Oops, I Craft My Pants

Wee Button Books and Unique Crafter's Challenge!

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Happy June, everyone! Here comes summer... And nothing says summer like ice cream sandwiches. Speaking of sandwiches, these button books kind of look like button sandwiches (Yes, that WAS an amazing segue{segway}, thank you for noticing). This month's challenge for Unique Crafters is "Buttons"!

These wee colorful button books are accordion style, so they fold out to reveal the pages. To make the inside piece, I used a round button of the appropriate size to trace circles. Make the circles overlap just slightly, the same distance each time. Be sure to have an even number of circles, otherwise your button book won't close properly. I learned that the hard way...

After carefully cutting out my pieces, I used watercolors to brighten up each circle. I did front and back, so the book would look nice in back, too. Then I used some little inkpads to accent the edges. The little boys on the smaller book are cut from a vintage kids book, and the birds on the bigger button book (alliteration!) are snippets from Alphastamps Collage Sheet "Parrots." Fold them up and then glue the outermost circles to the insides of your button covers. Voila! Cute!

So, if you're inspired to do some button-related crafts with that giant jar of buttons you have squirreled away someplace in your craft room (I know you have one), enter it in the June Challenge for Unique Crafters this month.

Go on over to the Unique Crafter's Challenge Blog to see the awesome projects the other DT members have come up with, get inspired, then enter your project! Have a splendid June!

Toucan Sculpture: He's wearing a hat!

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Wed, 30 May 2012 22:59:00 +0000

Here's what I've been working on this week! While I was on vacation, I saw an awesome toucan sculpture made from different stones in one of the gem galleries. It was an instant WANT, but I thought, hey, why don't I make my own? It won't be made of rock, but it will be cute! So I started on this toco toucan guy on Monday.

I had a little bit of air-dry clay in my stash, but I didn't want to use up ALL of it, not to mention wait days for such a huge hunk of clay to dry, so I first made the form of the toucan out of aluminum foil. The beak and body were made in two separate pieces, so the beak is attached and supported by two toothpicks jabbed in and glued at the base. I stabbed in and glued the legs, which were just made from pretty sturdy .032 safety wire.

Then I just had to cover the outside as smoothly as I could with the air-dry clay. I wanted a reasonably thick layer, because I was planning on sanding it smoother once it dried. And I did. The clay sands really nicely when dry, actually!

Then all I had to do was paint the toco toucan goodness on with artist acrylics. I used those because they dry a little shinier than craft acrylics, and I wanted the sheen. Oh, and I also added the tail which is just a tail shape cut from thick canvas I had painted/stiffened with the same acrylics I used on the body.

"Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark." I needed a quote about faith, things hoped for, but not seen... Dreaming about and working towards having a toucan someday is going to take a lot of faith! Not to mention everything else...

The mini-hat is from Hobby Lobby and embellished with a fancy pheasant feather and lots of novelty yarn!

And I also decorated the base with a bunch of inchies made from a cut out book page and toucan doodles. I can't wait to show it to Bobby when he gets home! He's been watching this little sculpture progress over the past couple days... Anyhoo, happy Wednesday, friends! Until next time.

Silly Rabbit Felted Felt Badge

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Mon, 28 May 2012 16:35:00 +0000

Another felt badge! I mostly used needle felting to make this little rabbit badge. I did four different layers of felt on the bunny (back legs, body, front legs, head) to try to get some dimension to it. It's a little hard to see, but easier to feel.

Then I embroidered a little colorful silly on his rump for good measure. It's about 2.5x2.5''.

I'm back from camping in North Carolina! Bobby and I had a great time mining gems, going to gem shops, cooking over the fire, and pretty much just having a good adventure. However, it's SO nice to be home in the air conditioning and with access to a soft bed :)

First Bookmarks in the Wicked Awesome Series!

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:26:00 +0000

Hey everybody! I just listed the first 5 bookmarks in my new Wicked Awesome Bookmark Series. It's going to be a limited series, with 100 unique witches... Why the new awesome ones? I've really been wanting to change up my bookmarks, as I've been making the same thing on a regular basis for over a year now. I need to keep things spicy to keep from going nuts! I also have been having a bit of a hard time, finding the bright side of living out here in Alabama, away from family and old friends... How do the two relate?

