Showing posts with label get crafty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label get crafty. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

rrrAWWrr means hello my friend :)



Today a peekypoo at the things that will be keeping me and the little kielbasa busy this week.  Finishing brooches like this one from this past weekend's class, making progress on some experimental wienery goodies I've posted a peek or two previously on Instagram and Facebook...













    


...and doing all sorts of elf work to replenish old favorites and add new paper goods into the kalyxcraftopia shop, so that tiny chumley's happy little postcard can go out with each and every Etsy order.


hee hee hee,  mom, after school today, to help u take pictures of our new paper goodies, i will get all the fans in the house and point them at the sky, so we can blow away the clouds and bring the sunshine back.  do not start without me, okay?? :)

Saturday, January 18, 2014

as good as it gets






There's actually been a really good reason behind all my visits to TJ Maxx and Marshalls and HomesGoods lately.  I mean, not just to see what there is to see in doxie stuff, or to smell candles, or lament that they usually carry rather unreasonably designed and totally undersized ladies undergarments.  I've been visiting because it was time to take back my makey spaces from the messy monsters, and I needed storage stuff.












I'm glad to say that after a very long two weeks, and with one armoire still in an imperfect state and an entire room next door still prone to falling like a house of cards into a state of disrepair,  I'm as done as I will ever be with the Great Crafty Purge and Organization War of 2014.  Next week it will be time to crank up the make factory again, and I know a certain little helpful boy and his dukfriend will be there, giving me helpful advice all the while.




hee hee - hey mom, this is great, but, where is the shelf for me and duk duk's crafty supplies? u know, our bins for poopie snakes and monkey chow and, u know, glitter and stuff??
 



Wednesday, December 11, 2013

let me eat cake
























Tiny chumley had a fine time helping me start his birthday cake yesterday














even if it did mean he needed a little help of his own. :)

 

hee hee mom i can already tell justby licking the utensils that my cake is going to be dee-licious! are u sure we have to invite everybuddy bcuz my tummy and i are pretty sure we can eat the entire cake all by ourselves!!

Friday, November 15, 2013

coming soon :)

Yippee, weeks in the makey, all that's left now to do with tiny chumley's super cute top secret Santa project is to have him take photos and work on the etsy listings in the next few nights.  

psssst - hints I will give you in numbers of three, tidings of joy and presents of glee, this next surprise Mom made with some help by me, and I hope u will save some room on your tree! :) :) #comingthisweekend
#kalyxcraftopia


Thursday, November 14, 2013

workshop elf













mom, are u sure i cannot help u use the drill?













please?  :) :)




Hee hee, more Tidings of Wooty and Glee coming soon my friends so stay tuned! :)

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

little statues




















hee hee, what a great idea to turn ourselves into wood today, duk duk!  now not only do we not have to worry about our walrus report, but nobuddy will recognize us and we can skip school and everything!! there's just one test we have to pass before the bus comes and...
























ooo here it is - mom's coming! quick - places everyone - operation little statues is now under way!! and remember, no sounds, no stink, no nothing til the coast is clear!!

 (hwuuuuuuuuuup!)








 


(hee hee hee, to be continued...hopefully :)

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

payment in full is due at the time of services rendered :)

Somepuppy's ears made it abundantly clear yesterday that their owner, a certain little sausagey boy,  was quite displeased with the way things were going yesterday.  


first of all, his ears flicked as his body wedged between me and the table legs next to us,  how come i am not in any of these pictures u r taking for etsy? it is my job to model, u know.  and not only do we enjoy it, but my tummy and i take our job, and payment in full, very very seriously.

and second of all, ears still flicking one after the other with a little cartoon scribble cloud looking over his head,  growing scribblier and scribblier,  if i am not going to be in any of these pictures nor can i smell, touch, or taste any of these super cool teeny tiny doxie treasure boxes that you will be posting to our etsy shop on tuesday, then cantchoo set up and find proper daylight somewhere that at least does not block the way to my lookout perch? if i cannot do my modeling job, then i can at least still do my job as valiant protector of our home and lands, keeping us safe from dangerous marauders and bunnies and squirrels. but this i cannot accomplish without first seeing them. and to see them means i need to be over there not stuck right here.

