L$ 10,000 in prizes! Last day to enter!

Today is the last day to enter the Calla Summer's End Flickr Contest! There's over L$ 10,000 in prizes being given away. You can pick up the details in the store or you can read about them here. Hurry and get your entries in!

Kitty needs a name!

Thursday of last week, the neighbor's kitty ended up in our house over night. Our two-year-old immediately claimed it as his. I spent all day Friday finding out which neighbor it belonged to, and Friday night the rightful kitty owner came to pick him up. Our son cried like his little heart was broken, and it was so pitiful that I cried, too. Needless to say, Saturday was spent on the great kitty hunt. We hit every shelter within an hour of us in every direction, and a few of the pet stores, and this was the only one that ranked as "Mine."

But so far, we're unable to come up with a name that our (very opinionated) two-year old will accept. So here are some pics, and if you have any suggestions at all, it'd be greatly appreciated! Kitty goes to the vet for a kitty check today, and they kinda want us to have a name for him.

Flickr contest!

The summer is coming to a close, the kids are going back to school. The crisp autumn days are just around the corner. (I hope!) What better way to celebrate the end of a beautiful summer than with a contest? I want to see your tribute to the summer, and of course, your favorite Calla hair!

Prizes:
* Grand prize: 5000L$ Calla Store Card, 500L$ Eolande's Accessories Store Card
* Second place: 2500L$ Calla Store Card
* Third place: 1000L$ Calla Store Card

There will be several honorable mention prizes, cause I'm just like that.

Theme: "Summer's End"

Go here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/708499@N25/ and click the Join? link if you're not already a member of the Calla Hair Flickr group.

Upload your picture to the Calla Hair group, and label it "SummerContest"

If your picture is not labeled appropriately, it WILL NOT be judged!

Rules:

* You must be wearing Calla hair (stating the obvious here).
* You will get extra credit for wearing Eolande's Accessories with styles that have custom accessories, and bonus points for wearing Calla skins or accessories.
* Editing in Photoshop (gimp, etc) is acceptable but not required.
* Tasteful nudity is acceptable, but please no XXX rated images!
* You may submit up to 5 photos.
* In your photo description, please include the following:
- Avatar Name
- Hair Style and Color
- Why you love this particular style
- Please also give other credits for clothes, skins, shoes, poses, etc & Photographer's name (if not yourself)

*** All photos must be submitted by Tuesday, August 31 at 11:59pm SLT ***

Photos will be judged by Tigerlily Koi and the Calla Staff. Winners will be announced September 3.

Eight new and a new freebie!

I put out four styles in the store Thursday night, and of course Hair Fair opened Friday. I've got four styles there, plus a fifth that's a new freebie!



The new freebie! You can find it in the store beside the cake in the cafe, and you can pick it up at Hair Fair, too! It's in all 175 colors, and has the Touch-to-Fit sizing.

Hair Fair Releases:


Clandestine has a slight vintage look to it, lots of curls, lots of class. It's very sweet and great for an evening out, or a day in the office.




Columbine is my Locks of Love donation style, and is my first ever Unisex style. This is...well actually, it was a request for "Pony girl" hair. But it makes an awesome mohawk-type style, so here it is. I've had requests for "the other half" of the style, which I will probably do in the not too-far-off future.




Dahlia is SOOO awesome! It's a Transitions style, and the sunglasses go up onto your head, or down so you can wear them. The glasses are based on the big style all of the real life celebrities are wearing. It's a French braid that falls into a loose ponytail, perfect for shopping on Rodeo Drive, or an evening walk on the beach.




Red Camellia is one of my favorites this round. It's got a hint of 70's disco to it, and a splash of Peg Bundy. The headband is color change, but due to the shine the colors aren't quite as true as they usually are. (So you might have to play with it a bit in the edit mode to get it just right.)

And in the store are these next four!



Fieldrush is one that's been on my to-do list for ages. It's been my "fan bun hair" that's been floating around in my head forever. I even tortured myself, I mean, tiny prims, to make the little dangles on the chopsticks. Maybe I can convince Eolande to make something pretty to add to them. /hint




Honeysuckle got a makeover! And it's by far my current most favorite style. I didn't change a lot, the base was there, but the top part needed some work. (Hey, I made it a looooong time ago!) It's also been upgraded to color change clips!




Hortensia is another Transitions style, with sunglasses. This time, there's a ponytail instead of a braid. It also got smaller, more chic sunglasses, which are color change! The frames change colors, as do the little gems on the nose piece. So you have 140 different color options for the frames, and 140 options for the gems. They work as all the other styles do, just type "/4 glasses colorname" and "/4 gems colorname" in chat. The hair band is color change as well.




