fairfield + hi tree

Okay today I'm going to talk about Stuffing.   

Over the past few years I've been developing my style and the aesthetic for hi tree and my other stuffed items. I've learned that the quality of the stuffing is crucial to the final result.  I need stuffing that stays full and soft through time and abuse.  Through

tons

of experiment of sundry stuffing, I find that Fairfield Premium Polyester Fiber-fil is my favorite. Somehow it manages to add the perfect full and finished effect I am looking for.  I LOVE IT. 

 Earlier this year, Fairfield Processing Corp, the makers of said amazing stuffing found and contacted me through my use of the tag "polyfil" (yay SEO) on Etsy.   

This is the largest stuffing manufacturer IN THE WORLD requesting hi tree be featured on the FIRST PAGE of their  interactive handmade landscape built for their new website www.fairfieldworld.com AND they ordered 3 custom free standing trees ranging from 3.5 ft. to 4 ft. tall for their Trade show booth display. YAY!

Check it out.  My trees look so happy.  I am so proud.  

The designer info page:

Here are the trees I made for their trade show booth

In other news. I made a discovery a few months back that I know would be useful to my crafty readers. If you shop at Michael's Craft supply Store, there is a sign next to the register that reads: We accept competitor coupons. SO if you are anything like me and have 10+ Joann Fabric's 40%-50% off coupons every month, now you know you can use them there too! Happy day!!!

Have you made any discoveries like this you can share with us? Leave a comment below!

A few new things added to the Etsy shop this week. 

new Autumn maple tree keychains

Conjoined twin decapitated unicorns? I think YES!!

Head over to hi tree land blog to see the latest installment of

MSPaint weirdness

. 

Head on over to the

Etsy shop

for 15% off with the promo code: OHHEYTREE!

Enter code into the "notes to seller" field during checkout and i will refund you 15% through paypal after checkout is complete.

Thats all for now! Hope everyone has a fantastic week! 

H.D. Buttercup & New Things

Friday night! Grand opening of the Apartment 3 & Unique Los Angeles Shop at H.D. Buttercup. 

This shop will be carrying the full line of Hi Tree pillows.

So needless to say i will be there! If you would like to come and enjoy the OPEN BAR and celebrity DJ's, click the flier to RSVP via Eventbrite. 

Also, i listed some new things in my shop this week! 

Including, the newest addition to the Hi Tree pillow collection, Hi Mr. Maple Tree!

At $45 he is the most affordable of the big trees. YAY!

You can read more about him

here in my shop.

hi mr. maple tree!

pinky the decapitated unicorn!

grey ear hat

light brown autumn oak leaf barrette

dark brown autumn leaf autumn

take me to the slothspital

I just had to take a minute to post the cutest video I have ever seen in my whole life because you NEED to see it. If I were an animal I would probably be a sloth.  These little guys are inspiring me to make some slothy things. Sloth backpack perhaps?

(the video has an ad in the beginning, but there is a "skip this ad" button to the top left)

The Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica is where these little guys live. They have a pretty amazing website where you can adopt a sloth or volunteer (

www.slothrescue.org

) I would recommend going and taking a look at the

slothbook

.

How to make fabric sew in labels {without a printer!}

Here I go, all giving away my secrets and stuff. This is a pretty awesome secret, I have to say, when I discovered I could do this it CHANGED MY LIFE and saved me millions of dollars. Ok, fine, not millions, but hundreds at LEAST and could easily be thousands. Okay enough about that, you get the point.

This blog post is about how I make fabric sew in labels for my trees, hats, fanny packs, keychains.... EVERYTHING. The BEST thing about making tags using this method is that you can customize each and every tag/label specific to the item you will be putting it on. Say it with me........ yaaayyyy!

This is what you need:

* bias tape, ribbons, trims, fabric pieces.... etc....

* a stamp {with your name, logo or whatever you want on the label}

*oil based stamp pad / pigment stamp pad (nooooo water-based!)

* scissors

* umm, thats it

OKAY I know you are sitting there with all your materials ready so ill get on with it.

FIRST choose the fabric and/or ribbon you want to print your name or logo onto. It can be ALMOST be anything, ribbon, strips of fabric, bias tape, whathaveyou (although waterproof-ish materials don't work so good). You want the ink to be able to absorb into the fabric a little bit. (twill works GREAT)

My personal favorite is store bought single fold bias tape like this! (I use it for almost everything)

{sidenote: I would recommend NOT cutting the desired length until you have already printed onto the bias tape (or whatever you choose to print on)}

Next, get your stamp.

This is my stamp, it looks REALLY funny, I know. To make my stamp, I used a Clover felting needle case (this is not really the right way to mount the stamps, but im cheap, so it will do) and those fabulous Martha Stewart stamp letters that you pull apart and make your own words with (there probably is a name for them, but I don't pay attention to such things, clearly) you can buy some at Michael's. (In the paper craft section) There are proper blocks for mounting the stamps on that you can also purchase, coincidentally, also at Michael's.  The moral of the story: your stamp does NOT need to look this ghetto and you can find everything you need at Michaels. 

