – Dream Lovers (Pose MP)

Luke:

Riot – Billy Bootcut Jeans

..::ILLI::.. Sergio Sneakers (MP)

L&B Swear Oct GG T-Shirt

Action Inkubator Hair – Johnny (MP)

Bre:

Shorts – Ducknipple

Neve Top – Fetch Neutral

Truth Hair – Aislin

Dirty Dancing© Inspired Shoot

March 28, 2019 ~ breanamcdonnell ~ 1 Comment

I found Dirty Dancing© for sale on Vudu and after watching it I started thinking it would be kind of fun to replicate a few of the scenes from the movie. Some I definitely got a little creative with and poor Luke got bored doing the lift scene while I tried probably every windlight SL has. *laugh* I may revisit the concept and go completely creative, and work in the iconic quotes from the movie, but I was more inspired by the dancing this time. Isn’t it strange how sometimes you are just captivated by a certain aspect of a movie or song?

I couldn’t wait to play with the idea of the tree dancing and we had a blast just watching the animations while up on a “fallen” tree. *grin*

Dirty Dancing_005

Luke used Faris_07_Bento_Dance_MOVE! while Bre used Jana_26_Bento_Dance_MOVE!, both from Move! Animations. There were a ton of great pictures, so it was hard to pick just one, because they looked so darn cute dancing up there!

For this shot Luke wore: {COLD-ASH} Men’s MESH DEAN Chinos (Black), GAS Men’s Tank Top – William.

Bre wore: Neve – Sawyer Top – Neutral, Truth VIP – May 2017, Vinyl – Shinoda Khakis Pak White

Then of course we had to work on “the lift”! I love both of these with the different views and time of day, so I figured I’d share them both. *grin* And no, I wasn’t going to bother with the wet look. I was having too much fun with the WLs. *laugh*

Dirty Dancing Lift_003

Dirty Dancing Lift_019

For The Lift: :LW: Poses – Dirty Dancing – couples pose (Marketplace)

Luke: {COLD-ASH} Men’s MESH DEAN Chinos (Black); Bre: Neve Top – Everyday – Baby, Truth VIP – May 2017, Vinyl – Shinoda Khakis Pak White

I had to give the Love is Strange© shot, although I hope to reshoot this sometime, since some of the positioning wasn’t quite what I was envisioning. And that’s actually the gym I decorated in our house that this is taken in. I need to take a pic of the room itself sometime, because I’m kind of proud of it. *grin*

Loverboy_014

For the “crawl” I used the Embody Pose MF LOVERBOY from Marketplace.

Luke is still in the same clothing as before (ever notice that Swayze’s costume designer didn’t have to do nearly as much work than any other character’s? *laugh*), plus the Men’s Shoes Anton from GAS. Bre is in [hh] (Hilly Haalan)’s Lara Bermuda Shorts, Neve Dixie Neutral shirt, REIGN.- Lola Sneakers – Fatpack, and the same Truth VIP – May 2017 hair. I also used the [HD] multi bento pose HUD beta I bought at the eBento event a couple of months back to help lift the head a little higher in this and the lift.

And what Dirty Dancing© inspired shoot would be complete without trying to duplicate the cover? *grin*

Dirty Dancing Cover_001

For “The Cover”: .::One Moon::.. Dirty Dancing Couple Pose that I found on Marketplace. Bre’s dress is the Gaall* Marilyn Dress with the -KC- HEDY HEELS, makeup from both Alaskametro & LeLutka, and the same Truth hair. Luke went back to the {COLD-ASH} Mens MESH DEAN Chinos (Black) and GAS Men’s Shoes Anton, along with the ..::ILLI::.. Casual Polo – deluxe.

I figured for the cover I’d activate her tattoo layer again, since I left Luke’s on, and they look so good together in this shot. Today’s trivial fact is that they’re both Celtic with Bre’s also having Druid rune writing along with what I suspect is actually Elven writing. *smile* Luke’s are straight up traditional Celtic armband tattoos. I think this is one of my favorite themed shoots and hope you have enjoyed my Dirty Dancing© inspired theme. Nobody put Baby in the corner this time, that’s for sure! *grin*

Wizard Inspired Scenes

March 17, 2019March 17, 2019 ~ breanamcdonnell ~ Leave a comment

I was inspired by the recent magical event and decided to do a few different scenes inspired by the Harry Potter© series.

I tried my hand at a backdrop gacha and won the scene from the beginning, where the Hogwarts invitations came flying out of the chimney. For my purposes, it happened this time for a class reunion and Bre and Luke are preparing for the trip as soon as they started getting the swarm of invitations flying.

Something New Short Stacked Pose_006

For this shot I used:

The Beginning – Lovely Magic Backdrop – The Bearded Guy

Luas Magic Travel Trolley Classic

Torchi Owl Statue (in the Trolley cage)

Floorplan Leather Couch Set

*SN~ Short Stacked (AKA: Something New Props and Poses store; it’s the short set of books Bre is standing on for them to hold each other)

For Bre, other than the usual info, I used:

L&B (Lapointe Bastchild) Swear Oct GG Tank Top – Womens

TRUTH Zahlee – Redhead

Maitreya – KC – Jacy Sneakers

Neve short – Watson – Lara

While Luke is in:

Stealthic – Narcotic (Unrigged)

..::ILLI::.. Signature Sergio Sneakers (L&R)

L&B * GIANNIfit* L&B Swear Oct GG T-shirt – Mens

RIOT / Billy Bootcut Jeans – Signature Gianni

Next, they travelled to Hogwarts utilizing the built in poses of the backdrop, although not all poses were used.

