This month, we wanted to try something a little different for User of the Month. The user of the month of April is none other than Josten. If anyone knows Josten, you know that she is always a ray of sunshine, a shoulder to lean on, and someone who will keep you motivated through the most meaningless of tasks. She's a supporter but most importantly she's a friend. This month, we decided to ask some of her friends what makes Josten the best pick for this title and honestly I couldn't agree more with what they have to say!

Kruspersille: She is the sweetest person on vp, no doubt about it! Puts a smile on everyone's face by simply being her adorable self. Kindhearted and always positive! She's a passionate and caring individual, and it really shows. If I'm ever blue or having a hard time, I can always count on Camilla to be there and support me through encouragement and virtual hugs, and I REALLY really appreciate that about her. People like her are few and far between, and we need to protect her at all costs. Love her to death, and hope the world is forever kind to her! <33

Callum: Josten is a great pick for user of the month - she consistently supports all her friends on the site and is extremely generous and giving. She always does things with the best intentions and is an amazing person to be around.

Limited: I personal think that she deserve it so badly, because her heart is pure gold. She is so kind to everyone, and giving this whole website a positive vibe. Also she is so generous and making some good games on VP - example when she played THG with us all. Her personality is gold, and that is why she deserve to be “user of the month”.
Every time I see her name I’m smiling like an crazy idiot, because she effect me in a good way.

Photosynthesis: Josten is just a ray of sunshine with a heart of gold. She's the most pure hearted soul I've probably ever met. It doesn't matter who you are, she'll support you and give you words of encouragement for anything and everything you may be going through. I don't think she has a mean bone in her body, and just as many enemies. I love Cami and I support her in every way possible.

Encrede: cami for user of the month? no surprise there! hehe i jest ... but congratulations bro, as always ur a perfect pick: friendly and loved by um? everyone? woa.
seems wild how its been like 4 years since we became friends during those drawing and design streams ... time sure flies baby. glad ur still here!

Congrats Josten, you truly deserve it. If you know someone who should be nominated for user of the month, please message the NT account and let us know why they deserve it! They could be featured in next months magazine!

As usual, this month started with a mega credit week. This month there were 6 female sets with a The Witcher themed bonus set by Solovey per package and 3 male sets. The next Mega Credit Week will start on May 4th.

During the first weekend in April, the monthly auction was held. This month the female credit set was made by Solovey and the male credit set was made by Dani and the popdollar sets were made by Gravitation (female) and Delcinne (male).

On April 2nd we got some new Fashion contest themes. However, we will not say what the themes are, so make sure to play a lot of fashion contest until you have figured out what the new themes are.

Jess once again hosted her own auctions this month too. The first auction weekend was April 18th-19th and was held in the normal auction system. The sets were made by Solovey (female) and Delcinne (male) and were sold for credits only. The second auction was supposed to be held during April 25th-26th but things didn’t go as planned and the auctions were held during April 26th and April 27th, instead of the auctions being in the normal auction system they were held in the forums during these two days.

Hey there, so here is my story about the time I broke my arm thanks to a wheelbarrow.

So, before I start I should tell you that I ride horses. Have been for years and will continue to do that for years to come. I just ride at an equestrian centre once a week, but I've been wanting to take care for horses or just to do more with horses in general for years. In 2015, I finally got that chance. My friend (complicated to explain) had a friend that owned a bunch of horses (really pretty horses and the sweetest ever, I miss those haha). They always needed help so I figured I would give it a go. I went together with my friend and really enjoyed it. I didn't go there very often because ... well I had no idea what I had to do or what I was allowed to do. So some time went by and I was going to those horses after my own riding lesson. I was there alone but I knew what I had to do, which wasn't very much. I needed to get a bale of hay out of the steamer and bring it to the right spot was one thing, which isn't very far from each other. Far enough that you couldn't carry the hay bale, so you needed to use a wheelbarrow. It's quite an interesting task to do and my friend showed me how to do that before. You needed to stick like a broom at the top of the steamer so it stays open, then you needed somehow to get the hay bale out of it, put it in the wheelbarrow and just carry it to the right place. Sounds supersimple, but getting the bale of hay out of there was HARD. The top didn't open far enough and it was just a struggle.

So, after quite some time struggling with that annoying hay steamer, I proceeded to put the hay bale into the wheelbarrow to drive it like not even 1 minute. Silly me stands in between the handles, but the wheelbarrow hit a tile that wasn't straight and it fell. With the hay bale in it, it just falls over very quickly. But because I was standing in between the handles, you can imagine what happened next ... Yep, the wheelbarrow hit me so I fell too. And you know what you do when you fall? You stick your arms out to break the landing. Exactly what I was supposed to do and what I did many times (I'm very clumsy) and yeah ... It hurts and I got up and I remember looking at my hand and just waiting for it to turn red. It always does that when you fall, but this time it didn't. Found that very weird and yes, it hurts like HELL. There was no ice and honestly I didn't even think about cooling it, so I just proceeded to continue on. Got the wheelbarrow up, put the hay bale in it and just continued. I had to muck out the stables and the paddock (that means get all the poop out and away). And I just couldn't do it. Well I did, but I was barely able to use that hand. It was the weirdest thing ever and I figured I bruised it really bad. Fast forward to when I came home, tears just kept streaming down my face. That pain was nothing I ever felt before and I've done some pretty weird stuff or got thrown of horses in an awful way, but this ... My parents decided to just call the doctor's office anyway to have it checked out. They literally looked at my hand and I was pretty much already screaming, let alone when they touched it. I remember TO THIS DAY what they said to me: "90% chance it's just bruised". Well, that's been haunting me ever since _O- If it wasn't good in a week, I had to go back. This happened on a Saturday, just to give you an idea.