I found my motivation... I want to buy a toco toucan, and Alabama has a great climate for tropical birds. Land is also very cheap out here, so we'll be able to buy a house with a large enough property to build a large flight aviary for my future toucan. It's something I'm really passionate about and a goal that can really keep me focused. So, the more art I sell, the closer we are to buying a home, and the closer I am to having a toucan :)

So without further ado, here are the first 5 Wicked Awesome Bookmarks!

1/100! Link to Etsy Listing

2/100 Link to Etsy Listing

3/100 Link to Etsy Listing - This one is my FAVORITE. Notice she has Emerald Slippers :)

4/100 Link to Etsy Listing

5/100 Link to Etsy Listing

So, please, help me reach my goal of having a toucan. If I can't have a baby, I want a toucan, dangit. Share these listings with your friends if you would like, and don't forget to check out my For Sale Page, always linked at the top of my blog. Thanks, friends!

Coming soon... Wicked Awesome!

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:07:00 +0000

I know I've been too quiet on the blogging front... I know, I know, you've all been refreshing this page like 50 times per day to see something new ;) Kidding, of course. I can, however, tell you that I've been hard at work getting ready to release an exciting new wicked witch bookmark series. This pic is a sneak preview. Each bookmark will be unique, and will of COURSE feature those classic Wicked Witch of the East Legs with Ruby Slippers (Or Emerald! Or Sapphire! Oh, I've said too much!) They shall be hitting my Etsy Shop soon! That's all for now. I hope you all are having a wicked awesome week!

Wicked Forest Altered Matchbox

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Thu, 10 May 2012 02:09:00 +0000

Oh, you all know I love to do Craftster swaps :) This time around, the swap was an altered matchbox with a "Wicked Forest" theme. I love matchbox swaps because it's such a challenge to fit all your big ideas into a teeny weeny matchbox... Good thing I like to work small... The quote I used for the outside of the matchbox is "All things truly wicked start from innocence." by Ernest Hemingway. I thought the quote was a perfect fit for my little box.

You slide off the cover revealing a leafy green, lush watercolored box.

Swing open the doors...

And a wee fluffy and friendly squirrel greets you! The piece folds out...

To reveal a plethora of cute fluffy forest friends.

But wait...

Holy crap! The reverse side shows how secretly sinister they are!

I know they're pretty scary, but the theme was wicked after all. The animals are watercolor and ink, drawn and painted just for this matchbox. I showed it to Bobby and he didn't want me to send it off to my swap partner... But I did anyway.

Happy Wednesday, everybody :)

A couple of monster goodbye cards

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Tue, 08 May 2012 01:40:00 +0000

Stamp: "Hug Monster" by Kira Nichols for Stampotique

Stamp: "Keykeeper" by Kira Nichols for Stampotique

I made a couple of cards for the young women at church to sign for a mother and daughter that are moving away to Oregon this week. I'm gonna miss them! I am just a teensy bit jealous they are moving back to the Pacific Northwest (home!) and I did a fair bit of sulking this weekend. Oh, Alabama, there is nothing wrong with you, but you're not my favorite.

Oh well, life is good anyway. Happy Monday to you all.

My Best Idea!

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Thu, 03 May 2012 05:00:00 +0000

Happy Thursday, everyone! So, back in the day when this blog was a wee new bloglet, I shared an idea I had about using clothes hangers as a source for cheap chip clips (See original post here). Enter Pinterest a few years later, and this little idea has spread far and wide!

Well, having thousands of folks see a picture of my thumbs-up is cool enough on its own, but I had the opportunity to contribute to a fabulous new iVillage video series called "My Best Idea." In these vids, the Kissters, a dynamic (and pretty!) hosting duo, present good, useful ideas that you can start applying to your life right away! I'm all for working smarter :) So hey, watch this!

To see more "My Best Idea" videos, click here over to iVillage. You'll learn something useful, I promise!

I hope everyone is having an awesome week so far.