Magic Fun_073

Magic Fun_075

Magic Fun_083

KraftWork – The Wizard Express Backdrop

Bre is using:

TRUTH Daphne – Redhead (all other pics of Bre)

LeLutka Axis HUD Face

::GB:: IGNIS Fire / Female Outfit with built in shoes (all other pictures)

Halo – Troubled Tree Twig – Shoulder Pet

While Luke is using in addition to the same hair:

Nishi: Uniform Harry Potter

GAS [Signature – Men’s Shoes Anton]

I had some fun using some Quidditch items. Bre and Luke are using the same items as in the train, except for Bre’s shoulder pet.

Random Fun_003 — “Oh, I’m gonna get you this time!”

Quidditch Pitch Box by Dmaze, modified

Same information as on the train, along with:

::eXpression:: Props – WindChaser Broomstick (Inc: Bludger, Beater’s Equipment, Quaffle, Golden Snitch, built in poses for each type of broomstick)

I decided to then finish up this themed shoot, which I’ll probably revisit the theme later on because it was so much fun, by having them do some classroom work and improve on their rusty skills, after years of living among Muggles.

Magic Fun_069B — Overlooking the classroom set up

Magic Fun_064 — First close up of scene decor

Magic Fun_065 — Second close up of scene details

Magic Fun_022B — “Okay, time to try a spell finally.”

Magic Fun_024 — “Oops! I can’t believe the spell went wrong!”

Magic Fun_046B — “Hmmm…maybe I got a word wrong in the spell…”

Magic Fun_023C — “Oh no! I gave the cup a rat tail instead of transfiguring correctly!”

Magic Fun_057C — “Yikes! Thank goodness I jumped back!”

Magic Fun_059 — “Let’s try adding a bit of this to the mix and see if this goes safely…”

Used:

.random.Matter. – Magic Shop – Transfiguration Books

[Kres] Wizards work (décor items)

[Merak] – Hermione’s Bag

DISORDERLY. – Santa Magic (suitcases)

MadPea Potion Bottles

SPELL : Magic Floating Teapot

*~*HopScotch*~* Brooklyn Poses (Bre’s poses during spell casting)

Park Place Home Décor Desks and Chairs, poses built in (old hunt item)

MadPea Spellbound Walnutweave Wand (Bre)

MadPea Spellbound Hornspike Wand (Luke)

*!R.O!* Whiskey BENTO Pose (Luke)

WRONG – Rue GACHA. 6 (Luke)

I’m sorry this post was so picture heavy, but I got so inspired I couldn’t stop staging scenes with this theme. Sometimes you just have to let that nerd/geek flag fly! 😀

My First Official Blogger Box

March 15, 2019March 15, 2019 ~ breanamcdonnell ~ Leave a comment

This was originally blogged over on my personal/business site, so I’m making it my first post on my new SL dedicated blog.

I’ve been using Second Life photography as a creative outlet as part of my recommended PTSD therapy. I am slowly getting better with editing, staging shoots, and uploading to Flickr. It actually had a secondary benefit recently! One of my favorite pose designers, ~X.T.C PoSes~, sent me a blogger’s box of poses they’ll be selling at The Chapter Four event in SL tomorrow, March 4th, for the ten days that it is open. It included a whole set of female poses, the Sweet as Candy set, and one couples pose, Peaceful Silence. It was totally unexpected and incredibly exciting, so I rushed out into the Grid to get creative. After a ton of pictures, I finally picked ones taken at our recently renovated home/landscape and Backdrop City, and dragged Luke into most of them to make little scenes. I’m really proud of my first “professional” set of SL pictures and my editing, so I decided to blog them instead of just adding to Flickr. If you’re on SL, I’d definitely recommended checking out the company and consider joining the group. Their bento poses work with very little adjustment, even with Bre in a Maitreya body and Luke in Signature’s Gianni. If you’d like to look at the photostream, please check out my Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/gp/124931994@N02/pqbZ6A. And yes, I have been in a bit of a Boho vibe and am totally obsessed with my Celtic and Elven combo body tattoo I bought at an event recently. *laugh* (**Edit: By the time this site goes live, the event will be over, but please check out their store for excellent poses and keep an eye out for these poses to hopefully pop up in store soon! -Bre**)

XTC Sweet as Candy_004

XTC Sweet as Candy_011

XTC Sweet as Candy_016

XTC Sweet as Candy1_001

XTC Sweet as Candy1_002

The above were all taken at home. They are poses 3, 5, 4, 1, and 2, respectively. (Note, the 4th pose has two hand positions and this is the first, and is also my favorite shot out of these *smile*.)

XTC Sweet as Candy1_006b

XTC Sweet as Candy1_017

XTC Sweet as Candy1_033

These were taken at Backdrop City and thankfully I could drag Luke along to up the ante of the sweet poses. They are poses 5, 3, and a second take on pose 3, respectively.

XTC Sweet as Candy1_047b

This is the couples pose, Peaceful Silence, that we took at home. Note that they are poseballs, so it was super easy to move them into place over the lounger, so the limbs could hang over. I wasn’t so sure how to set the scene for this one, so I titled it as requesting at least a five minute massage please. *laugh* The exhausted look to the pose seemed to call for the dark windlight and filter.

All in all I had an absolute blast and was so honored to get to do this, especially when it’s so therapeutic for me, as well. It’s also a huge bonus to save money from buying more poses, so I can spend it on props for setting some scenes.

**Although I didn’t have this blog up in time for these poses to get purchased at the event, I still stand by my statement that you should definitely check the store out! Here’s their marketplace HERE and then the in world SLurl here.