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.