third of all, and related to number two, how can i  hardly not be in the way if ...wait, what's that mom? really? my turn now? yippeee!! (clank clank bang clash clank!) okay, when we are done i totally promise to help u load all these pretty boxes to etsy tomorrow!! and don't forget, payment in full is due at time of services rendered.  :) :)








Hee hee, introducing the second litter of teeny tiny doxie treasure boxes.  Uploading to Etsy sometime today, with a little help from u know who. :)


Friday, August 2, 2013

tiny heroes on the halfshell



















hee hee no way, duk duk! u stay over there. me and chocobot found this fair n square so poopers peepers.. nyah!






















that oughta hold him for a couple minutes! nobuddy breaks the poopers peepers incantation without suffering the wrath of the great grand master - what's that,  chocobot? yeah u r right, t, time's ticking. letssee what we have here....hmmmmm...medium tiny but not teeny tiny...velcro closure...convertible straps for crossbody or backpack use...pretty dyed silk flower...hmmm.....o i know! gee chocobot, this is super cool.  i think mom made this for us to take on our summer adventure!  why else would it be here on the floor for us to find? and if it is as big as i think it is, it will be so very especially handy!  just let me see if i can..























 








yuuup - perfecto!! looky, not only does it an ipoopy ipad, but it my summer reading assignment that i have not started yet, plus a little extra room for your pencils, chocobot!  oh and maybe we can even slide in some glitter jerky.

here, help me try it on!

(fumble fumble fumble)





















yeah yeah i know! i bet i look JUST like a turtle, don't i, chocobot? u know, i have always wanted to be a turtle. well, ever since i met mister turtle in our backyard.  which seems so long ago now.  i should probably ask the little misses if they have seen him this year. mister turtle just seems to come and go whenever he pleases and he always seems to come in the later summer after little miss sarah's birth-- birthday....uh oh.... are u thinking what i'm thinking, chocobot?



 










we were so busy packing and celebrating unicorn appreciation day, that we totally glittered over little miss sarah's birthday!
and here we are without a pretty present or anything.  hmmmm....hmmmmm...what's that chocobot?  really? u think? cuz, well, it'd mean u would not be able to bring your pencils, and i would probably start off the school year with an F for not finishing my summer reading but...yeah, let's do it! only we should probably ask mom since u know, it is so obvious that she made this lovely quilty bag for us n all. let me call her - mooooooom, may we please interrupt so we can ask u a question?




















mom, wouldjoo mind if we gave this lovely medium tiny quilty convertible adventure bag we figured u made for us to the little miss sarah for her birthday instead? i know she likes the colors blue and green too, and pretty flowers. and even though she will not be able to use it like a turtle shell like i can,  i think she would still look very cute in it and get plenty of use out of it, too, dontchoo? :) :)










 








Tuesday, July 23, 2013

hook line and sinker

 Alright, ask me like two years ago and I would have haughtily and heartily denied any likelihood of my association with Apple stuff.  Iphones and Ipads were for techbabies.  And hipsters. And very  forgiving minions, the kind who would have stood by the streets of fairytales, impressed by the clothes that their emperor most certainly was not wearing.

But that was two years ago.  My door to IWonderland opened a couple of Christmases ago, when lo and behold an Ipad entered our lives.  Okay, maybe it's not so great for typing intensive projects, but it's nicer to surf the web with, nicer to read in bed with. And, being smaller and less power needy, it was the device I brought to the hospital when my dad fell ill.  The Ipad was a user friendly simple thing, with which I could search on medical terms and procedures, take notes so I could digest what the doctors and staff were telling us, and readily draw pictures to explain what was going on.  All in one handy little compact thing that hardly took up any space at all or heat up my lap.  Typing difficulties aside, a lazy person could get used all this, I realized.  And then I sighed.  Oh how far I have fallen.