So, next day. Obviously it's bruised from that fall and I wasn't really able to use my hand that day and the next days. But as time went on, it got better. I couldn't do much, but every day it went better. So exactly one week later I was having dinner at a restaurant and I carried my plate with food in my left hand, the one I fell on. That was just too much. It's heavy and obviously still very bruised. Well okay, you know, you take it easy then. The next day, Sunday, I wasn't able to push myself out of bed while I could do the other days. I had way more pain again and it just wasn't good. I was going on a trip on Tuesday, so my parents and I decided to call the doctor on Monday to see what was going on. The doctor luckily didn't trust it and sent me for an X-ray (they didn't do that the first time!). And can you guess it? BROKEN. There was this tiny little triangle that was broken off a bigger bone in my hand, which is no surprise for why I couldn't use my hand properly. So you know, you get that gypsum and you get to hear what happens next.

I had to buy all new clothes on Tuesday because I couldn't get anything to go over my cast and I left for my trip on Tuesday evening. It was a wild time. Oh and very funny, sort of, I had my theory exam for my driver's license on Tuesday morning. So I was obviously still studying on Monday (when I got my cast) and I checked the questions I failed with my dad. Guess what? I gave the wrong answer to one question because I didn't see the man with THE WHEELBARROW. So to this day, wheelbarrows are haunting me.

Oh, and last year I needed to go to the doctor/hospital as well becauseI put my finger in between two iron sliding doors at the stable. It was very swollen and bruised and red and just a horrible sight. Guess what they told me? "90% chance it's just bruised". Luckily this time, it actually was. Horse riding itself clearly isn't dangerous for me, the rest is.

And that was the story of the wheelbarrow and walking around with a broken arm/hand for more than a week. The end. xD

Due to SMT entering their hiatus and ET focusing on their bootcamp, there haven’t been that many comps this month compared to what there usually is. However, there have still been some things going on.

SMT
The winners have been announced for the two WWIB that were held in March. The winners of some very cute dinos made by Wishbone were announced on Twitter, while the winners of some very nice hairs, the male by Dani and the female by Solovey, were announced on Instagram. If you missed the comps and are curious about which items you had to style or what the prizes were, you can check out the Twitter one here and the Instagram one here.

The only competitions SMT has held this month and the last before entering their hiatus was yet another WWIB, this time Easter themed. The items to be styled was a yellow see-through short dress for females and a light vest for males. The prize was some adorable plushies made by Delcinne. You can check the competition out here. The winners and the winning outfits were announced on Tumblr.

ET
Moving on to ET, they, around Easter, hosted a bunny-themed styling competition with a twist. For the chance of winning some credits, you had to dress your avatar as a Bad Bunny, or, more specifically a “Sultry Bunny”. There were many great interpretations and stunning looks. The winners are yet to be announced.

Finally, ET has presented us with a magical competition that really called for creativity. Do you like Puking Pastries? How about Nosebleed Nougat? Or, perhaps, you prefer Extendable Ears? Or maybe something different? This competition has it all. Harry Potter’s very own Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes are looking for new product ideas. The best sales pitches of new, original products are rewarded with gaining the ability to turn into a watermelon designed by Lily. Post your own pitch or be inspired by others’ here.

Nondesigner shop event day
Sunday 5th April it was time for yet another shop event! There was no set theme this time around, but the special thing about this event however, was that all the sets apart from one were made by our talented nondesigners. As many as twenty-two sets - eighteen female and four male - were released over six drops with one hour intervals. The exciting event featured designs by S00t, Helmi, Witheren, Vissy, Ouch, Bones, Coralin, Kofod, Delcinne, Stratovarius, and badged designer, Vogue. Thank you for all the amazing sets!

Easter
Easter is one of the holidays that are usually celebrated with some extra fun activities and content on vp, and this year was no exception! Nearly all teams had something special planned, which many users had a lot of with.

There were two classic egg hunts this year, one from BT and one from YT, where each of the two teams used their platforms to their fullest potential to make the hunt fun and perhaps also a little challenging for the users out looking. And there were of course great prizes for those able to complete the hunts! From the BT hunt both genders received a fun, colourful hair with accessories, designed by Rowan, and completing the YT hunt rewarded everyone with credits and popdollars. The YouTube Team also shared a little code in the shouts, from which you could dress your avatar up as an egg, with items designed by Chlorine.

The Easter activities from SMT firstly included a word search puzzle found on the official VP Instagram page. The words you found, if put in the correct order, created a code which when redeemed rewarded you with a beautiful female spring set by Gravitation. On the Facebook page, the team shared a riddle, and if you were able to figure it out and send your answer to the team account, you received a cute bunny plushie designed by Crown.

ET’s Easter activities included a dressup competition, which you can read more about on the competition page, as well as codes in the shouts. And there was a lot of activity in the shouts on Easter Sunday, as our admin Shadowjess also shared codes there! The many stunning bunny themed sets were made by designers such as Crown, Mada, Masilein and Wishbone.

We hope everyone who celebrates Easter had a lovely holiday, and that whether or not you celebrate, you enjoyed the events on VP that weekend