fototiller

Love these albums that Joy posted. Available at Auto.

I’m back after several months off and I’m thrilled to announce the birth of our daughter, Genevieve, born on August 19th. Time flies and now it’s a beautiful fall day here in New England. The leaves are starting to look a lot like this magnet, which I love. Ingenious use of magnetic sheeting and an exacto knife to make this Leaf Skeleton magnet. Use it to hold up a photo or alone to dress up the fridge. From Esty seller Skinny la Minx.

Make lots of cool stuff from your pics printed from your ink jet onto these shrinky sheets.

A timeless classic. Design your own keychains, jewelry, picture frames, or anything else you can imagine. Inkjet option makes these better than ever!

These cool LEGO-like frames from Pylones let you build your photos into all kinds of fun shapes. Great for kids and the boxes have storage compartments, too. Monochromatic or super-colorful - $12 for a set of three.

Saw this cool retro camera print on Decor8 and had to post. Available on John W. Golden’s Etsy site, the Lunastrella Camera print ($30).

poppy - polaroids by maditi (pictured)
oh joy - photographic inspired prints on balsa from salvor
exposure - DIY photo wall
shelterrific - turn your jpgs into gifts
alec soth blog - review santa fe and advice for emerging photographers

Urban outfitters always has some fun photo stuff to check out. The bell jar photo clip has a black base detailed with 3 black roses and a curved metal clip to hold a photo. Also cool - the old school photo album.

Issue 7 of JPG Magazine is out now AND you can now order subscriptions!

Plus, they are offering fototiller readers a special gift: A $5-off subscription coupon. Just use code FOTOTILLER or subscribe here and the discount will be automatically be included.

A great gift idea for the holidays, especially if you order the gift box subscription which comes with the JPG ultrapod and JPG stickers.

(And check out the article I wrote on DIY holiday photo gifts!)

Grab your cameras on your way to vote tomorrow and you can prticipate in the AIGA Polling Place Photo Project. Organizers of the project are hoping to collect photos of all the polling places in America.

The Polling Place Photo Project is a nationwide experiment in citizen journalism that seeks to empower citizens to capture, post and share photographs of democracy in action. By documenting their local voting experience on November 7, voters can contribute to an archive of photographs that captures the richness and complexity of voting in America.

via kottke.org

photos by maditi and alison

I consider myself more of a visual person than a verbal one, but I love to play with words — I’m a huge fan of Scrabble and the Times Sunday crossword (anyone know a seven-letter word for ‘unknown’?)

So, I was very excited to come across the compound word project.

photos by gracia and kristen

The project is the brainchild of Shari; she picked compund words and then assigned each participant a single word from the compound. Not knowing their compound word, each participant took a photo to represent their single word. Then Shari matched up the photos, creating a dipytch for each compound word - and everyone tried to guess what the compound words were. Not only is it fun (and harder than it looks) to correctly guess the answers, it is pretty amazing to see how well these photos (that were taken independently of each other and by different people) complement one another.

photos by leslie and karen

Shari hopes to do another project beginning in November, so check the site for more details if you are interested. Oh, and think you know the answers? Check here to see if you’re right!

photos by tiffany and paula

[Thanks to Shari and all the photographers for permission to show their work!]

Get your submissions in for the latest JPG Magazine, issue 7. There are THREE themes to submit to this time around: big, self-portraiture and hometown. You have fourteen days to submit one pic per theme and people chosen for publication will receive $100 plus a one-year subscription to JPG.

(images from jpgmag.com)

I love my fotoclips and am currently putting together some ideas for using them to post on fototiller. In the meantime, I started a fotoclips flickr group, clip it good, to see how y’all are using your fotoclips (you do have some, right?). And here’s an idea I saw over on urban outfitters; cut out your photos with the lomo circle cutter and clip together to make cool circle curtains and room dividers.

BTW, I’m on vacation (hiking in the Rockies) this week and the beginning of next, so posting will be light - I may even take a few days off. Hope you are all having a great week!

From Ogg Studio, cool custom photo lunchboxes for your favorite back-to-schooler. Send in a pic and they’ll send you a lunchbox in a week ($35).

