some behind the scenes stuff and a doot doot dooty doot for know, a supercool print poster and my 2015 desk calendar

When a happy go lucky dachshund stands at the cusp of turning eight years old,  I like to think that his tastes begin to evolve. Boy adventurer detectives and blue boxed time travelers, though still very much close to his heart,  now give way to more complex characters who more often than not, ask questions and delve into topics that an eight year old imaginative dachshund has yet to fully comprehend. And so it seemed only natural that Baxter and his toyfriend duk duk, who by now would have exhausted all the G, PG, and PG13 offerings on Netflix,  would have refined their tastes and discover indie geek classics like the movie Donnie Darko.  And, even though some of the darker aspects of the movie would go over their heads, a movie as engaging and unsettling as Donnie Darko would still be something tiny chumley and duk duk would pick to serve as the awesome inspiration for this year's halloween trick-or-treatery.







I'd like to say it was purely Baxter and duk duk's inner geekiness that motivated their Halloween attire, but truth be told, the makey challenges also piqued my interests greatly.  I mean, it's not like there are many swell instructions out there for this for humans, much less for dachshunds, or for one winged duks.  The challenge would not only be in replicating the Frank the Bunny and Donnie Darko look, but also in adapting it for the actual head and body shapes and imaginative perspectives of an odd but perfectly matched pair of friends.

Today, finally, after months of off and on makey, a peek into the work that went into their costumes, and a link to Baxter's new super cool poster featuring it, that asks what we should all probably ask ourselves at one time or another, why are you wearing that silly human suit?

Happy Monday, friends! :)

PS if you missed the doot doot dooty doot yesterday, here is a link for our super cool and always budgety 2015 desk calendar too! https://www.etsy.com/listing/209493886/dachshund-desk-calendar-2015-tiny?

 

  

etsy fresh: may your days be merry and boopable

Pssst - there are only ten weekends before Christmas.  Yeah, I know, really.  I just counted, and that doesn't seem very long at all, does it?  So it makes sense, I think, to let you in on another secret today.  Not a super top secret like tiny chumley's Halloween costume, and not really the kind of secret that you need to keep to yourself, so much as it is the kind of secret that you did not know.  Until now.  And you can tell anyone you want who might need the kind of holiday help only tiny chumley and his super cute paper goodies can provide.  Because they should know that in addition to all the super cool Christmas cards tiny chimley has in the Etsy shop, there is a new one that he just helped me add.  And not only does our new card have a super cute picture of you know who on the outside and on the inside, but it is also very very boopable.  So if you or someone you know would like to send a little boop this holiday season, be sure to clicky clicky here to see the full view of his latest Christmas card,  or clicky here for a look at all the tiny chumley holiday cards available this season. 

And stay tuned, because in addition to desk calendars which should make it to the shop next week, in the coming weeks tiny chumley and I will be finishing up this year's new doxie Christmas ornaments, as well as litters of tiny treasure boxes and etched and enameled necklaces, and a few other handmade surprises. Everything you'll need to make this Christmas a doxie wonderland of delights! :)

https://www.etsy.com/shop/kalyxcraftopia

etsy fresh: you are invited to our Top Secret Halloween Club :)

Hello my friends, it's me, Baxter, your roving rover reporter, reporting to you today about a very important invitation me and duk duk would like to make to you, to join our Top Secret Halloween Club.  Do you remember seeing some top secret things about our Halloween costumes every once in a while say on our Instagram or our Facebook or on Twitter or maybe even here?  Were you like, hey, when are we ever going to see the results ? Well, ever since our mom finished our Halloween costumes a few days ago, we have been really wanting to show you as much as you have wanted to see them. We even dressed up in our costumes and made Halloween cards that turned out super cool. But then we were like, hey,  Halloween isn't til Halloween and top secret is top secret, right?   But, if some of our friends like you really want to see our costumes early,  or say you need a really super cool Halloween card that will totally be like nothing you have ever seen before,  well, how can it happen and not spoil the surprise for everybuddy else?

Well my friends, that's how me and duk duk decided to form the Top Secret Halloween Club.  If you and your friend can keep a secret and want to send or get our super cool - but kind of SCARY!! - Halloween card now,  you can do so by clicking here, to get the card from my mom's kalyxcraftopia etsy shop.  Oh yeah, did I mention it was kind of scary?    

