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!

Lumpy Space Princess Card

Finally, a couple days of not-puking :) The all-day morning sickness has been bad, folks, but hoooopefully is on the upswing. I took advantage of the good time to make a card for some friends of ours. 
Unfortunately, both of them had to have biopsies on THE SAME DAY... I know, lumps are no joke, but this couple has a great sense of humor and they're fellow fans of Adventure Time. The sentiment is appropriate and they loved the card, so.

It features the Lumpy Space Princess, who is one of the more ridiculous characters in that show.

 Here's the inside.

I hope everyone has been having such a great holiday season. I miss my regular crafting/blogging, but you know, life and nausea get in the way. The baby is healthy! I'm about 17 and a half weeks along, and we'll find out if it's a boy or girl in ONE WEEK :) Thanks to everybody sending congrats and kind thoughts, sentiments and prayers! Bobby and I are getting pretty excited!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!


Fuzzy Fall Squirrel Book


 Squirrels, squirrels everywhere and not a pecan to be seen on any of my trees... Fuzzy little buggers. Cute, even if they are pesky. I made this Fuzzy Fall Squirrel Book using Alpha Stamps products. 
 Feathers make a really good embellishment to put behind squirrel tails, because they're just so fuzzy and have great movement. 
The squirrel images I used are from these two lovely collage sheets: S for the Squirrel and More Squirrels.

Well, happy fall! I hope everyone is having a great time :) We've been busy out working in the yard and watching our chickens... waiting for the eminent egg-laying. 

Products Used, Available at Alphastamps.com:
Maple Leaf Die-Cut Chipboard
Oak Leaf Die-Cut Chipboard
Assorted Feathers
Falling Leaves CS
S for Squirrel CS
More Squirrels CS
Distress Stains in Picked Raspberry and Ripe Persimmon
Distress Paints in Antique Bronze and Ripe Persimmon


Thank You Cards and Happy News

Announcement!!! 
Pregnancy: ACHIEVED! I am about 7 weeks along... (Just in case you're just tuning in, we did In-Vitro due to my moderate list of lady-problems) I wanted to do a post real quick, because I have been meaning to announce here, but things have been a little nuts. 

Needless to say, I have A LOT to be thankful for, so I wanted to share these thank you cards I made a while ago. Thank you guys, my readers, for all the love and support :)






 They're all done with stamps from my line at stampotique.com! Anyway, I'm tired-as-flip and I've got a nasty cold, so I'm going to go lay down. Until next time!

How to make Rad Embossed Embellishments

 October... isn't it the BEST month for crafting? Making spooky Halloween stuff is so fun. Take a look at this Witchy little decoration I made using Alpha Stamps goodies.
 I got to have some fun playing with embossing powder, the new Celestial Cling Stamp set and Gilder's Paste.
Check out those embossed embellies :) I love them, they look so fancy. I'll show you how they're made.

 Use a slower drying stamp pad, like pigment ink and stamp your ornate image. 
 I like using clear embossing powder, because I can choose any color of pigment ink for the stamping and the embossed area is whatever color ink I chose. Pour a nice little hill of embossing powder all over your image, go ahead!
You'll pour any excess back into the jar, so there's no waste. Tap your paper gently to make sure all excess shakes off. 
Melt the stuck on embossing powder with a heat gun until all of the powder becomes shiny and transparent.
 Use your finger to smudge and rub on some Gilder's Paste all over the image. I'm using the Patina color on this. It's so pretty... It turns a beautiful deep turquoise color as you rub it in. You can also layer in other colors of Gilder's Paste like Inca Gold and it looks really cool, too!
 Cut out your image.
 Voila! Make one or ten, it doesn't matter. You'll be so stoked about how your embossed embellishments add something classy to your next project!

All available at alphastamps.com,
Here's a list of all the Alpha Stamps Products I used in my Witchy Decoration:

A Witchy Encore Collage Sheet
Embossing Powder – Super Fine Detail Clear
Black Seam Binding
Gilder's Paste - Inca Gold and Patina
Black Chipboard Bat
Halloween Kit Mini Paper Set
Celestial Cling Stamps
Mushrooms - Turquoise
Tiny Owl Beads
Black seam binding
Stitched Leaf Ribbon - Black

Halloween is coming!

 It's the beginning of a new month and that means a new pretty little big kit from Alpha Stamps. This month is a kit with all you need to make a a gorgeous Halloween Banner or two. Lookie what I made!
 For more details on the kit, visit the blog post at Alpha Stamps.

 Hehe, I love all the vintage pumpkin head images... 
Happy Halloween!!! Soon....