May Calendar Page

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Wed, 02 May 2012 02:49:00 +0000

It's that time again, the beginning of a new month, and that means another calendar page! I wanted to go with something lively and cheerful, so I picked yellow this month. The page looks much better in person. I couldn't get the colors in my photo right, but you get the general idea.

I used Wolfie King on this spread because he looks magnificent and powerful :) Can you tell that I'd like an energetic month? I started doing Zumba, and it's my third week! I feel GOOD. All I want to do is shake it!

Happy May Day to you!

And here's a shot of the past four months of calendar spreads because it's colorful.

If you haven't already, click to The Kathryn Wheel. That's where all this fun calendar business began!

Giggle Bunny Journal and May Unique Crafter's Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Tue, 01 May 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Good morning! I made this bunny journal for the Unique Crafter's Challenge for May which is "Ribbons and Fibers" (see the bottom of the post for more details).

I've really been loving making little journals lately, and especially using novelty yarns and gems to embellish. I listed this one and a couple of others in my Etsy Shop if you're looking for a gift for somebody (or just want it for yourself!)

Here's the back. The stamp I used is "Picket Fence" by Daniel Torrente for Stampotique.

The inside pages are recycled kraft cardstock, so it's sturdy enough to use as an album... And BOOM, ribbons as dividers :)

So here are the details for the Unique Crafter's Challenge. You can enter over at the challenge blog:

The theme for this challenge is:
“Ribbons and Fibers”

We are offering two prizes this week. The first place winner will receive three free paper crafting packs worth over $25 from our sponsor, Scrapbook Unique and all of our challenge winners will be given an opportunity to receive free digital images and join us as a guest design team member for a month.

To qualify, your entry can be any paper craft project with some type of ribbon or twine. Our design team has come up with a wonderful variety of examples to give you a few ideas on incorporating fibers into your projects.

Donkey and Bird Fiesta and Tiny Mushroom Sloth

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 02:35:00 +0000

The other day I told my fantastic group of Facebook likers that I was drawing creatures and asked which animal is the best. I got a lot of fantastic replies with some really awesome favorite animals. So many! I had a hard time choosing, but I picked the donkey and the sloth (one of my favorites, too!) Both are done in watercolor and ink.

Here is a traveling donkey and bird fiesta... They bring music and fiesta wherever they go! Is it just me, or does the bird in the Mexican poncho make you want to go to Disneyland?

And those are either really huge mushrooms or that's a teeny tiny sloth. I prefer thinking of him as very little...

In other news: WE RELEASED BABY BIRD THIS MORNING!!! We opened the cage and he flew high up and disappeared into a tree. I am going to miss that feather ball. Feeding such a little warm, fluffy thing and watching him grow and progress was such a nice experience and I feel good knowing that I helped. I hope he lives a nice long and happy life out in the wild...

And I hope you all had a long and happy weekend :)

Flower Journal

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:17:00 +0000

Snappppp, I have had a stressful couple of days (blame iTunes and rude people, separate incidents) and I'm feeling a little on edge. Darn anxiety... I'm over it, but I still feel physically sick. I hate how when something annoying or stressful happens, the feeling sticks with you. Anyhoo, I want to show you this notebook I made as a thank you gift for a good, kind girl. The quote says, "Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony you carry in your heart concerning things divine." --Gordon B Hinckley. Good advice. I think I need to heed that today...Think positive!

I used recycled kraft cardstock on the inside pages, so they're sturdy enough to use this as an album, not just a journal. Yeah, options. And I glued in assorted ribbons to serve as dividers, and I just like the way they look sticking out like that :) To keep the ribbons from shredding, I just coated the ends in a little clear nail polish.

"Flower" from FETC Clip Art

The flower has little diamond glaze dots on it to add a little fun texture and a little dimension.

So, have a fantastic day, everyone! I am going to try to do that, too... I'm going to Zumba tonight and I'll probably eat some ice cream. No, Bobby ate the last of it... Make that cheez-its and Cadbury Mini-Eggs.

Elmer's Projects: ATC Album, bookmark, birthday card, fancy pen, and a journal page. (WHEW!)

