Learning, Loving and moving forward

Lots has been going on. I took a short break to reassess where LilySky was, where i wanted it to go and how i wanted to proceed. I am learning heaps as i make mistakes along the way. Including to really limit my donating to charities and also that expensive print media based advertising may not be the most suited medium for me at this point!!!!

A lesson I had to learn the hard way

There have been lots of moments of reflecting and plenty of pinterest inspirations. Through the whole process one thing remains clear. LilySky is a success waiting to launch! I am excited about the new ideas and the fresh inspirations that have been coming my way in the form of a great friends encouraging words and even clever and funny inspirational posters....which leads me to the first exciting new change, a new product I am introducing. Posters and prints.

The first of our poster and print range of products, (LilySky watermark will not appear)

These certainly have their place at a party as either an entry piece or decorative table centrepiece to match the party theme or range. I have also created prints that are great for gifts, offering funny sayings or inspiring words that when put into a beautiful frame can be a pretty feature piece in any home. I will slowly be adding variations on this product such as personalised prints and posters and the ability to include a photo. I will be slowly adding these to the online store over the next couple of weeks. They will be available in various sizes and changes to colour can also be arranged.

The poster I created for Pily, which i must admit I just love.

Other exciting changes include the implementation of products complimentary to our existing range. I have some gorgeous ribbon wands, hand made by a clever WAHM that will be added to the store in the next couple of weeks aswell as some super cute super hero capes and cuff sets in the works.

These amazing hand made ribbon wands will soon be arriving for purchase at our online store. Made by the talented WAHMummy from Maddisons Flutterbys

Lastly, we are getting ready to set up for some market stalls around Melbourne. I will be spending the next month, checking out the best markets that Melbourne has to offer and once I establish which have the highest quality stalls, we will be joining them for their following months set up!! This is a big undertaking but I am really excited about it and I can't wait to share with you all our journey on that path!!

Time for me to head off. A typically brief post jam packed full of all our changes. Looking forward to bringing LilySky back to the happy and inspiring place I had always intended it to be.

Happy Hump Night All :) xoxox

Time to expand

Well life has been the usual...BUSY.

We have been dealing with a crazy neighbour hood rock thrower!!! Needless to say, darling partner is out most evenings, (with the other neighborhood 'heroes') playing detective, trying to find the culprit :P, Strangely that has been taking up very large amounts of time! As such the business is just moving out of a mini hiatus.

It is incredible how many people are vsisting our LilySky page and I am so excited and looking to move forward. I am looking at including some new 'Party Additions' to the LilySky online store, Our new rainbow coloured logo, will be present on all the pages of our new exciting additions.

We are currently working with various businesses who all share an interest in creating QUALITY and UNIQUE items all of their own. We have carefully selected  products that compliment our paper goods range perfectly. Offering items that are interesting, fun, bold and are beautiful gifts on their own or match with each range to be a party favour for guests, decorative theming for your buffet table or special present for the Guest of honour.

I don't want to give too much away at this stage, especially since our suppliers are not yet finalized but I can confirm the addition of some beautiful Ribbon wands - To compliment our new Fairy silhouette and Rainbow range and Super hero capes and masks for our 'SUPER' popular Hero range.

 Just a brief post tonight...feels a bit cheeky, seeing as how I haven't blogged in a month, but there it is! :) Have a great week everyone.

A little catch up....

Hello world of blog, It has been a while! My absence here has been a combination of some serious lack of spare time, lack of inspriation for a new blog post....and maybe just a dash of laziness!!!

Alas, I have returned and there is plenty to catch y'all up on!!! Yep I just said y'all, lol. 

The following blog post will not occur chronologically, my brain just does not function that way this time of night at the end of the week, so by the seat of my pants...off we go!

WORK:

First things first. LilySky. Things have been moving along well. The business has generated lots of interest and it certainly took off far more quickly than i could have ever anticipated, which is great and super exciting. We have had various orders, some even from our friends across the seas in America, where these types of party pieces are far more common so that was surprising, but pleasantly so!

The most popular events have definitely been first birthdays. We can spare no expense for our precious munchkins, particularly on their first milestone birthdays, but we have also done lots of littlies birthdays, two babyshowers and a handful of custom pieces for 21st birthdays too. We are definitely looking at doing a new range of goods dedicated to the older less cute birthdays. Creating some fun and unique themes for 'grown up' celebrations, because you are never too old to have fun and throw an awesome looking party!!

I am loving the journey of this new business, even fumbling my way through sponsorship offers and endless sales calls from various publications for advertising space, (which by the way is INSANELY expensive!), even dealing with how to work with family members and serious future scenarios such as trademarking and partnership agreements....who knew it would be all so complex.

