Yay for Dawanda!

Shhhh don't tell Etsy I'm having an affair.
http://en.dawanda.com/shop/hitree
Im participating in an 11% off sale that goes until June 29th. Soooo if you live on the other side of the world, now is a good time to take advantage of a sale!

Pre hi tree hi tree

I love to make purses, I really do. But at the same time i hate making purses. I know what your thinking, your thinking " I totally know what you mean tina". yeah, you know why I love hate making purses? They take FOREVER to make, but... the finished product is so fun. I pretty much gave up purse making 2 years ago, I just couldn't take it any more. Maybe someday soon ill hop back on the wagon, but until then here is what went down before i made myself crazy.

This one is my favorite. It actually turned out to be a really great investment of time. Being the purse whore that I am this one tied me over for good, I have carried this big fat juicy thing with me every day for the last two years. Which translates to hundreds of dollars i saved because i wasn't buying every purse i liked. This will have to be pried from my cold dead hands. It has something like 500 pockets.

I know, that you know, you love it.

Next we have the first tree purse ever.

And then there was this one.

Soooo there you have it. I have a few more but ill save those for later, I like mystery. its fun. Besides I don't want to take to much of your time, I know your just reading this because you are procrastinating on something you should be doing right now.

Compound No. 1

This is the first post in a series of posts highlighting the people i once lived with in a magically dirty place called the compound.

When i first moved to Los Angeles from florida i moved into the Compound. It was (and still is)2 houses on a property with a lot of bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms and people. it was basically in other words a artist commune i guess you could say. many of the people living there had transplanted from the east coast an all gathered in this little safe haven. we cooked dinners together, went out together, had parties, and all the fun stuff you do when you are great friends with the 12 people you live with.
I was surrounded by people who were incredibly creative and inspiring. Everyone was into different forms of creativity from photographers, to painting, to motion picture to music to web design and everything in between. it was wicked fun.

so for my first compound post, i would like to introduce one of my former compound roommates Travis Millard AKA Fudge Factory Comics.
Travis was and is one of the most interesting and funny people i have ever met. Not only multi- talented but very kind and thoughtful as well. he would always bring over a fruit smoothie if he had some extra.
You could always find him in his room drawing. ALWAYS, as a matter of fact its almost impossible (still to this day) to get him to leave the house, you have to bribe him with free food or something.

so here is some of Travis's Art.


You wont find Travis on Etsy, you have to go to his website.
www.fudgefactorycomics.com

Holla

hi tree beginings

I love the process of making things over and over and over again. Every time I sit down to make the same thing it just gets better. The creative process never ceases to amaze me. Even when I feel like I cant come up with new ideas, I know I can improve on old ones. I think every creative person should make recreating part of their crafty time. Dont get me wrong, sometimes making the same thing countless times can make me crazy, but I think it has to be done and one day that thing (or tree in my case) will be exactly how you envisioned it.
so I thought I would share some pictures of the first Hi Trees :)

This was the original, first ever made Hi Mr. Oak Tree.

Here is the current Mr. Oak Tree, what an improvement!


And here is the first Mr. Cypress Tree, which is actually the first tree i ever made, he started all this tree madness.

And the new and improved Cypress Tree


So there you have it, this all happened over a period of 3 years. So if you are ever feeling the creators block, have at some of your old stuff, ask people what they think, gather ideas and keep on truckin. Just dont give up!

Who are you tree girl..........

Thats a good question. maybe i should start off with a small introduction.
First of all i am mother to this lovely little nugget. Her name is Hazel, she's three and i happen to think shes pretty cute.


Second, i like to make stuff. heres my crafty corner (of the living room)


Crankin out the trees for my first large vending adventure in the woods of Santa Barbara.








In my free time you can find me playing with fire with various different tools :)



so i guess that sort of sum for now. blogger and i will be acquainting ourselves in the meantime.
ill leave you with some fun videos of me and my friend fire.