Has spring sprung early?

It's towards the end of winter here in Melbourne & its been a cold windy one. Some days my jaw has ached from the whipping icy breeze. I do not enjoy it. The last few days its seems to have slowed down, heaven, & feels a touch warmer. This week & next week temperatures are hitting the low 20's!! OMG, it's just fantastic not having to leave the house with scarves & coats, I'm ready to peel some layers.

It's also got me thinking about my garden which is very bland & weedy. Actually it's awful. I am not much of a gardener, I want to be but I am never attentive enough. I plant things & they look lovely & thats kind of it. I don't do it on purpose but I forget to water & weed. Life gets busy. I am forever admiring other peoples gardens, & have a love of flowers & colour in the garden. I am going to make a conscious effort this year of getting out there & doing it.

For a couple of reasons. I need to be active, I am that kind kind of person. The fresh air makes me a nicer person. being inside for to long makes me feel blah. The second is that the kids will spend more time outside if I am there. My yard is not square & flat, it has a couple of different levels & also a pool. I have noticed the kids not spending as much time out there as I think its because I cant see them. It's not so bad now they are getting a bit older, but they do love it when I am out there. My youngest also loves to help which is great, she loves to get her little shovel & spade out. The third & most important is that I want to create a space where I want to be. I want it to be bright & kind of cosy. A place to sit, relax, read, have a drink & enjoy. At the moment it's so far from that.

I am feeling inspired & excited. The biggest, most daunting thing is planning something, & what to plant. Eeeek I can't afford a landscape designer so I will be looking for inspiration,  & pinning ideas left right & centre. On the flip side of this I love to draw flowers, so inspirations should be everywhere for some new summer drawings, even better!!

This is what has caught my eye so far that I have pinned, some images are completely inappropriate as my yard is nothing like that, nevertheless I thought it was beautiful. We all know only an idea can spark anything!!

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I love hanging baskets & have several that need updating, as all life has withered. I thought these were beautiful.

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I love these spheres, there is a few DIY's for them, & would LOVE to have a go. I just think the flowers looks so pretty, almost strategically planted around them. 

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I love the garden bed here how it is all clustered & full of colour. I want a very low line garden bed right near my pool so I cant still see who is swimming in there. Without obstruction.

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I have a bench seat at home that is wooden, with iron work on it. I think it might be fun to repaint it in a fun colour. At the moment thinking a raspberry red, I love this images as it looks so cozy & love the flower pots surrounding it. Quite tranquil.

I think I have a great direction of the kind of style I want. Flowery, fresh, pretty, cosy & full of colour. This is always the easy part, now I have to work out what will grown well here, & what I can purchase that is slightly every green, but flowers in the spring/summer. So much to even think about, thats when I usually head to my local garden nursery & ask the experts. 

Feeling excited about warm weather coming!

Queensland we are coming

Have I mentioned I am going on a little holiday? The 4 of us are on our way to Queensland in about a week & I am so excited. I haven't been on a holiday since I was 20 weeks pregnant with Charlotte. We have been on short weekenders here & there, & of course Phillip Island, but nothing like this.

The last couple of years have just flown but & I am really looking some rest, warm weather & some family time as well as......

Looking at the beautiful Queensland coast line & hopefully having a swim in the beach.

Relaxing a bit at our resort. I think those sun loungers are screaming my name.

Showing the kids what a real water slide is. Their faces I think will be priceless when they see how much fun can be had. I haven't been on any of these for year, so I can say I am very keen to get wet n wild!!

I am looking forward to meeting these guys. I will interesting when Charlotte sees a 6 foot Tweety bird. No doubt she will jump out of her skin with excitement. Just as Hudson will when he sees Bat Man & The Flash.

I am dying to see these gorgeous creatures. I saw them so many years ago & was completely captivated. I adored Dreamworld, it's my favourite park.

Having the kids with me I am sure I will love every moment of it it again with a different experience. this time through their eyes & not my own adult ones I can not wait.