So nutshell: 

• The business is receiving plenty of interest- YAY!
• I am in the process of designing a new more 'mature' range of party pieces
• I am looking at introducing some really unique and super fun products to the site - keep a look out I think they are really CLEVER & COOL!
• Work / Life balance is tricky!
• Be sure to send your party intending buddies my way :)

NEXT:

Life:

Life has been equally busy lately, we have been going to our local schools of an evening in search of the right fit for our little miss who will be off on her own journey next year :( I do recall welling up a little at the first evening info session we went to. The thought of my little munchkin making her way through the halls, picking out a book in the library we were sitting in and hanging her oversized school bag on one of the many rows of hooks we passed.
It was a little bit of an overwhelming process for us, mostly because we have 9 primary schools to choose from in what is a growing but fairly small town just outside of the metro area. However, funnily enough, (and as cliche' as it sounds, I did not quite know what i was looking for until i had found it, the advise of 'listen to your gut and follow your instincts' was ultimatley how I decided on our school for little miss S and luckily enough we both happen to agree!

Our littlest munchkin, little miss L, is getting her final set of molars and i am putting her very persistent and very trying behaviour down to this, lets just say getting in and out of the car, EVERY SINGLE TIME lately is accompanied by loud squeals of protest, for no particular reason....because seconds later she'll be swinging her legs and singing her songs, just like the little angel she usually is! Oh the joys xo

The sushine made a most welcomed appearance this week and so after a few days stuck at home getting orders ready and going throught the motions of our usual routine, we ventured out for a little adventure to take some photos and have some fun!

Photo time:

Pily having fun on the see-saw with her sister. It was still quite chilly so we were all rugged up!!

Is there anything more fun than collecting up a pile of leaves and throwing them above your head...My darling miss S would say - NO!

My precious pair, off on an adventure together.......

My contribution to appearing in the photos. Our shoes buried beneath the tree's 'lost' leaves.

It was actually quite beautiful where we were that morning. The sun was just reaching the areas beneath the trees and melting the light frost on the grass, which created a really pretty misty morning. I have been really enjoying playing with my camera again lately, when i actually remeber to bring it with me it has been such a fun and creative escape from the pressures of late. My kids are my muses so it's so easy to snap away when i am with them and the photos always look amazing.




I think i better wrap this up...lastly



GIVEAWAY:

Our LilySky facebook page reached it's 100 likers in the past few days so i promised a giveaway. If you are not a 'liker' yet click here and become of a liker of LilySky on facebook! To show our appreciation to all our wonderful likers, we are giving away one of our superhero banners to be personalised by you. You can change the message or add a name, it is entirely up to you. The banner does not have to read Happy Birthday, it can be anything you like up to 20 characters. The banner will be 20 pennants long. Postage will be free. All you have to do is like our page with your personal account, (if you have not done so already), then leave a comment below one of the pics in the 100 likers giveaway album. Winner will be chosen using random.org. Giveaway will end Friday June 10th 2011 7.30pm AEST Good Luck :)

Be sure to check out our new party kits, they are more comprehensive now so that you have less to buy, just add friends and food!! check it out here 

Have a great weekend everyone. :)

Hide & Seek, a Photoshoot and a Fundraising Gala.

Well plenty has been going on since the last post.

Mothers day was really lovely. I got some beautiful new jammies that i did not get out of all day. We kicked the morning off with present opening in bed, a super delicious hot buffet breakfast, courtesey of my darling, followed, naturally, by a game of hide in seek in teams. Robbie didn't think of hiding for real to begin with, (throwing a towel over himself in the corner of the room), but as the game went on he began to get quite creative, to the point where we couldn't find him for ages. It was such great fun, Hide and seek is a winner for all ages, I defy you not to giggle when the seeker walks right past you!!

Robbie's genius hiding spot

Last night with the help and encouragement of my sister I finally got 95% of the products photographed and uploaded to the website…Yay, some progress at last. It was a fun activity but very, very time consuming.  The only listed product online that is currently without some photos, is the premium banners for each range. They should be up in a week.

The big sis helping set up for the Baby Shower shoot

This week, I was approached to donate some products for a fundraising gala for the Geelong Hospital. The Gala is called Bronte’s Ball and aims to raise funds for the oncology treatment room, saving the kids and their families from having to travel to Melbourne for treatment. Bronte, whom the gala is named after is a local to Ocean Grove. Robbie's dad has lived  in Ocean Grove for around 25 years or more & Robbie grew up in Geelong, so it was nice to be giving back to a community from which he came. 

 I felt honored to contribute and will be putting together an exclusive party kit, that is not currently available on the website. I will keep you updated with how that goes and hopefully they raise a ton of money and ease an already difficult time for the kids and their families.

