workshop at hi tree studio!

Hello hi tree friends!
I will be offering one sewing workshop this holiday season:
Make your own zipper pouches!

From start to finish, you will learn how to cut, embellish and assemble these sweet little zipper pouches in any shape and size you're little heart desires. You will also learn how to convert them into fanny packs or wristlets! The options are endless.
These sweet little pouches would make the perfect handmade gift for all you're loved ones. There will be plenty of time and materials to make lots of them! Can we say stocking stuffers?!

November 14th and 15th, 2009 (Sat and Sun)
11:00 am – 4:00 pm, including lunch break
Instructor: Tina Rodas
Cost: $100 per person, all materials included
Age: 14 to adult
Where: She Rides the Lion Studio

Contact: Tina Rodas at tina@hitree.com to reserve your spot ASAP

** This is a great time to make artwork and or gifts for the holidays!!!
Pay online with paypal or send a check to Tina Rodas c/o Avenue 50 Studio 131 North Avenue 50 Los Angeles, Ca 90042
Please email me to reserve your spot

decapitated unicorns and stuff

lately i have been sitting in my studio trying to do some new and different things. the holiday season is quickly approaching and i am feeling the need for a refresh. frankly, im kind of tired of looking at the same stuff ALL the time. so here is a little preview of some things ive been working on. some are available in my shop and some are for installations at various places around town this holiday season. (details to come soon)
also, if you live in the los angeles area, i will be doing a big "make you're own christmas presents" 2 day work shop at hi tree studio. so keep an eye out for that info in the next few days if you might be interested.
AND if you would like to join the workshop email list, email me at tina@hitree.com

p.s. i know the whole bloody unicorn heads are VERY different from my usual innocent and cute trees. but believe it or not, these are old pre-hi tree sketches from my sketch book. :)
enjoy the eye candy!










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yay &hearts

ok ok ok i clearly did not take into account the extreme bout of laziness i would encounter on my birthday. so this post is a few days past due, but nonetheless here it is :)

out 2 lovely winners of the cute little maple trees are:
{&hearts} little red door
AND
{&hearts} rachel b
so ladies, please send me you're shipping info to tina@hitree.com

thank you to every one that participated!!! i will be doing this again!

about the cupcake: my friend becca made me 12 of these babies for my birthday. it that sweet or what! she even made little mushrooms out of meringue. nomnomnom

its mah birthday! giveaway!

ooooookay. so here is the deal. its fall equinox and my birthday week, my favorite time of the year!
so to celebrate i want to try something new:

here is the deal.
i will be giving away 2 of these lovely new autumn maple trees!
here are the many ways to enter the giveaway:

twitter:
{&hearts} copy paste the following message into your twitter (if you have one): one entry for every tweet you send!
@hitree GIVEAWAY-its my birthday! 2 felt autumn maple trees! PLUS 15% off entire store. www.hitree.blogspot.com & www.hitree.etsy.com

facebook:
{&hearts} pick one item from my shop that you love the most and post it to your facebook. (or of course you could just post the whole shop)

blog:
{&hearts} blog about my birthday/ fall equinox sale and get 2 entries into the giveaway! {edited to clarify} you can just blog about my shop in general, not specific to blogging about the sale. :)

etc.....
{&hearts} etc...... any other way of getting the word out, gets an entry.

finally, when you have maxed out your possible entry points, post a comment below and tell me what you did! ill keep track of everything. if you need to post multiple comments over the week, have at it.

on my birthday, friday september 25th i will announce the 2 winners of the sweet little trees :)
yay!
now go!

oh one more thing! check out the new new tree :)
just in time for christmas!

gaaaaaa

i am in the midst of a food coma, so i thought i would take the opportunity to do a little blog post, since i can't seem to remove myself from the couch in the sheridesthelion studio (next door to hi tree).

anyhow, loads of awesomeness going on right now. this morning i awoke to a very exciting google alert. apartment therapy mentioned me as well as posted some images of my work. check out the article here.




and and and also ive been slowly but surely fall-ifying (is that a word? now it is) hi tree. lots or oranges and yellow and pretty fall colors.

