[ ✄ ] A New Way to Enjoy Polaroids

There was a corner in the living room with this framed San Francisco map (actually a wrapping paper). Boring.


Woot! Look at that.


A new way to enjoy Polaroids! New to me at least. Remember how I made necklace organizers with cup hooks? And how I wanted to use the hooks everywhere for no reason? Well, I found a reason.

Some of the other ways I've enjoyed Polaroids:

• Rainbow heart
• Japan photo albums

'Roid Week 2011

Today is the last day of 'Roid Week 2011. Have you noticed all the new Polaroids at my Flickr stream? ^^

Most of my recent Polaroids have been Spectras (because I have way more Spectra film than 600 film) but 'Roid Week inspired me to bust out the SLR680 and shoot something new. It took me awhile to warm up (as evidenced above) but it felt good! 'Roid Week is good like that, you see.

Not to mention all the wonderful work you get to see from fellow Polaroid lovers! This is when everyone pulls out their best shots and shine.. I love it. If you haven't, you should check out the 'Roid Week Flickr pool. I'm sure you'll find some new people to follow. :) My favorites can be seen here.

Shop Update: 2011 Poladoodles Calendar

Say hello to my first ever Poladoodles calendar! It's been done for about a week but I wanted to spend more time finalizing the packaging details. And I'm very happy with how it all came together. So please check it out at my Etsy shop! It even comes gift-wrapped for the holidays. You know how much I like wrapping.. I couldn't resist. ^^




Total of 6 different images, two months per sheet.


If you cut along the dotted line on the back..


You get Polaroid prints that are the same size as the original Polaroid Spectras.


I chose to use Hahnemuehle 308 for its nice, thick weight. See how stiff that is!


Packaged in a glassine bag and sealed with a sticker that's hand-stamped in champagne ink (I had to incorporate rubber stamping somewhere, right?)


Finally, everything goes into this envelope, ready to go to a new home. Voilà!

I'm glad I finally made a calendar, which I've always thought about. It made a very indecisive person like me make millions of decisions along the way (like, to perforate or not? That is the question) but I think it was better to have made it than to not even have attempted at all. I learned a ton along the way and this will not be the last time I make a calendar.

Anyway.
Now, go check it out! (:

I Made: a small Polaroid album

I went through many, many Polaroids of our family dog and finally put the best ones in a nice small album with photo corners.

I haven't archived photos like this since I made my Japan travel albums almost a year ago.. Which is really a shame because your favorite Polaroids shouldn't be stuck in some boxes! :P

Anyway, how do you store your pictures, especially Polaroids? Any recommendations on affordable, archival photo albums with 3.5"x5" sleeves? I'm looking for albums with sleeves because I really don't want to use scrapbook style albums + photo corners for ALL my Polaroids.. that would be too tedious. And 3.5"x5" would be the perfect size for 600 films! When I was growing up (ha ha), that was the standard size but not so anymore, it seems. Aieee~

Shop Update

This is a quick post to announce that my Etsy shop has been updated with a new Polaroid mini set (here). A yummy Valentine's Day theme! It was really difficult taking pictures of cookies and cupcakes and cleaning up afterward. Oh yeah. ;)

I'm still participating in Papernstitch, so come on over and take a look around~
Some lovely goodies that I found at Papernstitch:

• Dancing Hearts by Kitty Rogers Photography
  
• Abacus pendant by Snoozer Loser
  
• Tiny Red Clothespins by Olive Manna
  
• Mwah Letterpress Folded Notes by Paper Lovely
  
• Less Than Three Petite Sterling Silver Charm Pendant by Metal Smitten
  

Papernstitch + Small Shop Update

Just wanted to announce that I just started participating in Papernstitch :)
(Ooh, that is my Poladoodle print of pencils on the front page)

I also added a new mini Polaroid set to my shop in time for the Papernstitch update.


The previous mini sets are also available again. So please come visit my online table at Papernstitch right here and I hope you have fun browsing~

Slow Week

Monday's rain was quite something.. It caused flooding in many streets and a subway station had to be be closed. Luckily, I was home most of the day and observed the pouring rain at the back of the house.

I've been editing some Polaroid scans for a mini shop update at the end of this month. The color matching is nearly impossible but it is a necessary step that I have to be patient with. I can easily spend hours on it.. With the strange weather and all, this week has been kinda slow, for sure.

I hope you are having a good, dry week.

Japan Trip Albums

Citrusboy and I finally finished a couple of photo albums for our Japan trip pictures. A very luxurious, green scrapbook for the best of my Polaroid shots and a sleek, small black album for his digital shots. A very small fraction of the digital shots; that only covered Ohara and Mt. Koya. And we didn't even include my film shots! We'll need many, many more albums for the rest of the trip, no doubt.

Although it was really hard to select the pictures to include, it felt good to get the them out of the computer (or boxes in Polaroids' case) and into something physical and more presentable. I hope to finish more before the end of the year.

Can you tell that food was a very important part of our trip? ;)

Rainbow Heart

Here is the mini Polaroid project I mentioned in my previous post. I was inspired by other Polaroid lovers who did similar things with their Polaroids. I wish I can remember where I saw them!