I’ve been loving orange and blue combos lately, like on these beautiful cards that Grace posted on. Paper Source has some lovely photo albums and supplies in two great shades, pool and poppy.

1. Photo corners in pool and poppy ($4 per pack of 240) - lots of other bright colors, too
2. Pool Luxe Kimono Flowers Album ($30)
3. Poppy Luxe Sunburst Album ($30)
4. Blank poppy three leaf frame labels ($.60 each)
5. Pool accordion book kit ($4) - make your own photo accordion book
6. Linen spiral albums in poppy and pool ($16)

I love these woodgrain photo magnétique frames! From the designers at Presse Citron, these magnet frames are hard to find in the US. But I think these would be a fun diy project using woodgrain contact paper and magnet sheets (inspired by the inventive projects with contact paper over at It’s Knot Wood). Pick your favorite woodgrain paper and stick on the magnet sheets, then cut out frame shapes with openings for you photos. Put ‘em on the fridge, or get a magnetic bulletin board in a fun color and hang anywhere you want (fridgedoor has a good selection of magnetic boards).

As someone who is in the midst of plastic toy invasion, I welcome any and all toys made of wood. So I was very happy to see this wooden toy camera for the youngest shutterbug in your family. The camera is made from walnut, oak and alder with a non-toxic oil and features moving parts and a view finder to look through. Plus it’s made by a small family-owned company in the US. Get it at Romp ($24).

If you love FOUND Magazine and you love photography, then you’ll definitely want to get the new FOUND Polaroid Book, which ships on October 1st. (Pre-order the book and get a FREE FOUND T-SHIRT!)

This threaded memo board from Crate and Barrel is a great way to keep a rotating bulletin board display of photos without damaging them with pushpins.

On sale at Red Envelope, I think this photo wall clock ($19) would look pretty cool with photos of numbers from old road signs.
Via the possibilities are endless (thanks Jessica!)

Jessica sent me a bunch of cool goods with camera designs and thank god she did! My computer died on Friday and I’m just getting fototiller back up and running - so I’m so happy to post her finds. Thanks Jessica!

(BTW - Jessica is one of the nicest bloggers around; be sure to check out her blog Funky Finds!)

1. Shutterbug tote bag - canvas bag with felt applique from iHook’s Etsy Shop ($18)
   
2. Shutter bug patch - these felt patches are $3 each at Moxie Madness’s Etsy Shop
3. Hot shot! camera ring - Fred Flare ($10)

New line of Weegee at the International Center of Photography store.

Snapshot key caddy from Chiasso…

Another modern design where simplicity breeds elegance and function. This cool caddy keeps your keys under your favorite artwork. The sleek, modern frame holds two 5″ x 7″ photos or art. Five notched pegs keep keys and such organized. Stainless steel frame and pegs with glass. $38

I’ve been loving orange and blue combos lately and I think this orange frame from MoMA would look fab with some sunprints. Also comes in white for your favorite minimalist. Made of plastic and glass, the 4 x 6 frame ($18) can be placed horizontally or vertically.

Some pretty personalized photo albums from Neiman Marcus - these would make lovely bridesmaid gifts.

The Collection has been making the blog rounds and with good reason - they have some stunning wall coverings. There’s also this set of flocked vinyl frames to stick up on the wall for your photos.

Who doesn’t love a good giant camera/giant bunny print? Spotted by Jessica over at Funky Finds, this print is on sale for $13.50.

These photobooth wedding invites (as seen in the ReadyMade love issue) are the super cool idea of designer Cindy Ferguson of Invite Delight. You can have your very own invites custom made at Invite Delight. You can also DIY them by following these instructions on the ReadyMade blog. Or use the suggestion of ReadyMade readers Margaret Cox and Aaron Swingler and buy some Envelopments, cut out a viewing square and insert a card with your two photos. They made a cute save-the-date card by taking pictures of themselves holding signs (see the latest ReadyMade).