Last of all, I submitted the professional photos that were taken at my sisters hens, to a party showcasing website and we were chosen as one of the featured parties, check out the link here.

Well it's only Tuesday and already I am busy busy busy. This weekend I have a friends little boys 1st birthday party and I am doing the paper pieces for this and also helping with set up, (I bought some cute trucks to use as cupcake stands for the party)....oh yes a little baking too. I am going to be using the race car range of products there. I will be taking some pics and will share them here with you next post, Might be the first addition to the 'Real Parties' section of the LilySky website too.

It's interesting. I discovered a passion for creating the paper goods from the numerous American mum blog sites who were showcasing parties and sharing ideas, designs and tutorials. However, the party culture here in Australia is quite different from America and I think that is where LilySky will translate better here than importing the goods from America. There is an air of pomposness....(is that a word?)...an over the top feel to many of their themes and designs, particularly for the little kids parties. They can often be 'a little too much' for our more down to earth attitudes, (which echo through all classes). That being said I don't believe we don't want gorgeous and fun, even extravagant well designed pieces and parties, but I do believe this would be best achieved by a 'native', hmmm a token one at that ;) - huh I bet many of you haven't even thought that much about parties, party goods and party attitudes, well there you go, I did warn you  'A love of all things party' perhaps it should read, 'An obsession with all things party' lol.  

All that being said, be sure to check out all the new photos on the website at LilySky.  If you know anyone thinking about planning an upcoming party, do send them my way. Kids party or not. There is a small existing range of goods on there at the moment but I love to come up with custom pieces for crazy themes so i can create anything from scratch!

Have a great rest of the week all. Hopefully we see a lil more sunshine and a lot less rain.......Oh and i will be creating the 'mandatory' facebook page this week, you know you want to be a friend to LilySky!!                                             

Moving forward

A quick post tonight. There is lots going on with the business at the moment. Just picked up some beautiful quality heavy card stock to print all the new paper goods on. Which means a photo shoot should be on the cards for the next week and finally some pics can go up of the banners, finally. Easily one of our most popular items, they're so fun and double as a keepsake, particularly for those milestone birthdays and occasions. I recently had an enquiry for a parisian themed 21st, so by no means are they just for the littlies!

Don't forget to check out the site here and keep checking back for more products and 'Real party' additions.

I am welcoming my sister aboard the LilySky journey, she will be helping out with all the "fun" paper work,(the spreadsheet kind!), finance, and even some crafty hands on stuff. We are already working on a new project that is both unique and heaps of fun....Party related of course, and a seperate enterprise to the LilySky goods, but i shall keep you all, (my millions of readers and followers), in suspense and update you on that once we're closer to launching it.

I finally got my hands on a Melbourne Child mag today and I was really pleased with how the ad looks. As I have been so super busy working really hard on the LilySky website and getting products created and out, I have no exciting news to add. I was excited about the business moving forward and finally getting a shoot lined up, so be sure to come back and check out the the images of the banners, and all the other products by the end of next week.

Friday tomorrow all and mothers day on Sunday. Hope you have got some special gifts for your mummies and a delicious menu in mind to give mum the night off from cooking.

Those creeping fears, a mini update and a random photo!!

It's been quite a while since my last blog. I must admit it is for a variety of reasons but one of the main ones is that i had decided that blogging was not quite as popular here as it is overseas, also, finding the time to blog was tricky so i had assumed finding the time to sit down and read one would be equally challenging. Particularly for my fellow SAHmummies.

Despite this I have decided to continue with it, perhaps it was just one of those many negative and procrastinating  thoughts that allowed me to escape the guilt of not keeping up with it, the reality is, there is no reason why i can't succeed.... There is no reason anyone of us can't succeed. Of course you  just have to  give it a go!....hmm wow, i didn't expect this paragraph to become an exercise in self help, but oh well - there it is lol. I guess I have been feeling those creeping fears of failure lately, but I am quick to dissolve them before they take hold and  my mind starts believing it!

I am focusing all and any spare time i have on making the lilysky website visually appealing aswell as functional. I am trying to really get the products up  there, I have a range of goods completed and am arranging a photoshoot this week, I mean you can't shop online without the pics!!! So hopefully there will be better and more pics up by the end of the week. The Melbourne child magazine - Party Issue is currently being distributed, so this means that I will be getting more traffic through the site and who knows a bunch of orders too!!

Random picture insert time:

This is the kit kat m&m cake i made for my nephews 14th birthday this year, so simple, (especially after working on fondant covered cakes), but still so effective and DELISH!!! here is where i got the idea and the tutorial too.

