What got me to this point?

Truth be told, I needed a change.

Please enjoy reading this really experimental approach on how this business came to be! I wanted to show my thought process.

I took some time to ask myself the following questions: 

"How will your idea help (others/the environment/in general)?"

That's when I felt a wave of comfort hit me, and I said,

"This is it! This is where I can help!"

Finding my Brand

I had to consider my resources that I had, and also the physical space that was available to me. I would have to be running this business from inside my home, and my family needed to be able to live in it too. So I started researching ways that I could accomplish this method, and the licenses involved. 

I have always enjoyed the idea of selling physical goods, and figured that a mixture of Drop-Shipping items and shipping small products would be the way to start! I drew a few designs that I felt were good products to start with and were what I wanted to see more of in the world. Then I started gathering quotes from some of my long time contact vendors to get a feel of costs and a budget I wanted to stick with. 

Then before I ordered anything, I knew I needed to establish the following: A Brand and Logo.

This part was challenging and also so SO fun! I brainstormed so many key words and phrases that matched what I wanted to convey with this business. 

After lots of deliberation I narrowed it down, and started looking online for availability. 

Ultimately I wanted the logo to be known by the design first, then text last. Just like how the Nike checkmark Logo works! I felt that this would be the best case to work with in the off chance that I would need to pivot from my decided company name.
This is also why when the space for print is condensed the "Whisker Dreams" text is the part that is dropped off or truncated.
The focus on the business is to highlight cats and not profits. 

Last updated: 10/21/2024

Why does the single color Logo have the heart filled in black while the cat is simplified?

There are multiple reasons for this decision:
1. Beyond the fact that I have my own cat, Roll, as the inspiration for the Logo design, I wanted to emphasize that love is heart of this all.  It doesn't need to be Roll as the known famous cat, as long as the message of love for your cats/chosen family is understood. The fully colored heart makes it stand out in the design.

2. I also felt that the Black heart being hugged showed a sign of embracing the heartache that possibly other cat parents might have from loosing their loved one, and hope that the goal of raising awareness and talking about the challenges that come our way can help! Just sending hugs and healing. 

What am I going to sell?

I wanted to focus on the types of items I've always enjoyed seeing at trade shows and wanted to explore with my vendors that I've developed a relationship with over the years. This means my main mediums would be metal works, handcraft, wood works, and print media for now. However I really hope I could move into the soft-lines development of plush toys. I greatly enjoyed this avenue of product when I worked on the Lil' Plush series in my previous role at NIS America.

Here are some drafts -> sketches -> final works I will be selling below: 

"A Paws in the story" Bookmark

Curly Toes Lapel Pin

Wooden Coaster Set

Pop Up Markets & Conventions

I wanted to attend pop up markets as well to continue exercising my event planning and booth building still. I always loved going to events and found it to be revitalizing, and also my mother had attended craft shows when I was a kid. It was a big bitter sweet moment when I got to set up and run my own booth in March.

Thanks, Mom, for the inspiration!

2025 Activations