For Valentine’s Day today (you didn’t forget, did you?), San Francisco-based self-proclaimed super nerd Doctor Popular decided to give his significant other a card packaged inside a 35mm film canister.
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If you’re looking for a fun and cheap gag gift that’s somewhat photography related, check out Paper-Kit. It’s a simple, and easy-to-use web app that lets you turn your portrait photos (probably better described as mug shots) into nifty 3D heads that you print, cut, and assemble yourself.
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With Christmas just around the corner, here’s a clever DIY craft idea for adding some photographic cheer to your gift giving this year: adorn your presents with gift bows made out of 35mm film strips.
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About a year ago, we shared a neat DIY method of transferring black-and-white photos onto blocks of wood. A very similar technique can be used for displaying your photos on glass. Inspired Ideas writes that all you need are a toner-based print of your photo (e.g. using a copier or laser printer) and some clear contact paper.

Sticking the contact paper to your print will transfer the toner from your ordinary paper to the sticky transparent film. The next step is to soak the two connected sheets in water, which softens up the white paper and allows it to be rubbed off. What you’re left with is a piece of wet transparent contact paper that features your photo. Let it dry to restore its stickiness, and then attach the resulting “sticker” to whatever you’d like to show off your photo on (e.g. glass jars, candle holders, windows etc.)

Making Memory Candles [Inspired Ideas via Photojojo]

Want a personalized pencil holder for your workspace that features your photography? Check out this neat “photo-roll holder” idea by Tali Schiffer. The basic ingredients are an empty box and a bunch of duplicate prints of the same photograph. If you roll all of your prints to the same diameter (using a pencil or a paintbrush helps), you can line them up side-by-side to recreate your original photo while creating a loopy wall around your box. Depending on the size of your holder and the diameter of your rolls, you’ll probably need about 10-20 prints for each of the four sides. You can find a step-by-step tutorial for this project over on Photojojo.

P.S. In addition to being a pencil holder, you can also create one of these boxes for holding things like film rolls. It could serve as an “outbox” for rolls that need to be developed.

For a fun weekend craft, try sculpting your own camera using a chunk of oven bake clay. Philippine based-photo enthusiast Astilla created the sculpture above, and writes,

Mold a piece of clay into a rectangle for the body. Then make all the necessary parts such as the lens, the viewfinder, the winding knobs on top and Fritz the Blitz flash (It’s good to have picture references ready just in case!).

Attach all the parts on your rectangular camera body and use your sculpting tools to make sure it attaches well. Fill in details using a pointed sculpting tool to draw necessary lines on parts and poking a hole through the viewfinder.

5 minutes in a toaster oven will harden the sculpture, after which you can decorate it with acrylic paint (be sure to let it cool first). This could make for a neat decorative piece for your desk or shelf, or a personal gift for a fellow photo enthusiast (make their favorite camera!).

Crafty Tipster: Oven Bake Cameras [Lomography]

As you already know, we’re pretty obsessed with Polaroids, and all the creative photography we can get our hands on. This tutorial will teach you how to make a pop-up Polaroid camera card that “prints” out a miniature Polaroid picture.

The pieces of card stock for this project are about 7-1/2 inches long by 4-1/2 inches wide. To create a mini Polaroid you can print, we recommend using the Shake It Photo iPhone app. Send the image from your phone to your email, drop it into Preview, Photoshop or Word to resize, and you’re good to go.
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If you have some unwanted 35mm negatives lying around and need a simple gift idea, you can try your hand at turning them into one-of-a-kind bookmarks. Simply cut out the actual frames from the film strip and replace them with actual photographs to create film strips that you don’t need to hold up to the light to enjoy.

Create a Stylish Bookmark with 35mm Film [Lomography]

Accidentally expose an entire roll of film to light? Instead of throwing it away, you can turn it into a geeky greeting card! Lomographer brilliantgreen made a Christmas-themed one using small illustrations and letters cut out of a magazine, but you could do it for any occasion.

Film Roll Christmas Letters [Lomography]

Our camera stickers are fun, but for something more personal you can make your own 35mm film stickers. All you need is a sticker making machine that usually costs between $10-$20 online or in your local craft store. You can use any film you’d like, though slide film is recommended because it’ll give you positive image stickers. With film manufacturers struggling, any reason to buy more film is a good reason!

DIY: Make Easy & Fun 35mm Film Stickers! [Photojojo]