The Kira Nichols Etsy Shop

Plenty more to see at kiranichols.etsy.com! Bookmarks, planner clips, digital stamps, ornaments, and many more unique gifts. Thanks for supporting this artist!

365th POST GIVEAWAY!

It's kinda hard to believe it's been a year already since I started this humble blog! I can tell you that I have immensely enjoyed keeping this little site going and sharing my projects with you all. So as a thanks for reading, I'm hosting a giveaway to celebrate ONE YEAR of blogging and 365 posts! Items included in this giveaway prize package are:

-One NEW Micron Size #005 Drawing Pen - My personal favorite and the kind I use for all my illustrations
-Original Art Print - "Happy Rat Saddles Dejected Cat" by me! Matted to fit any standard 5x7'' frame
-NEW K & Company Alphabet Tear Pad - 3 full alphabet/number sets perfect for collaging, scrapbooking, altered art (the designs are rad, trust me.)
-16 Sheets of 6x6'' Paper - Various brands, various designs, all very colorful, just the way I like 'em :)
-One Bottlecap Pendant or Magnet - You choose the design from the 96 different rinchies I've made up in the past few weeks.


Now there are 2 ways to enter. First, just become a follower of my blog and leave a comment here to say hi and that you want in! (If you're already a follower, just leave a comment and you're entered) The second way you can enter is by linking to this giveaway on your blog and leaving another comment here with the link to your blog! So each person can have 2 entries by doing the stuff I just said. The winner will be chosen on July 13th via random number generator and announced here at oopsicraftmypants.com.

This giveaway is open to US and Canada residents only (Sorry!) I just need to keep shipping under control. Thank you so much for following and reading and entering! Here's to many more years of craftiness and blogging about it!

Good luck!
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Night Owl Shrine Box

Hoo hoo hoo!
I made this little owl shrine from the largest of a set of wooden nesting boxes from the thrift store. I painted the inside which was just unfinished wood with black/blue acrylic paints to make it look like the night sky.
Then I arranged and glued in some dried up old plant stuff like wisteria curliques, dried grasses and such that I had collected along with a feather for good measure :)
The owl is one that I watercolor painted first and then accented with black and white acrylic inks and a black micron pen.

Speaking of micron pens, I will be putting on a giveaway in my very next post with both some supplies and crafted items to celebrate my 365th blogpost :D Wheeee! So tell your friends and look out for my next post in the next few days detailing the prizes! You won't want to miss it :) Happy Monday!
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Robot Rinchies! And a momentous occasion!

I've been coming across a ton of awesome robot crafts lately, and I've taken it as a sign that I needed to make something robotty! Thus, robot rinchies! My favorite is the high-fivin' bots in the top right corner!
Along with TONS of other designs, these will probably be the first items in my Etsy Shop as resin bottlecap necklaces and magnets! I'm hoping to roll all that Etsy stuff out by the end of the summer.
Also, (I can't believe I missed it, oh wait, yeah I can) YESTERDAY was my blog's 1 year anniversary! And this will be my 363rd blogpost! It's staggering.... Since I sometimes post more than 1 project in 1 post, and I don't post everything I make, that's over 365 projects in one year... A thing a day! Holy crap!
SO! I need to plan some sort of awesome blog celebration or giveaway soon. Any suggestions as to what anyone would like to see in a giveaway? Crafted items? Some of my favorite supplies? Let's hear it, peeps! Happy Thursday!!!
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Monster Notebook!

This was another swap item! Okay, I cheated on it a little bit. The monster is a print of a watercolor painting I did earlier. Alexz has the original! So he may look a little familiar... I cut him out, slapped him on a square of watercolor background and black paper and put him on an existing notebook. I've been a little slacking lately on the crafty front, but that's due to a couple of unmedicated/untreated days because of the ineptitude of the punks at Neurospine (I can't recall a time when I've ever been angrier or more disappointed in a doctor's office). Long story short, they *forgot* to order my TENS unit which I desperately need for pain control, ntm let my prescription lapse when I called them about it a few days in advance. I took matters into my own hands and just bought a TENS myself, since there was no telling how long it would take them to get it together. It arrived today :D I'm soooo relieved! I ordered it yesterday, and it arrived oh, 28 hours later! Talk about fast shipping! Anyways, it's awesome. Definitely a Happy Tuesday here, I hope you had some win too :)
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Tiny Scraps into Colorful Collage Inchies