It was citrusboy's idea to do the rainbow effect. It took some planning on a grid paper, and lots of shuffling but it was a lot of fun. Not a bad way to use the other 85% of Polaroids, no? ;)

Looking back

Yesterday, I spent a good amount of time sorting through my boxes of Polaroids and pulled out some to use on a decorating project (which I'll share soon). While going through them all, I realized, I really love Polaroids!

Duh.. of course. It's just that, I was reminded how much I am not enjoying Polaroids lately.. Going through all 1023 of them (yes! 629 Spectras + 394 600s) renewed my love for them, I guess.

Looking back, I also realized, I've made a lot of mistakes! Probably, only 15% of them are any good. You'd think that after all these years, I'd be an expert but nope. I still can't predict how each image will turn out. But you know, I don't think I'll look back years from now and regret that I made all those mistakes (and spent so much money). I'm certainly not now. Darn it, I'm going to keep shooting, and every single shot will be AWESOME.


;)

Papernstitch

I am very excited to announce that beginning this week, I am participating in an online exhibition called Papernstitch. It is a very neat site, and you can find my space right here. Just in time for this exhibit, a new set of mini Polaroid prints has been added to my Etsy shop. First set with Spectras!


Hope you come and visit me there! I see lots of talented folks, too, so I'm sure you'll have fun browsing. My favorites so far include Dr Kennedy Jones, Nancy Tobin, and Yellowgoat. See you soon! Oh, and it'd be awfully nice of you if you can click on the heart and give me some love at my table. ;)

Spring Update at Etsy

I just updated my Etsy store with two new sets of Polaroid prints! This time, the prints are smaller, with the size as same as actual Polaroid films. I thought it would be fun to make prints that you can easily hold in your hand and display more casually. Like on your refrigerator.


Each set has a theme but you can make your own set by choosing any 3 images that you like. :) I'm very excited about this update because I think the prints capture the spririt of Polaroids quite well. I have a couple more sets in mind but I'll see how these go first. As always, any feedback you have would be much appreciated!

Chicago Trip

Sorry for the lack of updates! I've been away for a couple weeks, relaxing in Chicago with my family. I got to learn few crochet/sewing tips from Mom, celebrate Grandma's birthday, go to Renegade Craft Fair, shop at Off 5th (love this store!) and get the much needed haircut. :) Oh, the heavy rain that fell the same weekend as the Renegade Craft Fair! Boy, that was not fun, the rain I mean. Check out these pictures of the flood here. Thankfully, the area I was staying in was relatively okay but traffic was really bad because many roads were blocked. I happen to be driving on the Saturday of that weekend, and I felt like I was swimming because the roads were so flooded. That was scary.

Other than that, the trip was good. I was able to take only one shot of the Renegade Craft Fair because the battery was very low (doh!):


Some Polaroid shots I took near my parents' house:


Hanging out with some ducks:


And the youngest member of the family, looking very interested:


Taking a break was good but I'm glad to be back! I missed the Wii Fit and the mild San Francisco weather. :P I'll be back with more regular posts. Cheers!

Polaroids on Wire

Hello!
What a gorgeous day, here in San Francisco. The weekend was nice, too. I did a lot of walking around and shopping with citrusboy during the weekend, and this!

I installed a wire across the wall to display my Polaroid films. After more than six months since I moved, the kitchen wall is finally decorated! I've been meaning to try it for so long, too.. I didn't know all I needed was some eye screws and picture hanging wire!

Maybe all the pictures should be of yummy foods.. :)

'Roid Week 2008 preview

Tomorrow is 'Roid Week 2008 and I'm psyched! As you can see, I've selected my submissions, and they are ready in order you see them, along with some new Poladoodles. Of course, if I shoot any good ones during the week, I'll add them to the queue too.

I'm not so depressed about Polaroid not making instant films anymore because I've been able to stock up through good deals. Now I have about 40 twin packs of Spectra, and plenty of 600s too. I'm not too worried about 600 films because they are more readily available than Spectras. But I am concerned that my Minolta Instant Pro started acting up today. It won't close all the way. Hopefully, no replacements are ever needed..

To view my 'Roid Week 2008 submissions, please visit my Flickr photostream here. Let's have fun!

RIP Polaroid

It's a bit late for me to blog about this because the news has been going around for more than a month. But I'm extremely sad about Polaroid's decision to stop producing instant films. It's been almost a year and a half since I started shooting Polaroids but I feel like I just started. Joined the game too late! It makes me wonder, what else am I missing? Other types of films I haven't tried and accessories.. I want to take full advantage of my cameras while I can!

I was introduced to Polaroids by a friend of mine at a dark time in my life. They allowed me to be creative again and see things differently. I really don't remember the last time I was so into something before Polaroids came into my life. How did I ever live without them? I'm starting to sound dramatic, I know, but it's true.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm hoarding.

Today, I picked up five boxes of Polaroid Spectra films at a local Walgreens. The transaction total was too big that a manager had to come and verify my signature on the receipt. @_@

Total in reserve (refrigerator) so far:
130 shots of Spectra
130 shots of 600

Total shot so far:
435 of Spectra
97 of 600
= more hoarding to do!!

I know what some people are saying. They say to move on, it was about time, etc.. I'm sure I will get over it at some point. But not for a while.