Lily of the Valley got a make over too! It's been a favorite of many for a very long time, and deserves some extra love. It's a little softer around the face, with flexi added in the back for pretty movement.

Look for exciting news coming later tonight!

Group Presents - Free hair & a free skin!

I sent these out to the in-world group last week, and tried to send it out to the SoM group members too, but my controller bit the dust and I had some issues with it. But that's all fixed now, so I'm resending it!

In the box is an unreleased skin. It's a makeup I did for myself that I haven't released yet. I wore it in the RFL ads - so here's what it looks like:



There is also a Lily's Favorites pack of the new release style Ash. That has 5 colors in it, Auburns (Cherry Wood), Brunettes II (Mocha), Dirty Blondes (Honey), Dreams (Honey Brunette Highlights), and Reds (Golden Red).



Go touch the kiosk located at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Calla Lily/149/156/38 and view the history to get the gift! It's not staying there forever, so grab it quick!

At long last...

Water Willow...without the hat! I know! I've said for ages that it couldn't be done. Until now, it couldn't! I had a brainstorm one morning after getting the age old "Would it be possible to get Water Willow without the hat" question for the 5000th time. Here's Water Willow:



And the new, improved, with or without the hat Windflower:



This one is a Transitions style, so it's two styles in one, and thus runs a little more than the regular styles. The hat is different, it's the traditional cowboy hat opposed to the Aussie style hat of Water Willow.

When you touch the hair, you do the super cute animation and the hat disappears and you get the full, without the hat style. If you touch it again, you do the animation and the hat comes back. There was a lot of work in this one, and more sculpts than I like to use, but it was the only way to get the hair to work without a hat. (If you've ever tried to take the hat off of Water Willow, you know what I mean.) I'm completely thrilled with the results, and without the hat, Windflower is a very sexy, slightly disheveled style that totally screams "Yes, I was in the hayloft, and no it wasn't with you."

If you don't know, the styles are named for the meanings of the flowers. If you look in your Properties box, most of the styles will have the flower meaning in the description. In this case, both Water Willow and Windflower have the same basic meaning. Water Willow means freedom, and Windflower means abandonment - in the "to run with wild abandonment" sense of the word.

Then among the other releases is Ash:



This was a request from my super duper builder, Holly. She wanted a classic, traditional French Roll. So here it is! It's simple and elegant, exactly as a French Roll should be. Eolande is also working on something to go with this one, so keep an eye out for that. She's already told me what it is, and I can promise you won't be disappointed!

Next up is Butterfly Weed II.



This is also by huge request, and if you owned the original, you'll be able to notice the difference right away. I love how it turned out, and I hope that y'all do too. There's also a sculpted prim now, which smooths out the top of the hair considerably. (I'm very proud of that sculpt, btw!)

And last but not least is the sassy Bindweed II.



The flexi has been updated, it was still the old tapered kind. Bindweed never made it out in all 175 colors either, so this is the first time it's been available in all the color options. Bindweed will either be hitting the trash folder or possibly the discount section. I'm still undecided on that one.

So there ya have it! Four new heading into the weekend, and I am headed back to the skybox to keep at the hair fair styles!

Relay, Baldie, and Some Press

As most of you know, Relay for Life wrapped up just about two weeks ago now. Not only did we meet the total of the last four years combined donations, we surpassed it! And my own team not only met the 2.5 million L$ I challenged them to, they surpassed that, too! The Designers in Seclusion team raised just over 2.9 million L$ and I could not be more proud! As promised, I am bald!

Heidi Ballinger has managed to snag a pic and put it in her article. She was a joy to talk to, and happily it was under much more pleasant circumstances than the first time I met her. (The first time I met her she was alerting me of stolen hair, which she also mentions in her article.)

And, in case you haven't seen this:



That's me. On the cover of Second Style! I'm so honored that I haven't even known what to say. I'm still not sure that I do! But that means a huge deal to me. Second Style was the first mag in-world that I ever read. Heck, it may have been the first one in SL period! But to be among the great talents that have been feature-interviewed and have graced the covers of Second Style over the years, like Nyte Calligari, Elikapeka Tiramisu, Blaze Columbia, Torrid Midnight, Launa Fauna, Stiletto Moody...it's an honor that I cannot even begin to explain.

I'm especially honored to have been included in this specific issue which also focuses on Relay for Life. It's obviously a cause that means a great deal to me and something I've devoted a lot of time and energy toward.

I've never been so nervous for any kind of interview, SL or RL, in my entire life. Thankfully Iris was awesome and by the time it was over, we were both laughing, and I was slightly less nervous. For heaven's sake...it was SECOND STYLE!

You can click the picture to go directly to the pdf issue or you can check it out via the Second Style site.