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!

Sugar Skull Bear Plush II

Last year, I made a bear almost juuuust like this! A friendly artist contacted me through Etsy in the fall and requested that I make one for her. I've finally gotten around to it, since I'm starting to feel better after my back surgery :) Voila! The scarf is slightly different at the ends, but for the most part, it's a clone.
...and a close-up of the face! There are probably some differences in stitching, since I wasn't really using a real pattern or anything. Anyhoo, this little sugar skull bear is on his way to a new home.

I hope to ACTUALLY get going with listing and selling more things on Etsy. Without back problems, I won't have any excuses left... Happy Thursday!!!
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Bird and Bubbles

Papercrafting! Woo hoo! As I had hoped, I was able to do a little papercrafting this evening... I remembered to ask Bobby to put up my paper bins where I could reach them, but the funny thing is, I just used scraps and bits of stuff that was already laying around my craft table.
The polkadot background is the front of a thank you card someone gave me, the grey bit to the left is a strip of paper some soap came wrapped in, and the bird and hearts are cut from an expired Michael's receipt coupon. Then I painted the flowers with watercolor, did some more bubbles with acrylic ink, drew/wrote some stuff, and voila. Hope you like :) Happy Mmmmmmm......onday? Yep, Monday. (I did have to double check.)
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Monster's Pet

I did a little bit of drawing and watercolor tonight! Here we have a chunky little monster and his pet budgie. Man, I want a budgie! Or two, or ten. Someday... Anyhoo, I've been doing just a weeeee bit of crafting this week. I've got a cloned project to share tomorrow or monday :) Then hopefully some papercrafting. I've got to remember to ask Bobby to pick up my paper bins for me. They're on the floor, so they're.... well.... difficult to access. Meh, soon. Happy Saturday! I hope the weekend is treating you well.
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Colored Pencil Budgie

Here we have a very hastily budgie drawing slapped onto a page with a dirty playing card. Ahhh! Every spare sitting-up moment I've had, I've been rushing to get my sketchbook project completed, and today, I called it good. There are still a few spreads that are blank or have barely anything on them, but I've come to peace with that :) Thank you to everybody who has left super sweet comments on my last post! I've got more pages to post, but Bobby just finished scanning them for me (my hero!) so they need to be cropped and junk before I can upload em. I'd snap a photo, but I've already packaged up my book, and I'm not going to open it up! Crazy enough, I opened my e-mail to get the address, and they extended the deadline last minute to Tuesday, instead of tomorrow. OY VEY! Oh well, extension or not, that baby is going in the mailbox TOMORROW. Whew! I'm proud to say it's done(ish).... I did it(mostly).....
And to celebrate, here's a picture of my dog sleeping. More to celebrate, too! I had my 4-week post-op appointment today... They took x-rays and it looks like all the rods and screws and spacers are perfectly aligned, and with the added disc height, I'm even about a half-inch or more taller than before surgery! How awesome is that?!! Also, I can start weaning myself off of wearing the back brace, and can expect to be OFF pain medication in another 2 weeks! HIP HIP HOORAY!!! I am really so happy. She also said I'll be feeling fantastic in about another 3 months. Oh, AND I walked 2 whole miles yesterday. I'm really feeling wonderful about everything. Thank you guys for being so encouraging and sweet to me!

Now, with the lovely sketchbook project behind me, I'm looking forward to some other crafting :) Wheee! Life is good.
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Sketchbook project pages!

I've been trying trying trying to finish up my sketchbook!!! I've got maybe 12 spreads left to complete, and I've got to send it in by next Saturday!
I'll admit, I've cheated a little by incorporating some art I've done before! Here, I made a pop-up page with these watercolor monsters holding baby animals that I've had laying around since last year! And, I've glued lots of pages together...
Here's a sketch of a monster holding an owl :) Bobby really likes this one. If I have time, I might watercolor it, but ONLY if I finish all the other pages first.
And this page is just some doodles and stamping with pigment powder... Not 100% satisfied with it, though. Sitting is my most painful position, and I'm not allowed to sit for more than 20ish minutes, 30 at absolute maximum. It doesn't really allow for the level of creativity or quality that I want! But still, I'm trying!

Today marks 3 weeks post-surgery! I'm feeling pretty good!!! I'd say the pain level is equal to what I was experiencing before the surgery, but now I've been walking 1.5 miles every day! So that's awesome :) And I get better every day, so I'm really hoping to finish my sketchbook before the deadline. I know I'll be capable of doing more and more as the days go by. I hope everyone has been having a beautiful and good new year so far! Happy Thursday, friends!
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