alright alright alright

well hello there, how are you? what is that you say? you thought i was dead? why? because i haven't done a blog post in forever? oh, yeah, sorry about that. ive been too busy making new stuff!

this saturday night, if you live in the los angeles area, please come by the black maria gallery, i will be doing an installation on the project wall. nice stuff!

look, fall stuff! yay!





so now for the goods. as we all know i took a lovely camping trip to sequoia national forest. it was so beautiful, one of the things that stuck out to me the most was the dead and still standing giant sequoias. they had moss growing all over them and it was soooo pretty. so here is the hi tree version of what i like to call, mr. sad sequoia. (he is sad, because he is dead, if it is possible to be sad and dead at the same time)



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ok ok ok. then there is this dude. he is sort of my replacement for THE big tree. (you know, the 8 foot tall missing since january in the mail tree) he is half the size of the big guy, but he is just as lovely.

beware of the mushrooms

they might bite your ankles.
well, after one of the busiest times of my life i am back from my blog hiatus. these little mushroom dudes are for my next big project, details still to come, if i tell you i might have to kill you and i really don't want to have to do that.






last week i spent 3 days up in sequoia national forest and let me just say it was quite inspiring. i think it is safe to say that it is one of the most magical places i have ever been in my whole life. i wish to crawl up inside one of those amazing trees and live with my sewing machine. there are so many ideas floating in my head that will be coming into form very very soon.
enjoy the pictures!! (even though they do the trees no justice)

we chirp!

Some exciting things going on here today. Seriously though, no really.
2 new hi tree "fanny packs" fresh of the sewing machine. woot!
2 new styles of totes. and let me just take a second to say that clearly my creativity has been taking me in some new directions lately and i have been enjoying it very much. i cant wait to see what happens next.



This Saturday night is the North East Los Angeles art walk! That means my studio will be wide open for all to come in. The show going up in the gallery is looking really great! and also in the annex my good buddy Joseph Botello is having a solo show, 100 Faces.
We will be open from 7 to 10pm @ 131 N. ave 50 in Highland Park 90042




ALSO, and that is a big also, We Chirp is doing a hi tree giveaway this week. Head on over there and see what you have to do to get a cute little bitty maple tree. so sweet and squishy.

we have a giveaway winner!

the winner of the lovely little oak leaf earrings is Sari P! congrats!
I have to apologize for posting the winner much later in the day than i usually do, today was a busy day!
Sari, please email me your address! tina@hitree.com

isnt the little humming bird so sweet?! he lives outside my studio. he is just a baby!

hard decisions....

So today, i made this, with the intention of putting it in my etsy shop. and, well. i put it on to take pictures and take it for a test drive and well, after about 30 seconds of thought, i decided that the only thing there was left to was to keep it on.... forever.
Im keeping it. but i am so excited about it and i really wanted to share it! so here it is!

!!!!! dont forget about the giveaway going on down below in the previous post!

i feel a giveaway coming on....

well hello,
how are you? good? oh, im so glad to hear that. I am doing quite well myself. did you see the laist.com article about hi tree? no? oh, well here it is . isn't it lovely!? whats going on over here you ask? well, I am getting ready for the nela art walk that is coming up on second saturday, that is always fun. I just got my lovely crib bumper back from pregnancy and newborn magazine.
now i just need to figure out what im going to do with it!
I just completed a 4 foot tall giant giant giant sequoia, he is so lovely. i promise ill have pictures of him up soon. He will be making some appearances around town in the next few months.
Oh! i dont want to forget to mention that ill be at Renegade Craft Fair Los Angeles. woot! im very excited to be participating in the first ever here in lala land. Its going to be so fun!
Any how, if you know anyone that would like a cheap but awesome computerized sewing machine, im selling mine for $150. Its super duper awesome but its time for a upgrade! yay!! so anyway, thats all for now, i need to get back to work! This week ill be posting some all new, one of a kind totes! by the way, thank you to all who voted in my little poll!

enough of that, here are the giveaway details: I will be giving away a pair of small oak leaf earrings. you know the drill, leave a comment on this post to be entered into the drawing! i will announce the winner on tuesday june 9th.