It's actually freeing to step off my moral PC high horse.  The laptop PC is still very much a winner for me in some areas and it's still the best device for the kind of work intensive things I sometimes want do, but just like everything in a world full of options, there is a place for my PC as much as there is for an Apple I-whatever in our lives, including what Baxter lovingly and unwittingly sardonically refers to as his new iphoney.    Which you might have noticed has created a bit of an increase in the things he has been posting on instagram and facebook.

For him, a new world as opened up, as it has for me.  Baxter is well on his way to improving his Klout score through posts of heavily hashtagged selfies and smellfies and other such social baxfoolery on Instagram, Facebook, and elsewhere, while I too have spent an inordinate amount of time in iphoney case related activities, researching case after case, and concluding with apple-glazed eyes that we need three, no six, no, ten, no, like, five HUNDRED different cool and awesome iphone cases for the various scenarios our little new fragile baby might encounter.  Planning a vacation in the desert? Or maybe just looking to drop your phone onto the sidewalk then watch it bounce into the ocean?  Why, let's buy an Otterbox. Or maybe the recently released, Lifeproof nuud.  Want to stick it in your pocket? Make mine a Noreve Tradition flip case please.  In pebble leather papaye. Going to the Renegade Craft Fair? Wait, let me get the Grovemade case in that pattern I want so badly.  It's made by hipsters in Oregon, so I can fit right in.   Yeah you get the idea.  It's a dangerous Iphoney case world out there for an OCD shopaholic.

And yet, I still didn't find any dachshundy options that were perfect enough for me to bite.   A couple were close, but not close enough at the price or case design I wanted.  I realized if I was gonna spend the bucks anyway, I should really take matters into my own crafty hands. So say hello above to case number two. Designed by u know who, and made by the folks at Uncommon.   Nah, it's not going to suvive the Apocalypse.  But that's what Iphoney case number 19's gonna do. :)


 







hee hee, thanks for the new iphoney cover, mom! it's so much cooler than the green one and now my darth vader screen lock will be surrounded by sinister black just like he should be! :) :)


Thursday, July 11, 2013

b&dd's tiny video: #summerfunwithcardboardscissorsandtape


I remember summer vacation. That golden time that we all looked forward to while we were in school, toiling away at word problems and writing book reports, thinking to ourselves how wonderful things were going to be once we free of the burdens of education. Excited at the prospect of adventures old and new, no matter how blurry they were at the time we imagined them, barely listening to our teachers as we counted down the days, the hours, and then the minutes, til finally the school bus delivered us home and to what was sure to be our summer's Greatest Destiny.

The problem with reaching Destiny, the problem as a kid, I now remember, is that we were always waiting. Waiting for mom or dad, waiting for a ride somewhere, waiting for our allowance, waiting for a certain day or time. Waiting, always for something, for what always seemed like an eternity. And with road trips to California and Disney World and the like, my brother and I have had our share of what might seem to be summer's Greatest Childhood Destiny Moments, but I would argue now that the greatness of our summers didn't lie with such monumental wonders, but in the waiting itself. When all the world was ours to imagine and behold, with  just a little assistance from some cardboard, scissors, and tape.




Wednesday, July 3, 2013

poopjoy was here

 
Today's view from my work table, courtesy of one seemingly omnipresent nosey little boy,  who has already figured out that what I am working on is for him.  Although I suspect we have different ideas as to its eventual use.  :)


Friday, May 24, 2013

tiny baby buggy bumpers


well mom, are you sure she really needs it? 









i mean, i know it little miss julia is very attached to her tiny baby, Tiny Baby, and we know first hand that when it gets lost, nobuddy is happy. but who said she has to bring Tiny Baby with her everywhere anyways? It's not like Tiny Baby is real, like, you know, duk duk or chocobot or lulu the tiger or lil pink puppy.