These simple leather albums from Kate’s Paperie are great for archival storage of your wedding photos. They come in a range of colors (brown, black, cream, red and orange) with ivory pages and interleaves and are priced between $45 and $175, depending on the size.

Our little fashionista is turning three next week, and we decided to buy her a camera (her first). We went ahead and got her this little cow camera, but when I saw this Hello Kitty digital camera I almost bought it on the spot. Luckily, l took a moment to read the reviews. It sounds like it’s pretty crappy! Anyone ever use one? It’s so hard to judge a product based on Amazon reviews, but these were pretty harsh. She loves Hello Kitty (as do I) so I was really hoping it would be good. Ah well, it is fun to look at.

Another cool camera shirt from this Japanese shop - boy I wish I knew japanese!

Great posts over at poppytalk: the change-it-up fotote and albums from rag-and-bone bindery.

These re-cord photo albums are fun (and made of mostly recycled materials).
Capture your memories…eco-style! These classic photo albums are created using a vinyl record cover - with the record still in its jacket! Each record has lived a full life and was rescued from its slumber and bound with 20 pages of thick, black, acid-free and recycled paper. Re-cord pages contain the most reused and recycled content possible.

$30 CDN and ships to both Canada and the US.

There are a lot of places to get a customized bag with your favorite pic on it, but they are often oh so boring. I like these personalized denim bags from pixel girl shop for their hot color contrast stitching and the dark (washable!) denim. Send them a photo, and they’ll make it black and white and use the colors of your choosing to make a bag for $40 for or $48 for two photos. Not bad!

If June is the month of weddings, then August is the month of wedding photos - and figuring out what the heck to do with them. This month on fototiller, I’ll be featuring some products and ideas for showing off your wedding pics (plus some fun photo ideas for those of you in mad wedding planning mode). Check out the new wedding category in the weeks to come.

Since our fifth wedding anniversary is this fall and we (a) still don’t have an album for our photos and (b) don’t want to spend a ton on one, I’m going to start with some posts on albums that don’t break the bank.

I think these albums from Ecklectic are gorgeous and simple and not too girly (ok they are kinda girly with the bow and all). But I still love these, and almost all are under $100 - a great deal considering these are handmade bound albums withglassine overlays and archival paper in your choice of ivory or black.

I wrote about these really cool dry-erase quote magnets over on the photojojo blog, but I haven’t been able to find somewhere to buy them online in the US. So I decided to make some of my own - they are super easy and super fun!

Here’s how:

1. Download one of the template files I made below (you may need to right-clicking the link to save the file)
2. Print template on regular white paper
3. Stick the back of the printed paper on an adhesive magnet sheet (buy at office supply store or online here)
4. Cover design with a peel-and-stick laminating sheet. I used SelfSeal Repositionable laminate pouches. Remove the non-adhesive plastic (use it for something else). Take the adhesive laminate sheet, peel off the backing and stick to the printed design already on your magnet sheet. Tip: I cut out just enough of the laminate to cover the design; this minimizes waste of the laminate.
5. Cut out the magnet with very sharp scissors.
6. Stick it up and write away!

Template Downloads:

Magnet quotes with text -magnetquotes_text.pdf
Magnet quotes without text - magnetquotes.pdf
Note: I first tried this using ink-jet printable magnet sheets. These are just not strong enough to hold up photos.

Other ideas to try…

Create your own text bubbles by overlaying text on the template.
Use photos with a lot of white space to make magnetic dry erase boards. Just print the picture in the size you want and stick on the magnetic sheet. Then cover with a large enough piece of peel-and-stick laminate.

I’m not usually one for photo keychains, but I like these from CB2 and Plum Party.

Love these tiny color flashes that you can attach to your cellphone camera or point-and-shoot. Also a fun little mirror that you can attach to take better self-portraits. Read more over on Popgadget.

Katey found these gorgeous frames over at zakkaweb, designed by Lizet Hoevenaar. Also found them here, but alas, this site is also in Japanese.

Kind of kooky… French company YOVOP Your Own Very Old Portrait takes photos and makes them into - you guessed it - old portraits. Fun site to check out (and I love the name).