This is Baxter your roving rover reporter hoping you will join us in super cool halloweeny weenie top secrecy! :)

PS - this is not the actual card although the actual card is sort of on there but like, so pixelated and covered up that u know, it may as well not be the card. :) #topsecretSCARY

https://www.etsy.com/listing/207763820/baxter-duk-duks-top-secret-halloween?ref=shop_home_active_1

PPS (10/22/2014) Wow me and duk duk sold out! Please be patient my friends as we will be ordering more the next time mom places a print order so stay tuned! :)

ready..set..

dear diary,

hooray! today me, duk duk, chocobot, lulu the tiger, and lil pink puppy all have special permission to stay home from school because guess what - we are going to help mom load a fresh new litter of teeny tiny doxie treasure boxes to etsy! and this time, not only is it a double litter of sixteen boxes total, but some are nakey nakey, and some wear bowties,  and some wear flowers,  and some are even playing with a supercool ballie this time!  yup, i know, it is very exciting, isn't it? i cannot wait to help them find new forever homes!

anyhoo, me and duk duk and chocobot and lulu the tiger and lil pink puppy have not yet decided on how we post the listings but if i have my way, we will be posting eight as we finish them during the day and then save the last eight for posting all at once at 8pm EST. or something like that.  it really depends on how much gumption we have, and we will try to sound the doot doot dooty doots via our instagram and facebook and twitter as best we can.

well diary, i best get on with my morning paw stretches because already i can tell i have a lot of typing ahead of me.  i hope u have a wondeful day!!

toodley-doo!
b. :)

PS - the boxes all usually show up in a special section of my shop but I cannot provide you the link yet because nothing is in the section yet!  so here is a link my shop just so u have it :)  ---> https://www.etsy.com/shop/kalyxcraftopia
 

etsy fresh: a super cool gift for 5 lucky dads

Hee hee hee, hello my friends, it's me, Baxter.  You may know me as your roving rover reporter, but did you know I am also super shop assistant extraordinaire for my mom's Etsy shop? And did u know that Father's day is only three Sundays away? 

If u do not have time to make your dad a super secret stinkeriffic poopie based father's day present like I plan to, then why not check out my mom's Etsy shop, where not only will you find a lovely selection of Father's Day cards, but also a super cute new get well cootie card, and also these extremely cool tiny handmade wire doxie head forms, or busts as I learned u call them in art class.  I thought they would be great Father's day presents for five lucky dads, so I put them in the Father's day section of the shop.  Here is a link in case the hot links do not work. http://etsy.me/1kluUt2

Oh! And in every bust listing description, me and duk duk posted a link to the tiny viney videos we made of each bust like the one below,  because sometimes we figure, even though pictures are worth a thousand words, videos are worth like, eleventy million!  And this way u can see how super cool the busts are from every angle.

Well my friends, my friends Madwilly and Henry Gumption are coming to town this weekend so I just wanted to also say if I miss a day or two posting, u now know why.  But do not worry, I will still be helping mom ship out Etsy orders on time.  And I will be having lots of fun this weekend, like I hope u do.. This is Baxter your roving rover reporter and kalyxcraftopia Etsy shop assistant, wishing you the foofiest of Fridays. :)

PS - if u need for a happy hound birthday part hat really soony soon please convo me via the etsy shop because mom just finished a batch for boys and girls but they will not be posted to Etsy for a bit on account of all the fun I will be having with Madwilly and Henry Gumption. :)

let's take a rocket to the moon

Tired of waiting for seemingly forever now on his little yellow tuffet,  tiny chumley gently rested his little noggin at the edge of table yesterday while he watched me pack and wrap our latest litter of etched and enameled doxie necklaces.

mom, do u think we could move to the moon? that way, i could nibble on cheese all day, and basically feed myself lunchy lunch, and dinner too. and even snackies would be covered, so I would not be asking u like I might be asking u now for a teeny tiny snackie from my teeny tiny snackie jar.  which happens, I see, to be right over there. :)

roy g biv

 







dear diary,
have u ever woke up and thought, there really are not enough rainbows in the world?  i do, especially on rainy days, when i think there should be a rainbow but all i get is wet when i have to go poop outside.  so i asked mom to make our just-in-time-for-mother's-day batch of etched and enameled necklaces super rainbowy!  it will be a few days yet before i can help mom finish them and put them on etsy, but i thought i would show you how the puppies are progressing, because who knows, maybe you could use a rainbow today too.  me, i am also hoping to maybe also get another snackie, so pardon me if i cut this entry short because i think my snackie eyes are finally starting to work on mom. i hope u have a wonderful thursday filled with rainbows! 

