Modern Cottage made this cool advent calendar using an old type drawer and photos of numbers for each day. Very clever. I love the idea of using a type drawer as a frame for photos!

Stickers from your photos… Via How about orange

Martha just launched her new line of craft supplies. Haven’t had a chance to check it all out, but I love the cutout mats of these photo frames in the Photo Frame Kit.

Here’s one of three projects I wrote up for the latest JPG Magazine, issue 9. Check it out – subscribe online or buy it at a bookstore. These projects take a digital photo from the dim glow of your computer monitor to a lovely light to amp up the atmosphere at your next party, brighten up a dark nook in your home or give as a cool photo gift. Love panoramas? Like lamps? Then this project is for you. Here’s how to make a very simple lampshade from a panorama photo – you can use it for an existing lamp base or use a hanging bulb kit to make the shade into a hanging pendant.

What you need:

• A lampshade (drum or cylinder shape is the easiest to deal with) in white or very pale color.
• Panorama photo cropped to fit the circumference and height of the shade and printed on translucent paper (ink jet vellum paper works nicely) Note: instead of a panorama, you can also put together more than one photo or use pieces of a photo.
• Double-sided tape or glue dots

Print the photo out onto the translucent paper; it’s fine to print it on more than one piece of paper. Measure your shade and cut the photo to fit around the shade. Attach to the inside of the shade using double stick tape or glue dots. The image will appear when you turn on the light and disappear when the light is off. For a more intense effect, you can instead put your photo on the outside of the shade so it is visible at all times.

Five and a half makes great journals using reclaimed and recycled paper, including these made with photos for covers, sold through their etsy store two twelve. They also have put together this great little tutorial so you can turn your own prints into journals. I can’t wait to try this for myself.

I was looking for fun kids projects this weekend and came across this tutorial for making a doll using a photo for the face. What a great idea for kids who don’t get to see their relatives all that often. Also, the tutorial contains some useful info on products to use for printing photos on fabric.

Happy New Year! Looking for a calendar for the new year? Martha Stewart and Kodak have some nice simple calendar designs you can use to make your own photo calendars.

Special offer now on the ornamento kit – buy one get two free (that’s two for $20). Just follow the link and enter promo code XMAS2006. The kit includes everything you need to make three glass ornaments or magnets from you photos. Or get 25% off on any of the other kits.

A little list of DIY photo goodness to give for the holidays.

1. Sunprint kit – Perfect for the photographer who misses printing her own pics in the darkroom. This kit includes everything you need to make your own sunprints – just convert your pictures to black and white transparencies and create prints in the sun.
2. Personalized paint by number – Know someone more into painting than snapping pics? Give them a personalized paint by number kit created from one of your fabulous photos.
3. Hole-on ex paper camera kit – You can never have too many cameras and one that you make yourself is even better. Kit to make your own pinhole camera.
4. Photo album needlepoint kit – For the crafty folk in your clan, a needlepoint kit to make a photo album with some very cool designs (monograms, too!).
5. DIY photo block kit – Here’s a great gift for those who aren’t so in to framing their photos – a kit to make puzzle like blocks from their pictures.
6. Photocraft: Cool Things to Do with the Pictures You Love – For the super crafty photographer, this book has a wealth of information on things to make and do with your photos. The resource listings for diy photo supplies are fantastic.

1. Buy some plain cork coasters (available at craft stores – I used the Duga coasters from IKEA) or cut your own coaster-sized cork pieces from a cork roll or cork tile. Four by four inches is a nice size if you’re cuttin’ your own.
2. For super water-proofness, cut out some peel-and-stick laminate sheets to fit over images you want to use and stick them on.
3. Using the cork coaster as a template, cut out your laminated images.
4. Glue image back to the coaster and let dry under the weight of a book or two. (I used Zip Dry paper glue.)
5. Wrap ‘em up with the recipient’s libation of choice.

[This is a piece I wrote up for the latest JPG magazine. Interested to see more? Subscribe here and get a discount while you're at it.]