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 21:47:00 +0000

So I have found myself prettttty busy, and I decided to show you all in one post the sponsored projects I did for Craftster.org's Master Craftster's Campaign with Elmer's and X-ACTO! You can click each link to see a tutorial for each project :)

ATC Album! Every teeny little piece of art deserves a good place to live, right?

Bookmark made from Scrap Paper! Why not make some cool and functional bookmarks while using up some of my smaller paper scraps?

Flowers and Bird Dimensional Birthday Card! Now I won't feel like a bad friend when I have this hand-made card to give to my buddy...

Pink Feathery Pen! Plain old boring pens are great, but when you can go fancy, why the heck not?...

Altered Journal Page...Altered-journaling slump: defeated!

Thank you for taking the time to check these out :) Happy Wednesday to you all!

Quick, Easy iPod or smart phone stand! TUTORIAL!

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 14:12:00 +0000

I love my iPod, but I don't love how slick the back is, because it's impossible to prop up against anything without having it slide down onto its back. You can buy stands for this purpose, but I'm a I love my iPod, but I don't love how slick the back is, because it's impossible to prop up against anything without having it slide down onto its back. You can buy stands for this purpose, but I'm a crafty person, and the only thing I like to spend money on is craft supplies. So why not make my own little stand? You can too.

Here's what I used for this project: An 8x4'' piece of cereal box or similar food packaging, a slightly larger piece of patterned paper, a cut out kitty image from a book, red and white Elmer's Paint Pens, Elmer's Glue Dot Runner, and alphabet stamps (not pictured).

Here are the dimensions and the folding places for your cereal box. I added some dotted lines to make it easy to see where the creases need to go. If you have a scoring board, use it. If not, just use a ruler and something pointy, but not too sharp, like the end of a knitting needle, to make score lines. If you do this ahead of time it will make it much easier to fold when the time comes.

Use some glue, like this Elmer's Glue Dot Runner, on the printed side of your cereal box, making sure to cover the edges and the areas that will be creased well. A gluestick, like Elmer's Craft Bond All-Purpose Glue Stick would also work well in this situation.

Carefully press on your patterned paper and give it a good rub down to make sure it's good and stuck.

Use some fine-tipped scissors, like these X-ACTO Precision Tips, to trim off the excess paper as close as you can.

Next, fold your piece at the scored lines. To get a nice heavy crease, I used a bone folder, but the capped end of a gluestick works pretty good for that, too. It's important to crease well, so your stand keeps its shape and doesn't try to flatten out on its own.

After it's been folded, it'll look like this.

After gluing on my cat image, I used a white Elmer's Paint Pen to draw circles to prime where I wanted to stamp letters. The opaque paint in the pens is perfect to cover the pattern in the paper and really helps to make the stamped letters very clear and visible. I used a permanent stamp pad and alphabet stamps to put on the phrase, "I love that video!"

Next, a red paint pen was perfect to add an accent to the edges.

Once all of the decoration on the front is nice and dry (give the paint a few minutes), flip it over and use the Elmer's Glue Dot Runner on the back side of the bottom edge. (You could even skip this step and the next, to keep your stand collapsible for traveling)

Position the stand how you want it, then press firmly to fix the front flap in place

And there it is! A cute, functional accessory for your smart phone or idevice that hardly cost a thing.

Now you're all set to watch some rad vids (Kittykill'sCraftster Quickies!) and your hands will be free to get down to some serious craftin'.

This has been sponsored content using Elmer's and X-ACTO products for Craftster.org's Master Crafter's Campaign. To check out all of the rad projects done by srsly crafty people, head over to Craftster :D

Have a beautiful weekend, everybody!

Master Craftster Campaign for Elmer's

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:40:00 +0000

Great news, everyone! I was chosen a while back to do some sponsored projects in Craftster.org's Master Craftster Series for Elmer's and X-ACTO :) Five other magnificent crafty ladies and I were sent a heaping box full of awesome tools and supplies and were asked to craft away with the items. It was a blast.

I've been sitting on a ton of projects for a while, as I had to keep them hush hush until the campaign was revealed. But now the cat is out of the bag and I get to share my projects and tutorials over the next few days. Boo-ya.