Grace posted on these cool takboards, perfect for holding your latest photos.

Photo shelfs from Wal-mart.

DIY plexi-glass photo display (a great idea for a kitchen backsplash, too).

Do you like tiny art and cameras? Then you’ll love Sean Tubridy’s little illustrations of retro cameras (above). Available for sale at $20 each, these are signed square 5 x 5 prints in a 9 x 9 mat. They are designed to fit in a square 9 x 9 frame like the Ribba ones at Ikea. He doesn’t have on online shop yet, but you can check out his website for places to buy them in Minneapolis or order by email using paypal (sales at blueoverblue dot com). Also, he has done some cool camera tees (image below, stock varies). See his flickr sets for more of his work.

Update - Sean has set up an online shop here.

Check out this post over at Modish - have a collage made from your photos over at paper relics.

I love serendipitous ipod moments…

Like just now when I discover the Japan-based site Little by Little and the shuffle spits out The Vapor’s Turning Japanese. I have never been fully convinced that my ipod does not have a mind of its own.

Anyway, found these very cool mouse trap clips. What a great idea for holding photos - imagine a whole wall with randomly placed mousetraps holding photos and artwork. Very, very cool.

Cool camera tees from Amorphia Apparel. I’m likin’ the ringer tee colors.

New from Nono Living…
XL Wallart is a collection of giant digital images that are comprised of wallpaper panels, put together they create an impacting feature for any room. Suitable for bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms or studies they will dramatically change the look and feel of a room. There are 11 different designs available, from zany giant sweets to delicate flower images, there is plenty of potential to have fun with your décor!

I’m so excited about UK-based 55 Max - I can’t believe I didn’t find them until now! 55 MAx offers affordable prints from contemporary photographers (check out the cool prints for kids) and they have an amazing bespoke interiors service with so many options, I don’t know where to start. They can put your image onto window roller blinds, ceramic wall and floor tiles, wallpaper, curtains or upholstery. And they’ll do the typical print onto canvas - and the not so typical print on aluminum (how cool!) and acrylic. Or for a really unique gift to commemorate a special event, use their photomontage service to create a collage that can then be printed onto the above options or on an awesome magnetic memoboard.

[Note: Site is a little annoying to navigate - but they do take international orders and some prices are listed in US dollars. Continue reading for some of my favorites.]

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Instructions for making your own glass and soldered photo charms.

Just saw that the D.I.Y. photo enlargement projects and instructions featured in the last issue of Blueprint are also online (via BB-Blog, a super fab blog).

The X Plane, with digital camera from I Want One Of Those comes with a mini digital camera that you can attach to the plane, and shoot pictures remotely from the ground as your camera flies overhead. Not cheap for something that has the potential to crash-land ($161) - I think I still want to try some kite aerial photography.

It’s my birthday and I’m taking the day off - yippee!

[Image altered from the 3 year old birthday badge at Plum Party]

Jen Smith is a local (western Mass) photographer and jeweler who has combined her talents to make beautiful photo jewelry. I saw some of her pendants and rings this weekend in a shop in Northampton and they are finely hand-crafted works. She also doescustom pieces if you are looking for a unique gift idea. (And check out the pics of her beautiful studio.)

I finally got around to redoing the fototiller archives so the full posts with images will display by category and by month. It was really driving me crazy to see just the excerpts and it was so easy to change, I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner!

Just saw these bittersweet genevieve wallets over at poppytalk. They’re made using found photographs - pretty cool!

Barcode frames ($9.99) from Target’s new Independent Studies line.

Also available at KarmaKiss - cool magnetic cable photo holders. A very simple, modern way to hang your photos; use the magnets attached to the cable to hold up a photo and then hang the cable from the wall or ceiling. In addition to the original sleek style (which unfortunately is out of stock right now), there are designs that kids will love - with butterfly, heart and flower magnets.

Update - you can buy the original style now from photojojo’s store!

These animal frames available at KarmaKiss.com definitely fall in the kitschy cute category. But perfect fun party favors, especially for kids.