its me again

boy did i drop off the face of the earth. im so bad like that!
the reason for my disappearance was, well, ive been making stuff! new stuff!
i also did unique los angeles last weekend which was very very awesome.
april was such an amazing month on etsy and may is turning out to be the same.
so here are some recent photos! and photos of my studio.....
(you will have to excuse the poor image quality of the studio photos, its a little too dark in there and i hate using a flash.)





bringing back the fanny pack.... (does anyone beside me even call them that anymore?)

hi tree studio!





my booth at unique los angeles last weekend....

anyways, tonight is the north east los angeles art walk, hi tree studio will be open for business tonight from 7 to 10pm.
if you live in the highland park/ eagle rock/ pasadena area come by! you can download a map of art walk here.
hi tree studio is located in the rear of the avenue 50 studio at 131 north ave. 50, right next to the gold line tracks.
located in the same building you will find she rides the lion print studio and also 2 tracks studio. its a fun place to be!

serious overstock!

ha, im just going to be honest, this past few months have been brutal on etsy! i feel like i have been doing nothing but pumping new items into my shop and it hasn't seemed to make a difference.
Meanwhile my inventory is out of control, i spend 9 hours a day at the studio making things and its starting to pile up. So i decided to temporarily mark down most of the smaller items in my shop in order to stimulate my economy (hopefully!)

also, this past week i went on a mission to learn how to make zipper pouches. i think most of us crafty folk are pretty scared of zippers. i decided to look my fear square in the face (and then proceeded to punch it in the face) so here are the fruits of my labor! i feel pretty happy with them, and they can only get better from here!

we have a winner

SO we had 22 entries total (i had a few enter on my facebook) everyone was assigned a random number in no specific order, then i used the Random Integer Generator to pick the winner of the lovely leafy earrings.

So Dee from our little love nest was the lucky one! i would go play the lottery if i were you! please email me your address :) tina@hitree.com. and congratulations!

doesn't mr. giant giant sequoia look so cute on the pretty blue wall!

giveaway time again!!!

this time ill be giving away a pair of these new lovely leafy earrings.



This time a round i will announce the winner on friday at 12:00 noon pacific time. SO, to enter the drawing leave a comment below!

so it looks like......

option 1 won. that was seriously a close vote, what would i have done if they tied!
i really really appreciate all of your input. and another thank you to trudesign for designing such an awesome logo for me!

so anyways. this week im working on a new owl design. i need to get that looking as tight as the trees!
next up on the chopping block for a re-design is mr. giant sequoia. ive been looking at him and seeing many ways in which he can improve. so that is just what i will be doing.
things are slow in etsy land right now! or is it just me? :)
here are some new one of a kind things i have recently made and added to the shop- im at 3 pages now. woot!

i need your help!

justin and i have been working on a redesign of hitree.com. but we have hit a bump- we cant decide which design to go with. so this is where you come in. i need some feedback! so below are 3 options.
i would really appreciate some feedback comments! thank you in advance!

option 1:

option 2:

option 3:

more new stuff!

boy have i been a machine lately.
i dont really have much to say except that, this saturday night is the north east los angeles art walk. come by the studio if you live in the area!
i am located in the Ave 50 Studio at 131 north ave 50 in highland park. art walk is from 7-10pm. There are 3 other artists (like she rides the lion)in the building and an art gallery. so there will be plenty of food, wine and geeks like us crafty folk. the ave 50 studio is also hosting a curated fiber arts show. lots of fun stuff going on!
par-tay

new new!

well, i have been sooo busy making new stuff!!! i went a little crazy with the button making, but i wanted to make some more affordable things. i really love all these new little guys. i was in a little bit of a creative funk a few weeks ago and im so glad to finally be out of it.
so head on over to the ol etsy shop and take a look! there are tons of different colors and types.

the winner

is sarah madeline :)
sarah, email me your address to tina@hitree.com
i wish i could give all of you a keychain! keep checking back, im going to start doing giveaways on a more consistent basis :)
if any of you have seen mr. giant giant giant giant sequoia wandering around any where, please tell him to come home NOW. he appears to be lost :( i dont know if my life can go on with out him...........