I experimented with a new-to-me style because I have TONS of teensy little colorful watercolor scraps! What do you call this? Collage? Well, I do know one thing, these inchies took much much more time to put together. Cutting those tiny shapes, gluing them.... I had to do them in one or two at a time, because I still can't sit still for very long.
This one is my favorite. I hope they actually look like little parrot birds to someone other than me! The line they're perched on is black thread.
After a little trial and error, I found that this was the easiest fish shape to cut out this tiny. Guppies are kind of shaped like that, right? Or mollies?
This one was my husband's favorite. The little scrap I cut the mountains out of was the perfect color for mountains, I thought. Happy Sunday, everyone!
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Wire Trees with Shrinky Dink Leaves

I have oodles and oodles of wire, and what better use to put it to than to make some trees?! The twisting is kind of repetitive and theraputic, and it's kind of hard to mess it up!
I drew and cut out a bunch of these little leaves on shrink plastic while I was stuck in bed. So I made loops at the end of each little branch and glued on the leaves with hot glue. I thought about punching a hole through the leaves before shrinking, to make a sort of bead, but decided against it.
Here's another tree I made a little while back with just crazy random loopies at the end od each branch.
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Winged Heart Emboidery

I stitched up this colorific winged heart embroidery for the Random Swap. I got this very satiny silvery smooth embroidery floss for the wings on this project and just fell in love with how shiny and bright it turned out. Fascinated by shiny objects and bits of string.
I filled the heart with some chain stitching which turned out kind of thick. I don't really know how to fill properly yet, but I'm hoping I'll learn somehow.
Here's the whole thing. I wish I had taken a picture of the back, because it was pretty cool :) It was a good colorful way to use up some of the shorter scrap threads. Have a great weekend everyone!
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HOOT Handcarved Owl Stamp!

Now that my last swap package has finally arrived in Michigan, I can start to post the stuff I made! First is my favorite, this hand-carved owl stamp. I really wanted to keep it, but I figured I could just make another :) Man, owls are so cool. I also had a really good day today! Happy Thursday!
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The Sunshine Award

Ahhh, since I've had so much downtime, you'd think I'd have gotten to this sooner! There is a lovely blogger named Whitney who makes some dang sweet robot stuffies. She was so kind as to present me with my very first blog award:
These are the guidelines for accepting the award:
1. Put the logo on your blog within your post.
2. Pass the award on to 7 bloggers.
3. Link to the nominees within your post.
4. Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and the link to the person from whom you received this award.

Grr, hard to pick, since I love so many bloggers! My nominations go to:
  • Judy: Her encouraging comments have really done a lot to boost my spirits the last few days. She's also a very talented artist who makes some incredible dolls!
  • Audio: Of course I'm nominating my best crafty buddy :) Everyone go check out the crazy awesome ATCs she's been making lately!
  • Aly B: A devoted art journaler who I really admire! Always trying new things, and they always work!
  • Alexz: My sweet yeti-lovin' friend with a spooky style that you MUST see.
  • Pretty in Paisley:  who loves art, and spreads the artsy love to the kids she works with
  • Lorna: Colors and stitchery at its most dazzling. You want eye candy, she's got it!
  • Rachel Pfeffer: I'm sure you've seen her beautiful designs around the handmade-o-sphere! Always stunning, always unique jewelry making at its finest.
So there you have it! Thanks again Whitney, for the award ;) 

Cockatiel & Ice Water

I'm taking it one day at a time and trying to get back into the swing of things, regardless of my pain situation! I went to pick up some deli roast beef and my prescription this morning, watered my garden, did the dishes... I'm hurting quite a bit, but according to the doctor, I should be up and doing my normal things anyway. I was getting pretty mad being up and about, so I got myself a glass of ice water and sat down to draw so I could just relax a little and zone out. This little watercolor painting of a cockatiel enjoying ice water resulted. I added the captioning on the computer, though. Haha, and it occurred to me that to some of you, it might look like this bird had keeled over, but it's not! Lots of birds like to be on their backs when they're feeling really safe and/or super playful. My brother's bird (a green cheek conure) actually sleeps on its back every evening. It's outrageously cute.
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Mini Book

Alright, this was made fa little bit ago for a swap! I know it's shown here in mini-book form, but I did end up turning it into another mini wall hanging/ornament. This here was my favorite page. It's 1 and 3/8 inch square.
Here are all the pages along with a kinda photo of it as an ornament! I kind of want to make a rectangle shaped book like this and have it also be a teeny little calendar. Maybe that would be good for Christmas gifts next year....