I will also be traveling down to Byron Bay to meet a dear friend I have known all my life. 

It feels like I have been waiting forever for this trip & now its around the corner. But there is sooooooooo much work for me to do & get on top of before we leave. That's OK as the rewards will be so worth it.

Slide Shows

As part of changing things up a bit around here, I have finally hired a web designer to develop the website I want. I am so crazy happy! It's lovely, well it's going to be & I can't wait to share it.

At the moment there is a lot of emailing back & forth communicating, which is frustrating as I am dying to have it finished. But as they say Rome wasn't built in a day, & neither will the website. But I just know it will be worth the wait. At the moment, while all of the very important html stuff is happening behind the scenes, I am left with the pretty stuff. Making it look great in my own style. My most current task has been to create a slide show. You know like rotating pages on your landing page? Well it hasn't been as easy as I thought. I started hunting for inspiration & found those with fantastic slide shows, are mostly businesses that sell several brands, so I am assuming it makes it that much easier. Especially if you're provided with the images.

So I started thinking about what I want.  I don't have large budget for professional photos at the moment. So I had to pull out my thinking/creative cap & get to work. I decided to used existing artwork created, as there was no point reinventing the wheel.

This is what I have come up with.

There isn't too much I would change so far, but I need to create another 2 I think, so need to work on those.

What do you think?

A bit of branding & starting to find my way

You may have noticed I have changed my brand/logo design a few times? And have done so again today. I love switching it up & I think that is purely because I never REALLY new what I wanted. It's taken some time for me to get to a point of starting to understand my own style & creating what I love & adapting it to the market place....My very important customers.

I have always LOVED colour & I am completely obsessed with raspberry red & turquoise together. I can't help myself. Keeping it in my branding is really important to me, so are my other 2 colours. I am kinds head over heels about dove great & chartreuse, more on the yellow side, not green.


It's also been a HUGE step forward to actually use my name. Kylie Loy. I actually feel quite uncomfortable about it but getting used to it slowly. I have been discussing it with a friend about doing it, so I suppose I have been preparing myself slowly. As part of the big picture for my business, you all know I want to have a go at licensing & will also be offering a design service. More on that later. So it seems the right time to actually been known as someone other than Tiges and Weince.

positivity print here

So here it is. I feel like for the first time in ages is that things are starting to fall in place. It's a great feeling, not one to be complacent about, but it's almost like a sign.....keep going.

It's a great feeling & looking forward to taking the ride & seeing where it goes.

Link Lovin'

Thought I would share with you today some lovely links consisting of amazing things I have found, things I have loved & are doing.

I have finally taken the plunge to have me website designed for me & these guys are doing it.

I bought this & loving it

I couldn't breath when i saw this, & not sure how I will cope if it's true.

I have been starting my day this week drinking this

I enjoy reading this blog, she is a beautiful illustrator

I fell head over heels in love with this so I ordered it

I was speechless & felt so squirmy when I saw this

What how found loved & linked?

Christmas Range Progress & Planning for it

It's only the middle of August & people have questioned me, why are you worrying about Christmas. I can't believe you have completed it, it's so early.

As my business has grown I have really had to start making a conscious effort of planing ahead. I am used to it, as I always worked at least 12-18 months ahead when I worked in the fashion industry. To be honest with you, I should have really had my Christmas range completed about 4 weeks ago, so in my head I am a bit behind.

Planing helps your business & it's direction. For me to plan, it's a bit like a road map, I know exactly where I am going. I know as a creative being, there is nothing worse knowing a project or deadline is due, & you have complete writers, or illustrators block. The feeling literally makes me ill. The major companies are releasing Christmas earlier & earlier each year too, not that I am following their ways of business, but if I am to aim at have a good sales period I need to be early enough so I can benefit from it. Lets be honest, if you're too late you may lose those spending dollars from customers to someone else, & most of the time its to the big guys. My products are generally personalised, & in this peak time of year take around 2-3 weeks to be made. The other benefit is that when its done I can cross it off my list (I love lists), so I can start marketing it, & focus on getting orders & customer requests completed as quick as possible. It's a busy time of year & I need to prepare. I also sell on the amazing Hard to Find website, & have taken the plunge this year with them advertising in their Christmas campaign. I needed products complete, my samples made, photographed, & prepared for them, so their designers can select the products they wish to use for their campaigns. It's all very exciting.