1. Photo frame pencil toppers (set of six for $8.99)
2. Dancing animal photo key chains ($6) - pull the string and watch them dance
3. Karma Kritter frames ($8.99)
4. Rockin’ animal photo frames ($7) - the little heads on these frames bobble back and forth

The latest issue of JPG Magazine is out. The issue theme is Oops! and features the best submitted ‘mistake’ photos, along with interviews from photographers Rion Nakaya and Ryan Gallagher (who does camera toss photography). Buy it here for $19.99.

Fellow album lover Jessica reminded me about the great handbound albums over at If’n Books + Marks. I’m a big fan of illustrator Jen Corace and love her great cover on the baby album (top left). Also check out the buttonhole stitch albums and the map albums.

Want a rock-star belt buckle with a photo of your choosing? Barbie’s Basement Jewelry of Toronto will make custom versions of the above buckle as well as their other products and designs (including pendants, rings, pet tags and key rings). (They do ship to the US, too!)

Jessica posted on the recycled goods from Tiffany Tomato Designs and these frames from pop labels and candy wrappers are pretty cool. Also, cool picture envelopes from old magazines - I’ve been thinking about doing some envelopes with old photos, so now I’m excited to get crackin’ and mail me some letters.

To me, paperweights have always seemed to be of questionable utility and always ended up being just another junky item cluttering up my desk. But as I’m sitting here trying to stave off the mugginess with a super-power fan blasting me, I’m guessing I could use one of them right about now. I found these kits for making paperweights from your photos and the selection of shapes and materials is the best I’ve seen anywhere (and not too pricey, either). The weights come in glass, crystal and acrylic and some of the acrylic styles can also be used to make coasters. The site also has step-by-step instructions for making the paper weights.

I know I’ve posted on the Do frame before, but I had a lot of trouble tracking down a place to buy it. Well, it’s now available at Unica ($13). Designed by marti guixe for do create by droog design, the do frame is a roll of tape with a frame pattern on it. It can be used to hold everything from photos to poster -perfect for putting up an instant photo gallery on your wall.

Shelteriffic is one of my daily reads and today they have a post on photoboxes. (And they so kindly mentioned fototiller - thanks guys!) I thought I’d post on these boxes I saw over at Target ($20). They provide acid-free storage in colors that will most likely blend in with other stuff on your shelves and have a flip-up lid for easy access.

Kevin posted on these cool DIY US Postal Service photo postcards over at the ReadyMade Blog. You can upload your own photos and designs to make your personal postcards (and even keep an online gallery of your photos) or use their designs (see above). Then enter your message and the service will mail them out for you. Great for baby announcements, save the date, moving announcements etc.

Beautiful and beachy frames made from driftwood by Bleu Nature.

Cute little picture or postcard holders in rose, orange, light green, and blue. From Avec home design.

From the latest issue of MS Living… Instructions for these photo centerpieces are also on the MS website.

Some very cool photo mobiles from Oxo Designs. Many different styles - from the beechwood and steel tournicoti sun which holds 28 spinning pictures (above left) to the tournicoti spiral (below top left). Check out the oxo design website where you can see some of the mobiles in motion. Some styles available online from this UK shop; still looking for other places to buy these.

I love these kitsch magnet frames from umbra that Grace posted on. Perfect for holding up all those photos on the fridge.

Block print mat from Urban Outfitters - love the patterns on these mats and the simple black lacquer frames. Can be used as wall frame or table frame.

New lomo novelty camera, the Dalek Supersampler, now at Colette.

Designed by the artist, Dalek, the camera comes with a Dalek design book with photos and assorted graphic design plus a supersampler booklet.

If you’re like me, you’ve probably taken tons of photos of your kids, but maybe not as many for your kids. Growing up with a both a photographer grandfather and father, there are tons of amazing photos of my brother and I, but very few of our surroundings growing up. I would love now to see a photo of the room I had when I was 8 or my first elementary school (which was torn down shortly after we moved) or the sweet elderly woman who lived behind our house and gave us the best easter candy.