toodleydoo,
b. :)

 

(soon to be) etsy fresh: say hello to my new little brooch friend

No matter how optimistically I'd like to think otherwise, the first three months of the year seem always to take me places I haven't gone in terms of makey.  This year, compounded by the fact that I somehow messed up my left middle finger and consequently rendered myself at least temporarily useless for sewing and the ambidextrous nimbleness required of the double layer french fold binding technique I use for duds, my mind turned to the brooch ideas that started percolating late last year, and the challenge of turning those ideas into well made, hand crafted reality.

It's been a long road on the brooch makey front, needless to say, but I'm happy to post today an early peekypoo at the results of all that effort.  Forged from copper sheet, sawed, bent, sawed, pickled, soldered, pickled, soldered, pickled, sanded, pickled, cut, soldered, pickled, sawed, sawed, cut, snipped, sawed, sanded, pickled, soldered, pickled, sanded, sharpened, bent, buffed, patinated, waxed, and finally inlaid with thoughtfully arranged and carefully cut wool.  Yup, these cheerful little pups definitely take some time and effort to make, but as tiny chumley would say, the results are totally worth it, dontchoo think? :)

Look for tiny chumley to load this puppy pin and the rest of its brooch litter in our Etsy shop sometime in April, after the hubbub of taxes has died down and I've reintroduced myself to those patient friends who were already in proximity range on my duds radar from  - eeps - from before the holidays.  Boy it's hard to believe March is already almost over.  Well, it'd also be easier to believe if winter didn't keep coming back.  Happy makey, my friends! :)

wait!! while we are on the topic - mom, dontchoo think maybe i should be paid half up front for all the etsy work i will be doing later?  like, maybe, o, i dunno, a whole box of milky bones or scooby snacks? or maybe, if u just want to give me one snackie even? like, now, i mean. :) :)

brooches & pooches

Yippee! I learned a lot from the brooch class I took last weekend.  The possibilities are one size fits all endless, I think.  And very dachshundable. Not that you might be able to tell that from these brooches I finished this past week, but hopefully patience will be rewarded.

Patience is something that tiny chumley has had to have had in abundance this past week, sweet little boy that he was waiting for me to finish sawing this or hammering that. Til finally, he senses I am done, and then he becomes larger than life. :)

mom, now that these pins are finished and u are waiting to get supplies to finish the other stuff we are working on, can we please go to the pet store and get my cootie vaccine booster? little miss sarah's mom said cassie might be ready to play with other dogs as soon as monday afternoon and that is tomorrow. :) :)

etsy fresh: some super cool new cards

Hello my friends, it's me, Baxter, your roving rover reporter.  Today I'm going to tell you about one the new cards I just put in my mom's etsy shop, because, well, mom said I cannot tell you about me and duk duk and chocobot and lulu the tiger and lil pink puppy's friday night stinkapolooza until after the stink is gone from the family room carpet.  Which might be a while, because it was that kind of super stink. And I can only tell you about one card because that is all I have time for.  On account of the stink abatement protocols, which went into effect at 19:00 hours yesterday night.  Because of stinkapalooza.

Anyhoo, this is my super cool new congratulations card, which has a very special surprise in it.  I will not spoil it here but if you clicky clicky here you can see the listing and see for yourself what's inside.  Needless to say, this would be a super card for, you know, times when u want to help someone celebrate an achievement, like, graduating from school, or saving up enough gummy worms to buy a new pedal car, or maybe they asked a special girl to stand over there and she said yes. Or maybe they got accepted into the secret stink society, or, they finally wrote their report on walruses! Or, maybe your friend got a promotion at work, or maybe they won the guess whose foofie super nationals, or well, u know, stuff.  Like how maybe me and duk duk and lulu the tiger and lil pink puppy finally got the stink our of our family room carpet.  Which will be an incredible accomplishment indeed.