and besides, me and duk duk already think that with a few tailoring tweaks, this super cool Tiny Baby convertible backpack/crossbody purse thatchoo made for little miss julia's birthday would be great for our summer pupscout trip to camp poopsalot.  cuz as you might imagine, we will be needing plenty of luggage to bring back our souvenirs if u know what i mean.  and some of what we will be making - er, finding - could be high up in the mountains and we will need to keep our hands free to protect ourselves from the hungry bears as we carry our precious finds back to base camp.  you understand, right? and with the colors being so bright if we get lost if our gps doesn't -  wait, what's that? oh..make us another one? okay well sure, yippee i guess that will work! so long as you promise to make it in time for our trip because you know that is happening in just a few weeks, right?

























now please do not mind me.  i will just sit here by the window and wait for the little miss julia and Tiny Baby because i am sure they will be coming over any second now and when they do, maybe we put  some snackies and Tiny Baby inside and we can all go for a walkie to the playground!! :)






















The Tiny Baby Quilted Convertible Backpack and Crossbody Purse prototype, for tiny babies, and not-so-tiny dachshund adventurers. :)



Thursday, February 7, 2013

please don't poop the posies









 Little white hairs keep popping up like posies on my tiny boyfriend's little six year old face, and I am reminded that even though my crafty catch up list is still miles and miles long,  time will wait for no one, not even for a four legged boy who has been ever so patient with me this past week while his auntie robin and I were crafting, and he was something less than the center of attention for the ninety nine percent of my day that he often is.










 


 mom, please do not worry. i totally understand.  but maybe instead of taking advanced differential equations for dachshunds, well, maybe i could take a welding class or something else in metal working and that way next time i could help u and auntie robin  make stuff and that way we could always be together and u would not have to worry about me getting hurt or anything and i could help you make another super swell patch of garden posies and we could even put them in our own backyard and u can take pictures of them there so u know, i could poop on them! :) :)









Wednesday, February 6, 2013

get crafty: it's tin tin terrific :)












bedtime? but mom, i have been staying out of the way playing very quietly like u asked and i even brought my snackie and blankie out here and everything!

- baxter, 6.1 years old, after having settled in after a long day of helping, hopin to help some more by joining what he had hoped was going to be a late night threesome crafty party with his mom and auntie robin.








Yippee, a little peekypoo today at the things in process that  Robin and I have been working on, prototypes for the workshops my friend Robin hopes to hold at her local building supply reuse store, using old Christmas tins and cans and other bibbledybobs and transforming them into super cool things like tiered storage display (which I think would also double as great lazy-girl-like-me's tabletop christmas tree/ornament display, no little wire hangers required!)

 
..and cheerful swirly garden art, sure to give year long visual excitement to yards owned by those possessing even the brownest of thumbs. 

Tomorrow, hopefully pics of the finished flowers on their stems, all showered with happy sunshine by mister u know who. :)


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

no peeking





A certain little someone's birthday is tomorrow, and despite my efforts to keep all the preparation hubbub high above a curious little dachshund's tiny noggin, the little kielbasa still figured out that all the frenzy of the day was most certainly probably most likely done with him in mind.






















mom, i know u said to stay right here in dad's lap and not to peek at whatchoo were doing and so i promise u i have not done any peeking at all with my eyes but well, u see u said nothing about sniffing, and well, how can u not sniff smells, right? and today i smelled lots of very nice and tasty things and, are u sure you i cannot help u with whatever it is u are doing?  because it sure smells like i should!! :)

Sunday, October 14, 2012

calling all dachshunds: super sunday survey






Hey everybuddy, it's me, Baxter, your roving rover reporter! I'm reporting from home here with my friend duk duk and today, we're turning the tables.  On reporting that is, because we are asking for your help with a very important super sunday survey for our statistics in crafting class.  You see, at the beginning of the school year me and duk duk were assigned a project to gather data on doxie head measurements and well, it is due tomorrow and so um, yeah, we need your help!  And it's super easy cuz all we need to know how big your head is, well, if you are a dachshund that is, and all we really need to know is the measurement between your ears, as measured across the top of your forehead.  Like this, I'll show you...


um, mom, now is your cue...












Okay thanks mom, you can get back to sewing now, we've got it from here.  Thanks and c u at lunch!

