FROM MY WHIMSY WORLD TO YOURS

If you’ve found your way here, welcome.

Pull up a chair, grab a cuppa, and make yourself comfortable.

I’m Kirstin — mixed-media artist, storyteller, professional daydreamer, collector of tiny treasures and the heart behind LilliBean Designs.

I thought the very first post on this blog should be a proper introduction. After all, if we’re going to spend time together exploring creativity, whimsy, art, books, adventures, studio life and all the beautifully messy bits in between, it seems only fair that I tell you a little about myself.

I’ve always been a creator.

Some of my earliest memories involve pencils scattered across the floor while I sketched my favourite television characters, designed outfits for my Barbies, or made up elaborate stories long before I could write them down myself. My poor mum spent years acting as my personal scribe while I dictated story after story to her.

When I wasn’t drawing or storytelling, I was busy transforming ordinary things into extraordinary adventures. Cereal boxes became scuba gear. My beloved panda accompanied me on expeditions across imaginary oceans. Entire worlds existed inside my bedroom.

Creativity wasn’t something I did.

It was simply who I was.

As often happens, life got busy. School, work, responsibilities and all the practical things that come with adulthood slowly nudged creativity further into the background.

Then one tiny person changed everything.

When our first daughter, Bean, was born, I remember looking down at her and thinking, You can grow up to be anything you want to be. You are unlimited.

Almost immediately another thought arrived:

If she can be anything she wants to be, why can’t I?

It was one of those moments that quietly changes the direction of your life.

A few years later, after nearly ten wonderful years living in Scotland, our family moved home to rural NSW. We had two small children, very little spare time and a whole lot of uncertainty. Somewhere amongst the chaos, I found myself drawing, painting and creating every chance I got.

At first it happened on the couch, then at the kitchen table, the a little room off our garage. And before I realised it, LilliBean Designs was born.

Not with a grand plan. Not with a fancy studio. Just with a creative heart that refused to stay quiet any longer.

Since then, this little business has grown into something far bigger than I ever imagined. It has become a place where art, storytelling and connection come together. A place where I can explore themes of self-love, vulnerability, strength, wonder and whimsy through the characters and worlds I create.

Today I still live on Wiradjuri Country in rural NSW with my husband Mac, our three daughters (known around here as Bean, Bug and Beastie), a German Shepherd convinced he belongs on someone’s lap, and a cat who occasionally remembers we exist.

Life is busy. Life is messy. Life is wonderful.

And through it all, creating remains the thread that ties everything together.

LilliBean Designs is more than paintings on a wall. It’s an invitation to stay curious, to choose beauty, to embrace whimsy, to trust your intuition.

And to create a life filled with wonder, even when things feel ordinary. Because I truly believe we all need more reminders that magic still exists.

Thank you for being here and for spending a little time exploring my whimsical corner of the internet.

I have a feeling we’re going to get along just fine.

From my whimsy world to yours.