Once you have your stamp all sorted out, bust out that fancy stamp pad and start stamping until your heart is content.

For making multiple labels on one strip of ribbon or fabric, I have found that spacing the stamps about 2.5 inches apart from each other leaves plenty of room to cut and sew around the whole label.

Last but certainly NOT least, cut out your tag and sew it into your stuffed unicorn. (SO sweet of you to make me a stuffed unicorn! Please send to 333 Magicalforest lane, LaLaLand, Ca 90042)

Here are some examples of labels I have printed on random bits of ribbon, bias tape and fabric I have found laying around. The options truly are endless, and it is really nice to not have to rely on someone else to make your labels.

Here are some examples of how i use my home made labels 

trees!

ear hat

fanny pack

tote bags 

Now, go knock yourself out! Feel free to leave any questions in the comments below!

P.S. need a custom stamp? or ink? There are many stamp makers on etsy! You would be surprised how affordable they are! Here are a few sellers i found with a simple search:

scribblingclub.etsy.com

terbearcollectibles.etsy.com

sweetpaperie.etsy.com

RubberStampPress.etsy.com

{and of course there are many many more!}

decapitated unicorns! and other loveliness.....

i am finally settled in my "new" studio space (@my house) and have been making all kinds of new things lately! bloody unicorns, hand drawn pins,

the summer obsession band merch

, baby nun-chucks and FREE STANDING TREES! there is also a top secret project underway as well. so many exciting things going on in hi tree land.

the bloody decapitated unicorns have been so popular around town! ive been making so many of them. there are still a few left in

my shop

...

here is what my shiny new work space looks like. since hi tree has moved back into my house, my house is now lovingly referred to as "the tree house".

some other fun little random things i have made as of late.....

operation save baby hummingbirds and other news

oh hai!

i know i know, i dropped off the face of the earth. if you have been following my blog for long you should be used to my blog hiatus's by now. :/ ha

now on to the juicy stuff!

i had a very amazing experience with a little hummingbird that had built her little hummingbird nest right outside my living room window. here is the short version of the story (with pictures)

brief background: i first noticed my little hummingbird friend (whom i have named dorothy) about a month ago, she built her little nest in the avocado tree that shelters my driveway. the branches extend over the driveway and almost all the way to my house. i park my car under said tree branches. her nest is about 3 feet from my window, i can see everything she does and it is so awesome to watch her. i love her very much.

the story: friday night i am sitting at my desk making something and i hear strange noises and notice my flood light outside going on and off. turns out, my cat sparky had torn the nest down! all i saw was white shredded nest all over my black car. i go outside to investigate and this is what i find on my windshield:

i almost didn't see them. the egg in the picture is a partially hatched baby and the baby, well, is a healthy little baby humming bird that clearly had just hatched earlier that day.

my cat had COMPLETELY destroyed the nest, i was at a loss as to what to do, but clearly i couldn't just leave them to die on my windshield. so i quickly brought them inside and made a little makeshift nest with some wool felt and a plastic tub and put them next to a heater while i tried to find a solution to this problem.

during a frantic phone call to a sweet and lovely

mr. allan leavell

, he suggested to me that perhaps i should use my skills to make a new nest to replace the destroyed one. (for the record, i thought this was a crazy idea, but what else was i going to do about it at 12am) so, i got out some wool roving and proceeded to needle felt a new nest. i thought it was a shot in the dark, but there was nothing to lose. the babies were far too tiny to be nursed by a human. i was able to salvage some of the super soft lining the mama had used and line the inside of my nest. (see the baby in there?)

SO i made the nest, put the babies in the nest and hot glued the nest back up into the tree where the old nest had been. really not sure if it would work or not. all i could think about for the rest of the night was if those little birds were out there freezing to death because mama didn't come back.

FIRST thing in the morning i go and look to see if they had survived and this is what i see:

mama hummingbird sitting on her babies in the nest i made!

i have officially done a collaboration with a hummingbird. cool!

so anyhow. in other news.

many changes have taken place in the last few months, one of them being, hi tree studio moving back into my house. now, you might think this is a bad thing right? negative growth? nooooo. not at all. my one year stint having hi tree in the avenue 50 studio was PRICELESS. the people i met (

sonia romero

) and all the art walks and shows i took part in were such a great experience for me as an artist. but now, i need to be able to work as much as possible and one thing that i have learned from having my studio located somewhere other than my house is that, well, its really hard to create on time constraints! 9-5 doesn't cut it for me. i like to work in the middle of the night or whenever i feel like it, and i can't do that as a single mother and a studio 8 blocks away from where i spend most of my time. i am so excited! and relieved!

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!

.