Sun and Sprinkles

While on a walk in a new-to-me neighborhood I found many interesting and colorful contrasts. Old, tall trees perfect for climbing, towering over dusty, sprawling cacti along the ground and sidewalks. Stucco covered, tiled roofed homes alongside a Starbucks. It struck me as odd. Perhaps this photo I took will illustrate my thoughts better than my words.

Contrast is a theme in the pillows I make and in every other art form I do. So instead of being so one-sided, (I don’t want to be selfish) I’m going to share the other sides of my creative personality on this blog. Stay tuned and enjoy!

Spring is coming!

My city has been grey and stormy lately. Cold wind, heavy rain. The combination that makes you want to cozy up with a good movie, book, blog, what have you. But I know Spring is on the heels of those storm clouds. And with Spring comes color! Fabulous new colors and patterns and… fabric.

I’ve begun my first Spring plantings with a collection of bright, vibrating, playful and of course, unsuspecting pairs. Honor the old and nurture the new. I had to share the wonderful new colors I’m working with so a photo was in order. I had some grey seamless, which matched the skies wonderfully. I turned it into a tree blooming with new color. Spring has sprung.

I hope my newly hatched creations will make their way to your nest soon.

~SP

May Good Fortune be upon you and 2010..

Good Fortune.

In any business venture, and in life in general, we all need good fortune from time to time. I have had much good fortune in the last few months while starting SoSweet – from chance meetings and opportunities to my friend’s support and kind praise.

My sweet, sweet best friend supports me most. Late night detanglings of thread that’s bound itself up in the sewing machine and fixing the zippers I’ve just broken, to making me a snack when I haven’t left my work table all day, my best friend is at my side offering a hand. Like the perfect assistant or vendor – they just “get it” and know what to do.

When we exchanged our holiday gifts I was overcome by how much good fortune I’d been given this past year. They were not extravagant gifts, nor will they require months of payments to a credit card, but what they were, was perfect. The “get it” kind of gifts -a sketch pad for new ideas, a book of beautiful inspiration, a lovely decorated and monogrammed cup for my favorite indulgence -coffee, and a Maneki Neko – The Beckoning Cat of Japan – a lucky charm so to speak. (most Maneki Nekos are left-handed – hmmm.)

Good Fortune Gifts

The product! The product!

Ta-dah! A little bit of a whole lot more to come.

Why do I do this?

What happened this last year with the financial collapse of our nation’s economy and well, the rest of the world’s too, enlightened me. I’ve always thought of myself as a conscientious person. One who thinks before she speaks, tries to put others before herself and does things for those less fortunate. This past year made a LOT of us less fortunate, but this is not “misfortune” in my book.  I was given the opportunity to give in ways that got me back in touch with who I really need and want to be…but more importantly HOW to be it. Not that she had been forgotten, but perhaps just a little mislead.

In my many days of plodding around the wood floors of my studio, I’d pick up various snidgets of who knows what and lots and lots of fur-balls. My two kitties would follow me around, meowing for a treat or some love because they knew I’d give it to them. As part of my morning practice and ritual, coffee with cream and sugar and the saying of 5 things I was grateful for to take the focus off of what I wasn’t getting, a paycheck. And each and every day, those two cats were in the 5. They have so enriched my life. They ask for nothing but food, water, and yes, I believe affection. I’m happy to give it. I’m not a crazy cat lady, just a person who believes in the importance of nature and it’s voice, it’s presence and it’s preservation. There is no room for intentional cruelty in mother nature’s world, nor should there be in man’s.

Hence, why I do this. 10% to my furry friends. Each and every sale.

Oh hai!

Tag. You’re it!

Aren’t they lovely?

Identity continued.

Creating my “IDENTITY.”

It’s a big capital letter “I” in identity. All those lurking questions on the frontal cortex of my brain asking, “Who are you going to be in this decorating, art making, beautifying, giving to a greater good new world? How do you plan to position yourself? Who are your competitors? What’s in a name? What does your business offer? What is YOUR BRAND?” Arrr! Suddenly I was hearing the smoke crackled, ancient voice of my Marketing and Advertising 101 instructor who I’d come to know only as “The Voice of All Reason.” He didn’t have a name. He didn’t need one because HIS BRAND was all he needed. The secrets I paid for in that class were obviously priceless, because I couldn’t answer any one of those questions once they came to mind again. However, his sage advice and teachings did eventually help. What did I want to “SAY?”

So, I thought. And hence came this, “I make pillows. And some art objects, mobiles mainly, but the focus is pillows. Beautiful, luxurious, plentifully cushy, bright, color-luscious, dream inducing, pillows. And they look fabulous in any room! I have one in my bathroom in fact! I digress.

My competitors? Well, I’m choosing to call them my design compadres and good luck to them. There’s room for all of us. Name? SoSweet has been there from the beginning as it was the first comment someone said about my “Marketplace” pillow. From there it all came together in a “see it, say it”, (such bad advertising, but so what) pillow talk kind of way. Soon came the tags with little messages of adoration and flair. When the time came to create the business cards, I hadn’t yet secured the name SoSweet and can’t really, technically call myself a “designer” so I said this:

Front of business card 1

Back of business card 1

Front of business card 2

Back of business card 2

And for now, that’s the story.

I’m so glad you’re here!

Now I’ve done it. I’ve started a blog. Welcome visitors! If this is your first time and you’re not familiar with SoSweet, let me introduce you.

SoSweet was started in 2009 by yours truly, a creative woman named Pamela (“P” for short and it also ties in nicely with my product-pillows). I’m best described as “an artist” and I’m inspired by making life prettier, or, well, better if you will.

I began my beautifying venture out of pure color desperation. I’d been living in my place for about 6 months and being a believer in the only thing that’s constant is change, I had to do something to spice up the palate of my white-walled, 840 sq ft. studio. The 1950′s Singer sewing machine that had been sitting in my basement graduated to my living room floor where it attracted dust and cat hair of my beloved Azul. I had an old pillow that looked easy to cover. It was rectangular. How hard could it be? I didn’t even know how to loop the thread through my machine, but I pulled out the typographically beauty manual (ahh, the 50s -the age of advertising) and soon was sewing holes in my fingers and eventually an invisible zipper.

My first pillow was done and it was smashing! I loved it like a little boy loves his Hot Wheel’s collection. And before you knew it, I was sewing late into the night, Azul and his little buddy Ace by my side and friends began asking… how can I get one?

My first pillow.

The rest well, it is to be written.

Thanks for the visit.