So this entry in the “school’s out” series is for a simple documentary project to create a photo time capsule of all those places and things in your child’s life that you might not otherwise photograph.
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Announcement from Martha Stewart and Kodak of a joint venture - custom photo products with Martha magic coming this fall. Could be interesting…

“The new line will feature an array of personalized photo products–including cards, stationery, invitations, Photo Books, calendars, stickers and hang tags –created by the MSLO design team under Martha Stewart’s direction and supervision. MSLO will assume significant design responsibility for products in popular categories such as holidays, weddings, invitations, thank-you notes and babies, and will be developing designs for new emerging categories, including food and gardening.”

This hanging light from ingo mauer at twentytwentyone is ridiculously expensive but the idea is an interesting one. The light comes with pre-printed and blank Japanese paper that you can customize and attach to the light. I think this could be really beautiful with abstract b&w photos printed on the paper.

Seems like the eighties are popping up all around me these days. And as someone who received her first camera during that decade, I thought I’d post a little eighties style photo thingy.

Maripolarama - This book of polaroids from Maripol captures the creative scene of the early eighties on the lower east side with images of Madonna, Basquiat, Grace Jones, and Anna Sui among many others.

Pop Star Frame - This has got to be the perfect frame for those eighties self-portraits. I’m thinking the ones I took with the Kodak disc cam - picture day-glo orange mesh top, irridescent mirror sunglasses, and rubber bracelets up to the elbow.

Polaroid Impulse - Straight from 1988, the Polaroid impulse is the epitome of eighties style. Head over to lomography.com - they’ve acquired 200 pieces of pristine, brand new Impulse deadstock, straight from the late 80’s.

Ice Frame - Reminiscent of the Rubik’s cube, these futuristic frames reflect from different angles for an effect that is totally awesome.

Joy has a great post on animal necklaces, some of which are from Fuzz Design, which also carries this great frame. Almost a work of art by itself.

A few people have written in asking where they can buy the acte-deco vinyl wall stickers. I emailed Stéphanie of Atelier Deco in France and they can ship small items like the wall stickers to the US. Send an email to contact@atelierdeco.fr to find out about shipping costs.

Little bird photo holders - I know lots of people are tired of birds, but I married into a family of them (and not the way Stephen Colbert might be thinking). Also sweet frames for a baby and some green loveliness, all from French company, Coming b.

Weird and wacky photo clocks. Photo clock and memo clock, which has little clips for your pictures. Available online from UK shop Fearless.

Everyday, there seems to be more and more custom digital printing on every surface you can think of. From customised digital ceramic tiles, wallpaper and flooring at digitile (via Chris Glass) to dinnerware sets customized with your digital photo at imagewares (via poppytalk). It’s all still pretty expensive, but gets those DIY sparks a flyin’ in my little brain. I especially love Dominic Crinson’s designs for digitile (picture above and below).

Apartment Therapy has a post on some cool picture frames by Roy Kushner.

Another entry in the school’s out for summer series…

Here’s a quick three-step photoshop tutorial to make coloring pages for your kids from any digital photo. Kids will love coloring pictures of themselves and their family (what could be more fun than giving grandpa spiky purple hair and a green beard). Other ideas - help your kid take photos of their favorite toys, friends and places in your town or neighborhood (school, library, ice cream shop) and turn them into coloring pages. They make great diversions when you’re on the road or waiting in a restaurant.

Don’t have photoshop? If you use Corel Paint Shop Pro, you can try this .pdf tutorial for making coloring pages.

Continue reading to make your own coloring book…

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Here are two cute little Sukie albums for all your road trippin’ summer pics: the winnebago and motel photo albums. Screen-printed cloth cover albums hold 5×7 photos and come with an envelope for negatives and photo corners.

LomoKikuyu is a charity project by the Lomographic Society, and it’s as easy and as useful as it can possibly get: you donate 30 or 15 Euros/USD, receive a friendly little book for yourself, and save the eyesight of a blind person in Kenya. Learn more about it here and donate your money here.

It’s also the last week to enter the LomoKikuyu Online Competition. Upload your shots regarding the topics ‘eyes’ and ‘what would you want to show somebody who has just had their eyesight restored?’ and be in for winning.