My name is Baxter your roving rover reporter, wishing you the superest of Saturdays! 


ps - if you would like to see the other new cards in my shop, u can click here on any of the following linky links: anniversary card, unicorn appreciation day friendship card, and my hello friend postcard (which is not new but never before really offered for sale because I have been including them with orders, but some friends have been asking for me to offer it so they could buy more and so there u have it! ) .  okay, time to get back to stink abatement duties.  toodleydoo! :)

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?? :)

soon to be etsy fresh: hello square-o!

hee hee hee, i can see it's gonna totally hip to be square this Valentine's day!  :) 

#newshape #comingverysoonysoon  #teenytinydoxietreasureboxes  #eventinier

 (ps - i am hoping to help mom load these and more boxes to the shop tonitey nite after my dinner and if i cannot finish before my bedtime, probably tomorrow during the day. so if you have been waiting for one like forever or know someone who could really use one this Valentine's day, stay tuned to etsy n  facebook n twittter n instagram to answer the call of dooty! :))

etsy fresh: meet me at the intersection of cuteness and awesome

Hee hee hee, it's been busy here in the real world, what with my having rather spontaneously decided my studio needed a reorg which started an ongoing trip to can't-make-a thing-now-messyville, but lucky for me, tiny chumley and his toyfriend duk duk have been managing the etsy shop just fine without me.  Even managing to make a few new happy paper goodies to put in the shop, featuring a certain little imaginative four legged boy and his wookie dukfriend.  And his bodacious princess buns, of course. 

Enjoy them all by clicking here --> http://etsy.me/1iOVP2A, or individually, by clicking on the desired links below :)

Valentines Day / Love

Birthday

Sorry Apology

Thank you (for being there)

Life Day (holiday)

hee hee hee, send happy my friends and happy hump day! toodley doo - b. :)

tidings of wooty and glee: save the date for cyber funday 12.1.2013

Why hello my friends, it's me, Baxter, you roving rover reporter, reporting to you today on the last planned installment of my special report,  tidings of wooty and glee. And what do I want to tell you about? Why, when and where you will find the last litter of six supercool and very gifty teeny tiny doxie treasure boxes for the year!  You will find them here  in the Christmas section of my mom's etsy shop. But you will not find them there until cyber funday, or what you might know as this Sunday December 1st at 10:00PM EST, or as close to it as I can remember because well, with my grandpa and grandma and uncle still in town, you never know what we will be doing although hopefully we will be watching a movie and then I can just use my iphoney to activate all the listings for you and there u have it!

So if you have been wanting one, I wish you good lucky luck!  This is Baxter your roving rover reporter, also wishing you a very wonderful day before cyber funday! :)

tidings of wooty and glee: seven doxies dancing

hee hee, today's two words for the day? squee and  RUN :)

tidings of wooty and glee: send happy :)

hello my friends it's me, Baxter your roving reporter! today I am playing with my friend Henry gumption but I thought I would take a moment to tell you about a few of the supercool holiday cards me and duk duk designed for my mom's kalyxcraftopia etsy shop.  

like this Princess Leia one, which we thought would be sure to put a smile even on the grinchiest of grumpy grumps.  and on the faces of nerdy nerds like us who might actually know where the quote on the front of the card is from, although u do not have to know because the message inside works for pretty much everybuddy. 

and then there is this Christmas card, which we thought would look cool on any buddy's mantel because it looks like art. 

and me and duk duk drew this story card because sometimes not everybuddy can get to sending out Christmas cards in time and well, we thought why not do a New Years card because then it can also double as a thank you card too! 

well my friends, judging by the smell methinks it is time for me to play guess whose foofie so I will close my report by saying if you would like to help spread the doxie holiday joy this season, u can find these cards and more holiday and Christmas cards in my mom's etsy shop just clicks click this link --> https://www.etsy.com/shop/kalyxcraftopia?section_id=10296785

and maybe while you are there you can pick up a super budgety super cute tiny chumley desk calendar for yourself or a friend, or look at the other sections of my shop for other nice gifty ideas by clicking here 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/kalyxcraftopia

my name is Baxter and I hope u have a stinkeriffic Saturday because I know I will! :)

tidings of wooty and glee: we can be a family :)

Hee hee hee, come see what's new in the etsy shop, and maybe you can find room on your tree for one or two or


























maybe even a family :)

Super cute handmade mix and match wooden doxie ornaments, in limited quantites of 3 different sizes and 6 different colors, available in the Christmas section of my etsy shop :)

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

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! :)

while u were sleeping

Hopefully by morning's light there will be a few happy boxes left from this litter for those who aren't night owls, but the little kielbasa and I won't know, because we will still be sleeping.  :)

Happy Tuesday! More details to come on the last and final litter of six boxes for the year. :)