Anyways, I went to the orthopedic surgeon/neurologist today and got a little exasperated. If you want to read about my visit, I'm going to head over to my personal blog to talk about it. Again, I really appreciate all of the kind comments and encouragement you guys have been giving me. It helps a lot :)
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Eye Inspires!

Hello friends! My friend Audio and I are collaborating on a new inspiration blog that will feature inspiring projects, tutorials and other tools from around the web. Please take a moment to check it out and become a follower!

http://eyeinspires.blogspot.com

Choosing Balloons

Oh Saaaarah, I'm using your ballooooon punch! :) Here are some colorful little father and son doodle birds for Father's Day coming up. The balloons are watercolor texture punched with a balloon punch with real black thread tied to them for the strings then glued to Mr. Bird's wing. The little threads are very very difficult to tie on having taken a muscle relaxer. Goodnight, friends!
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Be strong, brave & humble bottlecaps

These are some resin bottlecap pendants I made for the young women in my ward going to girl's camp this year. I was going to go, but my back problems flared up at the worst possible time, so I couldn't. Bummer. The caps say, "Kia Kaha, Kia Maia, Kia Ngawari" which in Maori means, "Be stong, be brave, be humble" which kinda went with the camp theme this year. I kinda need that advice now, because I'm feeling a little scared. Got MRI results today, and there was a lot of mumbo jumbo that I didn't really understand, but didn't have the presence of mind to ask what it was. Tears in my discs, defects, herniation, blah blah... Doctor referred me to the orthopedic surgeon and neurologist to do a consult on surgery options. I kinda always knew it would come to this, but now that it's happening, I'm a little afraid :/ Happy Wednesday?
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Green Crystal Bird Earrings

Another birdswap item! I've had some of these teensy golden swallows from a bead store in Washington and have been saving them for at least 5 years for something special. I used green swarovski beads because I've always thought emerald and gold look so classy in combination :) I used my roundnose pliers and some thicker gold wire to create the swirly parts.

Also, thanks again for the kind words! I'm still in bed, but I was able to get up for a little bit to eat breakfast and make a couple of Fathers Day Cards. I'm still totally not ready to get back to normal life, but I'm getting there.
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Bird Doodles Pearl Mini Wall Ornament

Thanks to everyone for the kind get-well wishes :) I'm still stuck in bed, but slowly getting better. I'm glad I had all these swap projects made already so I can post SOMETHING! It's making me crazy not being able to be up and crafting, but I think I might do some embroidery. That's one craft I can do while laying down! Anyhoo, this is a little wall hanging/ornament I made for the bird swap.
It looks like inchies, but the squares are actually 1 & 3/8 inch. I put them together by sandwiching string between the square and another thin panel on the back with hot glue. And some faux pearls. The bottom is just twisted wire also with faux pearls!
Here's my favorite square! Bird Party!
And my other favorite. I hope you guys like! It was pretty fun to make, and another good way to display inchies, even though these aren't technically inchies. Meh, 3/8" doesn't make a huge difference.
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Birdhouse Mini Art Quilt

Tada! Here is my very first attempt at a mini art quilt! It measures aboooout 9x12'' give or take. The edges aren't perfectly straight, and I had no clue how to finish the back, but I'm still reasonably proud of it.
I made some good use of the decorative stitches on my sewing machine to do the quilting. It took FOR-EV-ER.
I ventured to do a bit of applique and I really liked the way it turned out. I felt like it also took forever to do the satin stitching on the sewing machine, but it would have been MUCH longer if I wanted to do it by hand.
I did do some hand embroidery here on the bird, but not much. Happy Saturday :)
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