Alpha Stamps Product List (all available at www.alphastamps.com)
Halloween Children Collage Sheet
Hello Pumpkin Collage Sheet
Crepe Paper Halloween Collage Sheet
Halloween Kit Mini Paper Set
Thrilling 6x6 paper set
Triangular Chipboard Pennants
Mini Chipboard Scalloped Frames & Medallions
Tinsel Cording in Moss Green
1 Inch Ric Rac Ribbon in Orange, Black, Purple, Olive Green, Ivory
Halloween Acrylic Bead Mix
Nature Die-Cut Adhesive Borders 
Crinkle Wire (Repro Bouillon) in Pink, Red, Copper

Paint Chip Crafting: Tags & an IVF update on Egg Retrieval and Transfer

Welp, despite my lack of crafting over the summer, my addiction to supplies is still going strong... Unfortunately, buying stuff can still occur from the comfort of my couch. One of the things was buying 2 lbs of random unmounted rubber from Viva Las Vegastamps when they had a 40% off sale. That's a lot of stamps, btw, and I like VLVstamps because they're kind of weird and random. So I made these last week from some of the images I got. I had to work on these over several days, whereas under usual circumstances (more info on that mess at the end of the post), I could've popped these out over an hour or so.
 I decided to start with tags because they're easy... Nothing 3d for me... YET. We'll work back up to that. I was planning on making the tags out of kraft cardstock, but then spotted a big stack of Benjamin Moore paint chips that a friend sent to me a while back that have been mouldering in my stash fuh-ev-ah. Everyone needs paint chip crafts, right? I mean, all those free colorful papers? So hopefully, these will provide a wee bit of inspiration.
 They'll be good for putting on gifts... or I can pop one onto the front of a blank card. Instant card. It's nice to have extra crap like this lying around, so you'll have a handmade card when you need one.
 I think tags will be a good thing for me to keep crafting while I'm in my funk. I've already got a nice little box of them handy... I can always use more and they don't take up space.
 OH, BTW. All of the main images are random ones from VLVStamps, BUT all the background stamping is my "Owl Tree" from my line for Stampotique. It's a good one for fall.
The one with the piggy is probably my favorite. It says whee.

Anyway, here comes the part of my post where I share about my personal life. Whoopee! 

Last Wednesday, we had the egg retrieval for IVF and it was loco. We had to drive 3.5 hours up to Birmingham earrrrrrrly in the morning to get there at 7:30 AM. Having lived in the southern part of Alabama for over 4 years, we, of course, didn't consider "city traffic" (if you can call it that....Birmingham, lol) Anyway, we were a half hour late. 

Oh well. It was fine. they put me like...half-way under for the procedure. Prep for it takes a long time, but the actual egg retrieval takes about 5 minutes, so they don't do a complete anesthesia because it would be more trouble to put in breathing tubes, etc. So, I remember a LITTLE bit of it. The nurse told Bobby I was laughing and laughing and laughing at first. I don't remember that part, but I do remember that it HURT. Yep, I sure did feel it, even though I was loopy as flip. It was over in no time, though. then we got to go home. I had 19 follicles total, but only 7 of them had eggs in them, and out of 7, 6 eggs were mature, all 6 fertilized and in excellent quality. 

So we made the drive home, and I felt okay, so we went to the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions, and Bobby bought me a delicious burrito which I ate at the restaurant. That night was a different story, however. IT. HURT. SO. BAD. I thought my ovaries were going to explode. I guess all the follicles (19!) fill back up with fluid after the retrieval procedure, so it sucks. Think tennis ball-sized ovaries. Oh snap. That night was really painful, the next day, Thursday, was a little better, then next day a little better, etc. But Sunday was bad again on my right ovary.

Monday morning (yesterday), we drove baaaaack up to Birmingham for the EMBRYO TRANSFER! A five-day transfer...  I asked the nurse about my right ovary and told her it was hurting like crazy. She looked at it with the ultrasound and said it's still about 6 cm, about the size of one of those yummy little mandarin oranges and that it would take a few weeks to go back down to normal size. I can expect ovary pain for a while. Anyhoo, they put in two tiny, healthy circle babies into my uterus (I say that because they showed us a picture, and they're pretty much cute little spheres right now). The process was really fast, then I had to lay there for 15 minutes to let em sink in, or something to that effect. Then I ate another burrito. 

Today, 1 day past transfer, I feel like I've been hit by a sleepy-truck. I think my body is just catching up after all the crazy stuff it's been through over the last couple months. I. am. so. tired. Good thing I don't have much to do. Gotta fill some orders. Gotta do some chores. But mostly, I can rest and recover. The waiting BEGINS! I won't find out if the little embryos stuck and if I'm really pregnant until Sept. 25th, which isn't too far away... But you know, I can't help but worry. 

Anyway, I'm going to go collapse now. Until next time :)

Slumpity Slump... And some old felted birds

Both my blog and Facebook page have been sorely neglected this summer... I feel kinda bad, but then again, not tooooo bad. There are just too many things going on. I've been in the slump of all slumps and I feel like I've been making nothing! Feels like a big hole in my life! I think after the fail IVF cycle, I've been a little depressed and have been spending a LOT of time out in the chicken run, fawning over my feathery friends. They cheer me up, even if they're stinky.