“Portaritratti” travel frame ($115) from the new online shop at the Cooper Hewitt.

There’s something so summery about vintage floral patterns - they bring to mind big old midwestern porches, sun tea and snapping green beans into my grandma’s faded apron. And this being the first day of summer, I thought I’d post on these lovely little floral photo frames - the floribunda frame ($25) and garden club frame.

A new album collection from one of my favorites, Kolo. The Cortina Collection includes four new products, the Cortina Mini (a tiny photo album), the Cortina Lux (a 7 1/2″ X 8 1/4″ square book), the Cortina CD album and the Cortina 2-Up (holds sixty 4″ x 6″ photos). Prices range from $12 - $35. Love the great two-tone color schemes.

More 3D frames - this time from Urban Outfitters. The Lego-linking cubix frame has a thin membrance that you can fill with any objects along with photos, too. You pop open the frame and put in your item, clip it back together and show it off. You can use a hair dryer to resize the plastic membrane after continued use. Each Cubix works on its own or can be snapped together Comes in two sizes: cubix large - ($20) and cubix small - ($14).

I love the Thomas Paul frames, and now there are albums, too. $40 from nonchalant mom, here’s the details:

“These beautiful Thomas Paul photo albums are one of a kind, made from remnants of the pillows. So when you order them you will get whatever I have…If you want to be picky send me an email describing the one you want, and we can take it from there! made of 100% silk fabric over a hardcover three ring binder (so theoretically you can add more pages) books come with 20 pages for four 4×6 photos/page (front & back) and measures 8.5×9.5×2 inches.”

Apartment Therapy had a post last week on Cloth UK, a company that will create custom upholstered furniture, wall hangings, pillows and blinds from your photographs. A bit on the pricey side, but great for some diy inspiration.

I’m often just throwing my naked little point-and-shoot in my bag and who knows what happens to it in there. This camera pocket from Gyms Pacific (they make some cool laptop bags, too) is the simple, inexpensive case I need to protect it from the junk in my bag.

Comes in an array of colors (black, milk grey, dark grey, tangerine, bluebell and blue). Available in three sizes: Small 3.5″ X 5.5″ x 0.5″ - $16.95, Medium 3.75″ x 5.75″ x 0.5″ - $17.95, Large 4″ x 6″ x 0.5″ - $18.95.

It’s the second installment of “school’s out for summer” and this week I’ve got some great cameras and albums for kids to capture and store all those fun-in-the-sun moments.

The Mudpuppy line from Galison has these cute little albums for kids to put all their summer trip and summer camp photos ($10 each).

MoMA has a cool album for the tweens from their Modern Kids line, available in green and purple (on sale now for $7). Kids can use the supplied artwork for the cover or slide in their own picture - album zips closed and holds 36 4×6 photos.

Get your young one started taking pictures with some film cameras that won’t break the bank (and aren’t much more than a disposable camera, another good option for little kids). From left to right - frog, chicken and cow 35mm cameras ($12 each), underwater 35mm camera ($9), and the twin view-finder easy cam ($33).

Want to go digital? Check out the Kid-Tough digital camera for preschoolers($70). Older kids will love the cool colors and sleek shape of the Oregon Scientific 3.0 megapixel ThinCam ($100). Of course, another good option is to get a used digital camera for the kids.

Finally, for the wee-est ones, instead of a real camera get these cute camera shirts ($16, size 12 months). And put together their own little photo book with the “Look at Me” animal photo book ($7), in which you can insert a photo of your tot in each animal face frame.

I wrote a piece for today’s photojojo newsletter - all about cool ways for kids to play with your photos. If you haven’t already signed up for photojojo’s newsletter, go do it now! They have lots of cool photo tips, projects, gear reviews and it really is a fun newsletter to read.

I’m having some server/wordpress issues, so the tattoo project instructions are looking funky right now. Will get that fixed as soon as I can. And, I am going on vacation this week, so posting will be light. But check back next Monday for the next installment of “school’s out…” and more fun photo finds.