With all that said I have a Christmas product I would love to share.

My very new Christmas Sack.

This design is confirmed & ready to go. I have 5 designs in total, so will hold off releasing the others until I release the whole range. I mean you need a little surprise don't you? I also have a couple of other products I need to tidy up & finish off including my yearly Christmas stockings & bunting, along with 2 newbies. It's all happening & exciting.

So what do you think?

Have a great day x

New boys cushions

It's taken me a little while but I have finally complete all of the images for my new boys cushions & wanted to share them with you today.

Boys are always a little difficult to design for, however I am always ready to embrace to challenge.

Having a little man myself I have come to learn little boys can be so similar in play & habit, but so different when it comes to taste. Girls are always generally quite similar at this age, it's just has to be pretty & generally pink. I find boys are quite set in their tastes, they either love animals, trains, cars, pirates, or superheroes.

All of the above styles can be found in my shop.

Feelings of change & being brave

Since May this year I have felt a real shift in my business & me especially. The way I think. The way I look at things. Ideas I have, & the direction I want to move in the future. Everything is positive & it excites me to my core. I absolutely love to illustrate & create, I just can't imagine doing anything else. I have worked so hard the last couple of years & have reached a stage where I know its time to grow & expand. I am far from bored, but feel the need to change a little. I have become a lot more grateful for the opportunities that I have created, & reflective of my accomplishments. I am learning also to smile about the good things that have happened with my business, & know its OK to do so. However I feel like this year is starting to become a time to focus on growing as a person, learning news skills & techniques, developing my business to the next level, & chasing my dreams.

Print by Jessica Swift

This print sums me up at the moment, it's perfect isn't it?

Being brave is what I need to be as I have some dreams at the moment which will force me to push myself out of my comfort zone, which is not always my happy place. As you know (I completed the MATS course), so I am working behind the scenes here building my portfolio up so I can submit my work to art directors looking for new opportunities. Eeeeek what a scary & exciting place!

I also would LOVE to start to get back into painting again. I haven't done it since college & I remember how much I loved it back then. I am really scared about this one as it's been years. I would LOVE to learn mixed media techniques also, but I do have one dilemma....kids! I just can not get paints & things out & concentrate (being the key word), & experiment when they are around. They are just way to interested in what mum is doing, & just hover around me & I just can't work. I would love some hints from those who manage that.

So there are a couple of new goals & dreams I have shared & can't wait to start sharing it as I progress along, who knows where it will end up.

Lots to share

Well its been a week & a bit of ups & downs here.

Early last week I was fighting off the common cold ducking & weaving away from my kids as they had it, hoping to completely avoid it. However it's a bit hard though when they end up in your bed half way through the night. So as you would expect I got it, & I got it fiercely. It literally knocked me down for a few days. I consider myself relatively healthy, & have not been struck down like that for a while. I am so happy & grateful I am nearly back to normal.

Just when things are looking bright, my poor baby broke his wrist yesterday. He was at kinder & fell from one of the climbing structures straight onto his elbow & wrist. Two little fractures unfortunately.
He was quite shaken up from the whole experience, which I could completely understand from a 5year old perspective. Hospitals are not fun for anybody.
Here is a photo of my brave soldier just after his plaster had been applied. Such a proud mama I was.

I am happy to be back writing, I love my blog, my place to write & share, but the poor things is always the one thing that gets neglected when things are off the rails a bit.

With my week being on the down, I am chasing my tail a bit trying to catch up& at the moment it seems never ending. On the super bright side I have lots to share over the next week or two.

Can't wait to say so much more.

I hope you week has be a beautiful one.