I just bought some really cute clip art and digital paper last week and am using that to form my new 'Sweet Spring' range of paper goods/party supplies. It's really cute graphics are perfect for a baby shower and another set being created now, perfect for a 1^st birthday party, (that range, the Lil Giraffe range, should be online by end of the week). Check out the new baby shower “Sweet Spring” range here.

Time to move off topic, although this blog was primarily about my ‘LilySky journey’ it was also just a journal of sorts too. This week after scouring my usual blogs for party inspiration, I noticed many of them were showing rooms in their homes and wow, they all look like they were set up just for a magazine cover!! Which got me thinking and those creative juices flowing….Most of the rooms in my house could do with a bit of styling, now its about finding the funds and the time!!  

Random picture insert time:

I love in this pic of this old kitchen the turqouoise wall covered in framed prints and the little prints just above the bench space.

I have been insanely busy this week, working on expanding the lilysky range, getting the website up and looking good, I am helping out a girlfriend with her upcoming 30th, I have a little mans 1st birthday coming up in two weeks, his family are race car mad, (sprint car racing to be exact!) and his lovely mummy has let me come in and use my race car range at his party to shoot some photos of the range for the website. I will be sure to share the pics with you here.

May 2011 edition of Melbourne child magazine

 

Hope you are all having a great week, Hump day tomorrow. Be sure to check out the party edition of Melbourne child and keep your eyes peeled for my ad. I am offering free postage this month anywhere in Australia in honor of my first print ad. I hope to get a facebook page up in the next few weeks, I just want to ensure the website is ready and looking great before I stream even more traffic that way. Although it is under construction, www.lilyskyparties.com.au is up and displaying new products daily. You are able to purchase immediately.

Have a great week all.

Easter and the new site is up

Hello all, I hope you have had a wonderful easter and gorged yourselves on chocolates just like you were a kid all over again. We had a great easter. No big plans, but a nice quiet house, after months of mayhem.

Actually, there was a slight mis-communication and on easter Sunday morning when Robbie woke me up - at 4.30 no less ggrrrr - to ask where the girls eggs were, (to place on the ends of their beds), it dawned on me that I had not bought any. The day before Robbie had shown me a gift each he had bought the girls (which were supposed to accompany the eggs I had bought), we had a brief discussion about not going overboard with the amount of hunting eggs and so off I went and bought just a small bag of hunting eggs and nothing else.

So on Sunday early early morning when I realised they only had a little gift for the ends of their beds I felt so dreadful. Now I am not sure how everyone else celebrates and how much each of you all consider is enough, but for me, I try to emmulate my childhood easters, birthdays and christmases as they were so special and I remember loving them so much and want that for my kids. Long story short I had not recreated an easter morning like the ones we used to wake too and it had me feeling so sad and guilty. After a few tears, (which I also attribute to the ungodly hour!), Robbie hopped in the car and went down to the service station - 5am- and bought the girls each a couple more eggs for the ends of their beds.

I re-read this paragraph and can imagine the groans and eye rolling some may feel when reading the above sentiment and the critical belief of how commercial and consumerist and essentially unimportant my concerns seemed. All I can say is that I had an expectation of how I wanted the girls to experience their easter, we are not religious so the celebration for us is purely easter bunnies, dad being at home for an extended period and lots of yummy chocolate. The latter was where I felt I had failed. lol OK rant over, perhaps I have mistaken my nice safe blog for one of those parenting forums where soap boxes are ever present!

After that unpleasant start to the day, the kids woke, and off they went out to the backyard to check if the easter bunny had bought any yummy treats. Which of course, he had!

I gave myself most of the long easter weekend off, partly procrastinating and partly well deserved...lol.

On Sunday night I decided to get back to it and get this website up and running. After a few hiccups and trying my very best to figure out dns hosting and other such boring but necessary tasks, I saw my site go live last night...so here is the link: www.lilyskyparties.com.au

At this early stage, the products catergory is fairly limited till I can get some photos taken of the paper goods. I am currently designing some generic but hopefully wide reaching themed goods to add to the collection. At the moment only the rainbow range of goods feature as they are the only photos of the products I have available.

The Melbourne child magazine comes out early may, so be sure to grab yourself a copy, they are free and are such an excellent resource for ideas on where to take the kids when you have exhausted all the usual suspects. I often forget and will randomly pick up a copy and find so much information, everytime I wonder why I wait so long between issues!

Well it's back to it tommorrow, kindy starts back, which I know Skyla is so looking forward to, Robbie is back at work, (not quite as enthusiastic) & me, well I finally get my house back, my routine with the kids and can now implement some much needed work time around our usual running household.

Hope you all have enjoyed your time off.