If you simply cannot wait, head over to Craftster to check out the campaign. Or go see these blogs belonging to a couple of my fellow Master Craftsters :)

Lime Riot

Kitty Kill

Felt Badges! Stitch, the Lorax, VW Bus and a Monster

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:57:00 +0000

I made all of these for the Craftster.org felt badge swap :) It was such a fun little swap, that I really couldn't resist. They're all done with a combo of needle felting and embroidery. it was my first time using my needle felting tool and I think I'm hooked. It was way easier than I expected! I totally love how the stitch one turned out, and I've got to make one for myself now. You all know how I love Stitch...

Baby bird update: starting on Sunday, he started to be less and less interested in getting fed! He wouldn't fly down to me for a feeding AT ALL yesterday! He's now eating seeds and drinking water all by himself like a big bird and more interested in flying around the room playing keep-away. In his opinion, now that I'm not a source for food, all I do is try to catch him. I think he's afraid of me, which makes me a little sad, but that's really how it should be. He is a wild bird! So next Tuesday, he will be moved to a cage outside to transition into release! :D Things are going according to plan! Happy Thursday!

Fanciful Colorful Scrappy Bookmarks

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 22:31:00 +0000

I made a bunch of bookmarks for my best friend's family a while ago as a thank you for watching our dog while we were away at Disney World :) I realized that I hadn't posted them yet! So here they are.

I'm thinking about making art-print bookmarks like these to put up in my Etsy Shop. I'm not sure how well they would do, but there's only one way to find out, right? Here are some close-ups of the stamps I used for each bookmark:

Stamp: "Toby Looking Up" by Alpha Stamps

Stamp: "Wombat" by Kira Nichols for Stampotique

Stamp: "Floating Dog" by Kira Nichols for Stampotique

Stamp: "Whisker Monster With Sign" for Stampotique

Stamp: "Hug Monster" by Kira Nichols for Stampotique

Stamp: "Shouting Bird" by Kira Nichols for Stampotique

So I hope everyone has had a wonderful week! I, for one, caught another cold/bug/sickness. That's about once a month for the last 6 months. Blergh. My immune system is shoddy, booooo. But I am feeling a little better. I've got too many things I want to do! I've got no time for being sick :)

Have a super-d-duper weekend! Go out and enjoy life... I will be trying to, and in between I'll still be feeding this little featherball:

He is doing great, by the way, we've had him for two whole weeks. He's always hungry, but not eating on his own yet. It's hop, hop, hop, chirp, chirp chirp, mouth open, feed, feed, feed. I think he's realized he can get an easy meal by cheeping and pestering me and opening his mouth real wide. How can I resist shoveling food down that little beakhole? I thought he would be attempting to eat on his own more and more, but not yet. Dear baby bird's big-grown-up-bird instinct: Take over, please! He is a lot of work, but I kinda love this featherball. Love him as I do, I can't wait till he is ready to fly free!

Wirework Rings

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 00:43:00 +0000

I've been playing with beads and wire again! I found a GORGEOUS ring via Ffrogg's Pinterest, and just had to play around with the technique. After making 3 fail rings, I got the hang of it and made a ton more, because it's new, challenging, and darn fun.

All of these rings are very, very heavily inspired by Moss and Mist (go check it out, amazing beautiful things lie in store) and I take no credit for the style/technique. I'm just making these for fun and to learn a bit more about wirework. Wirework was actually one of my very first crafts that I began to learn at the age of 9 or 10, whenever kids are in the 5th grade.

So, truth be told, I love making these... And I kind of got excited and went overboard and ordered 4 multipacks of different colored wire. Don't judge me! You can tell from my blog, I have a crafting obsession. For some women it's shoes. Me? Supplies.

This one is my favorite and I've been wearing it when I go out :) I'm into those tacky, delightful aurora borealis crystals (when used in a classy way, of course!), so the main bead on this is right up my alley.

For this one, I used a shiny iridescent fish bead. I have been keeping four of these for years and years, bringing them with me every new place I've moved. I think I got them on a family vacation back when I was in high school. I finally used...one.

