Monday, June 21, 2010

Featured Seller: NaviWing!!!

Today's Featured Seller is another shop loaded with a variety of cute and fun items!
Say Hello to NaviWing!!!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/NaviWing
Isn't this little pig cute! He definitely tugs on my heart strings! NaviWing's Shop is loaded with fun cute little guys just like him...and much much more!
But I'll let the creator tell us more about this fun shop!
~"Hello! :D My name's Devon, and I'm a 20 year old college student. At the moment, I'm a junior, working towards my bachelor's degree in English (I also could have been an art major, but words stole my heart first).
~"I hope to become a college professor one day... but what I'll teach specifically is still a mystery to me. I'm an honors kid, which means I have to maintain a pretty high GPA in order to keep my scholarship. So during the semester, when I'm not dedicating my time to my creativity, I'm a full-time student. Even my job revolves around school, as I tutor other students on campus in an effort to help improve their writing skills! When off campus, I'm living at home with my wonderful, supportive parents and two absolutely insane cats.
~"My shop, NaviWing (Navi for navigate and Wing for the idea of soaring and freedom), started back in January of 2010. That being said, I'm still relatively new to being a Seller. Anyhow, I had joined Etsy months earlier, and just browsing was enough to make me want to jump into the fray.
~"At first, I opened up selling my hand-sewn critters. They're all made from reclaimed material and are one of a kind, but as I soon learned, these guys didn't (and still don't) sell fast. I decided that maybe making jewelry was the best route to take, and soon had my first sale!The shop at this moment is still evolving, but I think I've established a place where things are simple and either cute or elegant. Or maybe both? Almost everything has some element of reclaimed material, and I'm not a fan of big, flashy pieces. To me, something small can make a statement on its own while still being practical. But one thing's for sure: I love creating. I love sharing what I've made with people, and every time I see something of mine on some one's favorites list, I just glow. It means a lot to me when people appreciate what I do, and I hope to return the favor by helping other artists, either by promoting them or purchasing from them.
~"Also in the shop are some vintage items. I believe that it's important to preserve what we once had, be that a feeling, a style, or a memory. Old jewelry pieces have that story to them, but what I'm quickly falling in love with all over again are vintage and antique books. I've been looking around a lot lately in book sales for books that, yes, I can make a profit off of (please give me a break. I'm a poor college student), but books that have a lot of character. Tomes that have this little flair to them, and that need to be rescued from that musty box everyone keeps rummaging through... those are the ones I want to bring back into the light.
~"I can only hope that the people who buy my books are the ones who actually read them, who breathe life back into those musty, yellowed pages and who will know their story by the time they're done. I always see names pencilled on flyleaves or written on book plates. There are library stamps in some, along with cards filled with all the names that have held the pages. These guys have travelled, and I hope they keep doing so.
~"Aside from books, I'm always looking for inspiration. What keeps you going? people ask. What do you look at that gives you those ideas? Well it's no secret that aside from jewelry, I avidly draw and write. Etsy is just one outlet for all these ideas inside me, and one day I hope to open up a separate shop for my illustrations (whose details, I'm afraid, I must keep under wraps for now).
~"My inspiration comes from many different sources. First, being my age, I play video games. It's not the average hack-and-slash ones, though. I play role Playing Games, or RPGs. These games are based on story elements and characters. Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Fire Emblem... these are the ones I adore, because the designers have gone into such meticulous detail with worlds, character design, and even the music, that you can believe these places and people are real. I write fanfiction (guilty pleasure, I know), I draw fan art, I listen to the music composed for everything from battles to cut scenes. It's the energy generated from all of that which keeps me going.That energy is also born after watching an amazing movie. I am in love with Disney animation. Now, I'm talking 2D animation (not all this 3D stuff that's taken over). Beauty and the Beast, Hercules, and Mulan are some of my favorites. But there are also amazing Miyazaki films, like Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds, and Howl's Moving Castle which leave you feeling contemplative. I need to have the aesthetics matched with amazing music and storyline in order to be really captured.
~"Music, though, is another part of it. I listen to a lot of soundtracks and piano compositions written by Nobuo Uematsu for the Final Fantasy franchise. Howard Shore and John Williams are also amazing composers. Of course I also delve into nearly everything else. Loreena McKennitt, Twelve Girls Band, The Yoshida Brothers are just a few examples of some world music I enjoy, but I also can rock out to bands like OK Go, Motion City Soundtrack, A Skylit Drive, Fall Out Boy, and Lady GaGa. I have to say, though, that I can never and will never get sick of Utada Hikaru. She's a J-Pop genius.
~"So, as you can see, inspiration for me isn't a simple matter. And while all that inspires me to create, what motivates me is the support from my family and friends, and the support of my buyers and friends in the Etsy community.
~"I really just want to make people smile and make them feel, as a recent buyer told me, special. I feel that your purchase should be unique right down to the packaging, and that if you don't feel like you're important, I've failed you in some way.
~"Even if you don't buy anything, if you're also a seller, I can try to help promote your shop or try to give you ideas on how to make things even better.
~"Etsy and my shop, NaviWing... it's all one big ongoing adventure. I know that I'm part of something much larger, and I hope to learn about and experience even more about Etsy success so that I can help my fellow artists."

~Thanks for sharing with us Devon!
~Now off you go to check out Devon's Shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/NaviWing
But Wait....don't forget to check out these too!
Blog: http://www.naviwing-dream-collection.blogspot.com/
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/NaviWing/131604903531900
My Twitter: http://www.twitter/NaviWing

~Thanks Again to Devon and all the Sellers that I've featured and will feature! You are all so inspiring!
~If you would like to be featured on my blog all I ask is that you follow (so you can see and share all the other featured shops) and leave a comment with a direct link to your shop...so I can contact you!
Hope to hear from you soon!
~Thanks Again for Stopping in BedBuggs Boutique!~

3 comments:

  1. Naviwing has some super cute stuff!!

    love!



    also,
    forthefoxes.etsy.com

    Im brand new, and putting new things up to sell every day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That pig is to die for!!

    ReplyDelete

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