Okay, so my head measures ooo, 3.25 inches.  And that's it! Well, except that we need you to report your measurement  results here either as a comment on my bloggy or on facebooky, so me and duk duk can analyze our data and then summarize our results for class and hopefully do a little makey makey in our free time. Which we might have a lot of if we do not turn our homework assignment in on time and mom finds out and our wii is taken away if u know what I mean.









Anyhoo, thank you very much for participating in our Super Sunday Survey and this is Baxter your roving rover reporter wishing you a happy and hopefully measurement filled afternoon! :)




Friday, September 28, 2012

get crafty: shiny happy little loafy bags :)


dear diary,
there is still much I want to learn about playing with Magic cards , but one thing i do know, somehow these bags that I helped my mom make yesterday will be very useful.  or at least that is what my uncle dana says because he asked us to make them for him and his magic playing friends so they could hold a pen and some dice and, well, extra bubble gum and i guess all the other stuff u need to play magic except the cards of course, and so we did! make them I mean.  and I am very excited because not only are they cool and use some of fabric samples that lulu's mom gave us (thank u again miss elizabeth! and a very u don't stink too bad for a girl hello to lulu too!) . oh but i was saying, so not only are the bags we made cool but they are loafy shaped, u know, just like me.  so that way uncle dana and his friends can think of me even if i cannot be there to learn how to play! 

anyhoo, i might ask mom if we can make one or two extra to take to school because me and duk duk have always wanted to save our tater tots from lunch and eat them later like Napoleon Dynamite does butchoo know since we are not allowed to wear pants we certainly cannot wear our pants with pockets  and so these little loafy would be very helpful for that if u know what i mean.  mmm tater tots.

toodleydoo and have a wonderful weekend!
b. :)


Thursday, July 26, 2012

felted recollections

Although I am not exactly sure how the presence of little doxie can help add visual explanation to the felted pincushions I soon will be putting on Etsy,  a certain little somepuppy most definitely thought his presence in my pictures was required, and he trundled up to crash my photo shoot accordingly.

mom, you're taking pictures of stuff for etsy? why didntchoo call me?? you know i'm always up for a... hey, i know you made them for the bucktown show, but aren't these the same kinds of things that you -

Um, okay my little friend, howzabout we get you that snackie you earned and you can sit beside me while I finish taking pictures?

okay and yippee! :)




ps - i'll be loading Etsy today and tomorrow so stay tuned if you'd like one! :)

Sunday, February 26, 2012

while u were visiting

For a couple months now I have been thinking about redoing the colors in my crafty space.  Switching from warm reds and oranges and other happenstance colors to the cooler  tones of aqua, turquoise, and green.

I figured if I put my mind to it, I'd be done in just a few days. I have a lot fabrics in the new colors already and what, recovering my pair of office chairs? Maybe a day each, and the fabric shelving panels, oh, another day, and yeah the onerous task of making actual lined window curtains? Okay, maybe like 4 days to do it reasonably right with a few breaks thrown in for good measure.

With big boyfriend off to visit family, I thought I might be able to get most of it done these past few days. At least everything but the curtains, anyway, because I still don't know what I want to do for them.  But surely with one less person in the house to mind,  I can finish everything else  in all free time I would have on my hands, right?

Visions of welcoming home my big boyfriend to studio orderliness and color cohesiveness danced through my head as I started sewing.

But now? Like, four-ish days later? Yeah, you guessed it.  Now with t-minus just a few hours before tiny boyfriend and I trundle off to the airport to pick up big boyfriend,  my studio is even messier then when big boyfriend departed and I am at best 30 percent finished.  And I know that these beguiling brown eyes had plenty to do with my lack of crafty progress.

Welcome home, honey!  Wanna see the big hole we dug in back? :)





Saturday, September 17, 2011

get crafty: what's your shirt number?




















Say what? Six bucks for a pet pumpkin tee from Target? Nah, not when the Goodwill infant bin has super cute stuff for only a buck thirty-nine, no crafty alternations necessary. :)



beep! beep! i'm a size 3T, how boutchoo?