This is the one I sent to Ffrogg :) One of her favorite colors is purple, and I had to use an aurora crystal bead, because I love them.

This last one is a little different style, I was just experimenting. When all my new wire gets here, I'm going to go nuts and have so much fun thinking up all sorts of crazy stuff! Anyhoo, I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and a great Easter Sunday! Mine was pretty much candy, church, TV and feeding baby bird. So it was good.

Until next time!

Medieval Kitty Drawstring Bag

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 05:00:00 +0000

I know next to nothing about tarot cards, but I do know a thing or two about kitties and fancy hats. I was asked to make this little bag for a birthday present for a special person who loves medieval things, cats, and needed a bag for his tarot cards.

So I made this little drawstring pouch out of some tapestry material, which I thought felt pretty old and medieval-themed.

The kitty is my own design and I embroidered him onto felt using a split stitch.

So, Happy Birthday! You know who you are :)

And everyone else, have a wonderful weekend!

Art Calendar Journaling! Is it April already?!

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 22:23:00 +0000

This year has been whizzing by already! It's April, so that means another Kathryn Wheel Art Calendar Page.

The cow is cut from a cute old kid's book called The Peppermint Fence. Made me lol, look at that fly buzzing around its behind :)

And yes, I have been filling in each day as I go! Here's a shot of all 4 months... My goal is a very colorful calendar come December. Happy Thursday, happy April, friends.

Night Owl Altered Altoids Tin Lid Plaque

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 19:14:00 +0000

Here's another fun Altoids tin craft. I like to rip off the lids when I alter Altoids Tins, so as a result, I have a big ol' stack of lids. I usually use them for bead dishes when I'm making jewelry, but they also make good wall decor plaques. The quote is another that I found via Ffrogg's Pinterest from quotediary.

Images: "Rock Owl" by usf.clipart, "Small Moon" by Beeswax Stamps

I personally, think of myself as a morning person but I see the humor and truth in the quote!

The outside also has some other quotes wrapped around it and a campfire button at the top. And of course, i always like to line the rim of my tins with glued-on beads. Makes 'em fancy. I am totally digging the word "fancy" lately.

In other news, baby bird is doing well, still eating like a champ and becoming very wiggly and flying everywhere. It's amazing how much he progresses each day. Yesterday, he was killing me because he wouldn't let me catch him to put him back after his flying time! I had a rough day yesterday. I had an HSG test done (for that dang-blasted infertility) and it sucked WAY bad. Very painful, and I felt like crap for the rest of the day. So it was frustrating to drag a chair around the room, climb up on it to try to snatch baby bird off of the ceiling fan and have him flit off onto another shelf or curtain rod or other high place. I know he needs his exercise to get strong, but man, yesterday was just not the day to play keep away! :P

Well, I'm feeling a bit better today...and hopefully can get some projects done! Happy Wednesday!

Fancy Turtle Beaded and Besequined Embroidery Hoop

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:33:00 +0000

Hurrah! Who loves turtles? Who loves flashy sequined crap? Well, have I got a hoopla for you! I beaded and embroidered this little hoop for the Craftster.org IYP Swap with the lovely Ffrogg526 :) The turtle is just a doodle of mine. I split stitched the outlines, then used a 3-strand filler split stitch for the turtle's legs, head, and tail. Then I lazily used acrylic paint to fill the shell, since it was just going to be covered in sparklies anyway.

The word fancy is done in metallic embroidery floss which is a real pain in the booty to work with! I swear, it must have taken me 15 attempts to even thread my needle. (No, I didn't use a threader... I'm too proud.)

And the turtle is bedazzled by hand with bead soup and mixed sequins.

And in unrelated news, my husband brought home this little fledgling sparrow on Friday. They were exterminating pest sparrow nests in the hangar where he works and this little guy didn't have much of a chance. So, I've been busy feeding the little chirp every hour 6 AM-9 PM for the past few days. He's learning to hop and fly after every feeding... I'm so glad he's feathered and almost ready to be released! I think he'll be ready to go in another week or two. Isn't he precious? Happy Monday!