Introducing a brand spankin’ new summer series of photo projects for kids. Check back every Monday for new, fun projects for kids to do with their photos - all under the “school’s out” category. All summer long - or until I run out of ideas.

Tattoo You

Kids are tough - they don’t need tattoos to prove it. But what kid wouldn’t like to sport a snazzy tattoo of their choosing (temporary, of course). Here’s a fun little project to make your own photos into the coolest temporary tattoos using your handy little ink-jet printer.

Continue reading for all the how-to fun:

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Joy finds fabulous frames wallpaper - check it out here. Use to put up a whole wall of photos!

Fototiller reader Jessica wrote in about this cool little camera bag featured on the making time blog. Made from pattern in Stitch idees - Cafe Sister 2006 Vol 3, (ISBN4529042383). Does anyone know where to get the Stitch Idees series?

I read about inspire company on the decor8 blog and was inspired by these cute vintage photo tag cards ($6). I might have to try something like this using found photos or some old family photos.

Disposable flash camera from Paul Smith (£10). Overpriced? Okay, maybe. But fun to look at nonetheless. Eye candy only for stateside dwellers as it’s not available to USA customers.

I like to pretend I’m Swedish and, having grown up clog-dancing in Little Sweden USA, I can sometimes get away with it. I have a fondness for all things Swedish - Kosta Boda snowball votives, Dala horse signs, post boxes and… Ordning & Reda. So, of course, I have to write about their photo albums. The accordian photo album and meadow album are two of my favorites. Love the bright, happy colors on yet another rainy, dreary day like today.

This works as a picture frame, vase, or photo collection box. It is a clear box and has a pocket for photos. Plop in some flowers in the vase or just admire your photo through a frame of water. From trendform.

Magnum, the amazing photography co-operative, now has video podcasts of their Magnum in Motion series. These multimedia photo essays weave brilliant photographs with engaging audio commentary, music and other graphics. I watched the Alec Soth Niagara video and found it to be very intriguing and inspiring. (So good it gave me chills!) I’m definitely signing up for the video podcast - such a great way to stay connected with the latest documentary photography.

(via the cool hunter)

The personalight is a very cool way to display your photos. These lamps let you illuminate your photos by sliding them in between a diffusion layer (to keep out those hot spots) and a clear outerlayer. You can print out your own photos on the included transparency sheets (comes with two, but you can buy refills, 5 for $5). Or if you’re not up to printing yourself, you can send them a photo and they’ll print it for you. They also have a number of photos you can download and print, if you’re stuck for ideas. Choose from the pop lite ($50), pop mini ($30) and pop nite ($20, a cute little nightlight). Curiously, it is hard to find the link to order - you can buy them here.

I really like the clean and simple design of the dossier bent plywood album, from the Umbra Plus Studio Collection. Contains 20 acid free paper pages and includes photo corners, too.

Lily Latifi, a franco-iranian designer, has some really cute felt frames and photo holders that are perfect for kids. I especially like the puzzle-shaped yek-o-yek frames and the duck photo holders. Also available: yek-o-yek photo holders, pebble photo holders, photo birth cards and felt photo frames. Felt frames are 100% felt and washable in cold water.

In between the drenching rain and caring for my stomach-flu stricken toddler, I did actually manage to get out for a few hours this weekend for some window shopping (ok, was really supposed to be food shopping). I saw these running rhino albums at a great new and used bookstore, the toadstool. The photo journal ($20) includes lined pages intermixed with photo pages. Other photo albums, pictured below, hold 36 4×6 photos ($16).

1. Celadon photo album - friends camera
2. Mocha photo album - tripod
3. Mocha photo album - beach umbrella
4. Celadon photo album - photographer

Boon, the newly launched business of Anjel and Via, is focused on creating unique paper goods using pulp-free abaca papers that are made by a paper-making program in the Phillippines, with proceeds going to local education and a women’s shelter. The designs include some lovely alternatives for holding your photos. They are just now getting retailers, so I’ll post an update on where to buy in the future.

Magnetic Picture Frames (above):
Little m