Anyway, we're trying again... and I've been feeling pretty horribly sick from medications... so again, barely any making stuff. But I realized that I have a couple of unshared projects from months ago, so I could do a post with pictures at least! Even if they're not new projects. 
 I made these needle felted birdies for Leslie's Happy Heart in that same swap where I sent the kitties banner. So that will give you an idea as to how old this project is :)
They're hanging ornaments with real feathers and no feet. Some day I'll make 20 of them at once and hang them all over my kitchen or something.

Anyway, send prayers and happy thoughts my way if you feel so inclined... and creative vibes! Love you guys. Until next post...

New Stampotique Release Blog Hop

Hey Everybody! There's a new batch of Stampotique Stamps coming out and we're celebrating with a blog hop!

I used some of the new images to make a pile of little tags. I've got 7 new images of my own in this release :) Six of them are below, including 4 new monsters :) The backgrounds of all of these tags are made using the new image "Stacked Love"

So here are Rootie Toot, Artichoke Monster, Owlseeyou, Feathery Monster, Henny Penny, and Kitty Monster. All new stamps available from Stampotique.com :) Please hop along!


HOP TEXT! Some of you may have already heard, but Stampotique Originals has got some fabulous new designs being released today.  Wait until you see these!!!  

We know we say that every time, but each release seems to come with such great new stamps it's hard not to find a favorite with each new release.  We've been bursting at the seams to share these with you.

This month, we also are introducing a brand new artist.  Her name is Linda Peterson and we think a lot of you are going to love her line of stamps, they are darling.

So hop along with the design team and some special guests to see the new stamps the team has been working with.  The more blogs you comment on, the better your chances of winning some goodies are.

Let us know what your favorite ones were and we'll pick a few random winners from the blog comments (this includes the design team blogs) to win a grab bag of the new stamps.  You will have until 9/10/13 to comment and our winners will be announced with the new challenge on 9/11/13.

You will want to hop on over to Kim Howard's blog from here, if you are just coming across my blog you may want to begin at the Stampotique Designer's Challenge blog:

Kira Nichols (you are here!)

Hope you enjoy hopping along with the designers and we can't wait to see what you create using your new stamps.

Budgie Cage & Sale at Alpha Stamps ends TONIGHT!

Just got back from Girls Camp and it was incredible! Wanted to do a quick post to show you this budgie cage I made using Alpha Stamps products that are on sale until TONIGHT! Head over and check out the blog post: http://www.alphastamps.com/blog/?p=8091

I used my very favorite Alpha Stamps collage sheet, Parrots, for this piece. Click that link to see what else I used and where you can find it!

I hope everyone had an awesome week! I did :)

Pet Portraits: Kitties Banner in a Matchbox

I made these a while ago for a wonderful swap with Leslie of Leslie's Art and Sew. They are little acrylic pet portrait paintings of her four kitties!
 I had a lot of fun painting each of her cats, they are all super good-looking cats. The backgrounds are made with Tim Holtz distress paints... I think I'm addicted to those, pretty much.
 Anyway, I hope everybody has a great weekend! Mine will be filled with hard work getting the chicken coop ready for the peeps.

They are growing...and eating...and pooping...so much. They are turning out to be very sweet little birdies, though, especially Yum Yum. She's also the biggest!



Bathing Beauties! Fun Sea Shapes

I can't BELIEVE I haven't posted in so long! Well...there has been plenty going on. Bobby and I bought a house and we have been moving in and doing the metric-buttloads of things that go along with getting into a new place. I am exhausted... But I love out new property :)

I should have shared this last week, but alas. It's still summer, so it's still good. I made these three wall hangings from some brand new sea-themed die cut shapes from Alpha Stamps. (Read more about the Seaside Sirens Kit and all the fantabulous products here)




I hope everybody had an awesome Fourth of July! Ours was suuuper rainy and filled with moving boxes :P

Product List! Search for these items on Alphastamps.com
Bathing Beauties CS
Fishtales CS
20mm White Spiral Shell Beads
Tiny Real Seashells in Tins
Seashell Sequin Mix
Art Deco Beach Rubber Stamp Set
Die-Cut Chipboard Scallop Shell
Die-Cut Chipboard Sand Castle
Die-Cut Chipboard Mermaid Tail
Fleur and Swirl Chipboard Set
Fresh 6x6 Paper Pad
On the Boardwalk Seam Binding Set
Tim Hotlz Distress Paints in Broken China, Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves, Spun Sugar, Spiced Marmalade, Antiqued Bronze

On a puffier note, Bobby let me mail-order a variety of baby chicks :) We have 14 different kinds, I think... These three are my favorites. They are Yum Yum, Honey and Totoro. More pics soon.