Springtime Wall Hanging made from a Laughing Cow Cheese Container

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 05:00:00 +0000

It's April 1st! The weather has really been getting lovely down here in Southern Alabama! Well, perhaps not the last few days, but it's been nice. Birds chirping, flowers blooming... So I decided to make this cheery birdy wall hanging For Unique Crafter's April Challenge "Paper Flowers" and to ring in Spring!

Stamps: "Birdy Shoes" by ME! Kira Nichols for Stampotique and "Small Web 1001M" by Beeswax Stamps

It's made out of a Laughing Cow Cheese container (yup, garbage! Don't call me a hoarder. Yeah, I keep garbage, but I actually use it for something! Scroll down to see the transformation.)

I saw the bird chirping quote on Pinterest a while back and fell in love. The quote is by Terri Guillemets. Isn't it perfect for the little scene? I made the glittery mushrooms from paper clay.

The paint splatter on the outside reminds me of that Easter Egg Gum...

So, here's how it all went down: I started with an empty Lauging Cow Cheese Wedge Carton. I just used the bottom part and got rid of the lid.

I peeled off the outer label, to expose more of the carton. It's made out of a lightweight paperboard that just screams "craft me!"

I used a nice bright turquoise craft acrylic for the outside and let that dry for a while. The paint kinda soaks right into the carton material, so it takes a little while to dry.

Then I flicked magenta India ink and yellow acrylic ink all over with a stiff paintbrush to make a sort of speckled egg look.

Then I used some scrapbook paper to cover up the label on the back. I know there are fancy schmancy circle cutters out there, but I don't have one... so I used an oldschool compass to make an outline of an appropriately-sized circle, cut it out with scissors, then slapped it on the back with gluestick. No one is really gonna be seeing the back, but hey, I wanted it to be nice anyway :)

Next, I painted the inside edge bright green. Again, I'm just using cheapo craft acrylic paints. They're so nice and bright and so cheap :) They work great for stuff like this.

Then I used my little scissors to snip flaps into the rim. Fold them down, and you've got a downright fancy edge there!

I inked the edges of the flaps with a darker green pigment ink pad, then used more craft acrylics to paint the inside a rich blue fading to white in the center.

Bahaha, okay, so I have this stamp mounted on cling foam, but I don't have an acrylic block big enough for it, sooo what you're seeing here is my stamp mounted to the lid of a jar candle. Hey, it works! I used silver pigment ink, but it wasn't showing up as well as I wanted it to, so I brushed on some Pearlex Pigment Powder in Micropearl and it really made the web pop. The pigment powder stuck right to the slow-drying pigment ink I used first.

Then I started piecing together, embellishing and adding paper flowers, twigs, words, etc. until I liked the way it looked. I had planned on putting a gem on each of the flaps along the border, but decided against it in the end. Sometimes less is more.

Tada!

So, if you want to make fancy with some paper flowers now, go ahead and enter the Unique Crafter's April Challenge. Make anything, just incorporate paper flowers! There's a rad prize of supplies up for grabs :)

Have a superb week, friends. I'm about to post a whole slew of projects I've been sitting on. Thanks for reading!

Sun Conure Bookmark

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 03:21:00 +0000

You might remember Peanut, my sun conure, from previous posts and he did make a teeny appearance in my 51 things video (Thanks to everyone who watched it and made such nice comments!) Well, he is a special bird, so I made a little watercolor drawing of him so I could use him for a bookmark!

The main body of the bookmark is just a piece of colorful printed cardstock joined with a bit of strong glue.

I think Peanut is much cuter in real life, though. Happy Thursday!

ALSO! I need your suggestions and/or requests. Do any of you have ideas on techniques or skillz you'd like me to explain and demonstrate in a how-to video? Pretty please let me know! Thanks, friends!

My first video

noreply@blogger.com (Kira - oopsicraftmypants.com) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 22:33:00 +0000

So I thought I'd try out the video editing software that comes with my computer.... I made this silly video this afternoon, and it wasn't too hard! I think I'll come up with some how-to crafting vids some time in the future. Well, enjoy 1 minute and 41 seconds of me being wacky! Thanks for watching!