My friend John (who, by the way, runs a really cool record label) recently got me interested in using disposable cameras again. I don’t even remember the last time I used film.. it was probably long long ago with a pink camera that imprinted hello kitty in the corner of each shot. :p

So this past weekend I got a $5.99 disposable camera from Walgreens and experimented. I felt guilty for taking so many photos in one weekend, but I was really interested in seeing the effect a disposable camera had on photos. I didn’t want to spend weeks/months filling my first disposable camera only to realize, after finally getting them developed, that I didn’t like the quality of the images.

But turns out there was no reason for me to worry; I’m in love with how these turned out. :] I thought I’d share some of my experiments with different locations/lighting with you guys~

Things I now love about disposable cameras:

• Each shot feels slightly precious. It prevents you from taking dozens of shots.
• You can’t see the photo immediately after taking it.
• The one or two shots you take is what you get. No choosing between a bunch of photos to find one that you feel best represents the moment. The photo you take is what ends up representing the moment. (No idealizing the memory? I’m not quite sure how to explain it, haha..)

Maybe I’m just tired of all the digital clutter I have. It’s so easy to accumulate gigabyte after gigabyte of memories… but sometimes I feel like it’s too much to keep track of. In the future I plan on using my disposable cameras at a slower pace, and hopefully I will record some nice memories with them. Memories I’ll be able to keep in a box or album instead of only digitally. :]

Happy belated Valentine’s Day everyone! c; I didn’t want to post this yesterday because I hadn’t given this particular valentine yet..

At first I wasn’t sure what to make for my boyfriend.. then Caro reminded me of an embroidered picture she made for her boyfriend for their most recent anniversary, and eventually I got the idea for this coupon. :] The fabric is the same velvet I used for this dress, the title and walrus are hand embroidered and the text is painted~

The story behind it: only a few short hours after Michael asked me to be his girlfriend, he tried to say that I couldn’t kick him anymore. (I only kick people when they deserve it, i.e. when they say something really mean and deserve it.) But I made a face at him and he took his request back. c:

So I decided to give him this one coupon for a completely kick-free week. I wonder when he’s going to use it.

Oh, and there is a walrus on it because he calls me a walrus. Because I’m so big and heavy and hard to move.

Sneak preview of my most recent project. ;p

Photo shot by Caro, set and editing by me~

I just realized that I have no idea what to tag this as hmm..

After around 5 months Caro and I finally couldn’t stand our curtains anymore. They came with the apartment, and up until we rearranged the living room we were able to partially ignore them. But after we had a nice new arrangement we were reminded of just how gross and ugly the curtains were (there are giant stains on them..).

So last thursday I rushed home after my class at 7:40 pm so that we could make it to the fabric store. None of the patterned fabrics were exactly what we were looking for.. then we realized that we could make our own pattern to match the blanket that Caro put on the sofa. :D

We had to look through cell phone photos to find shots with our couch in it, haha.. but here is what we finally ended up with. :]] We estimated and bought a bunch of fabric, then used photoshop to decide what order we liked them in.

I failed to remember to check the fabric widths before we bought them (oops). Some of them ended up having 70” widths while others were 35”, so we had to do some creative rearranging of our idea. That’s why two of the panels are split colors. ;p But I actually like them that way now~

Total project time, including purchasing fabric was around 4 hours. We were in a hurry because we were holding our first party the next day, haha.

Next project for the living room is to use the leftover curtain fabric to make covers for the pillows that came with the apartment. c;

Yesterday (or really this morning at 1:30am) was the first time I got to see my music visualizer in action! I’m so happy I finally got the chance to finish this, and super lucky I was able to convince my professor to let me use it as a final project (if it’s for class I have an excuse to spend time on it!).

I had the craving to make a large-scale wall music visualizer about a year ago, and came up with the idea to use soft circuits on the flight back from San Francisco this past summer. Using soft circuits meant that it could be flexible, light, easy to hang up and super easy to transport (compared to my original idea using plastic LED diffusing plates).

This was created using an Arduino microcontroller, and takes input from ambient noise in a room (not through a cable/mp3 player) using an electret mic circuit. It’s still not completely finished and I plan on making a new and improved one in the near future, but for now I am very very happy I got something done. c;

In case anyone has questions about it or wants to try and create their own, I have a wiki page (for class, haha) full of information and links. :] I would have included the information in this post but it would have ended up obnoxiously long.. If you have any additional questions I’d be happy to help~

Song in the video is Night by Night by Chromeo

Adhesive and Glaze Guide

It took me until today to realize I had almost a full drawer of glues and glazes.. So many, haha. :p  I figured I’d upload a list of them all and what I use each one for, since I occasionally get questions about some of them. :]

1. Krylon UV-Resistant Clear - Gloss: Gives a shiny protective coating, I spray it over glittered things to keep glitter from from shedding constantly (matte does not look good over glitter). I also use it to protect things that may het wet/need to be washed (outside of a flask, casual jewelry).
2. Krylon UV-Resistant Clear - Matte: A matte protective coating, perfect for protecting drawings (pencil, pastel, etc).
   
3. Diamond Glaze: Gives a dimensional, resin like surface. I use it on top of shrinky dinks and scrabble tile pendants to add a 3d coating. This takes a while to dry, so first protect the surface with a spray coating (shrinky dinks) or a brush-on gloss and let dry before applying Diamond Glaze.
4. Elmer’s School Glue: I honestly don’t use this that much.. It’s water soluble so it’s not good for something that will get wet (rhinestones on shoes). Personally I think that Tacky Glue is more flexible (this may be all in my head though :p) so I prefer using that, especially for binding pages in handmade books.
5. Fabri-Tac Permanent Adhesive: DO NOT get this for rhinestones!! It may seem easier to work with because it’s more fluid and applies easily, but something in it cracks the silver backing on plastic rhinestones and gives them and old, dirty appearance (unless that’s what you’re looking for). Still have yet to find the perfect use for it, though I’m sure there will be one eventually.
6. Crafter’s Pick Fabric Glue: This is the best glue I’ve found so far for rhinestones (glued onto a solid surface/shoe at least, haven’t really tried it on fabric). It has a super good hold on rhinestones, is tacky enough to dry 3-dimensionally and hold onto rhinestones, and dries super clear. The only downside is that it dries pretty quickly, and does not come out of the applicator easily. To solve this I use a mini spatula to “grab” glue and apply it directly onto the surface that way.
7. DuraClear Varnish - Satin: I lovee using this on paper projects. In the past I’ve coated: record album notebooks and collaged candy boxes. Not pleasant to get on your hands (like superglue in texture but not nearlyy as painful). It has a nice finish, between a matte and a gloss.
8. Tacky Glue: As I mentioned earlier, I use it as an all around craft glue in place of Elmer’s. Water soluble so not good for any project that will get exposed to much water.
9. Imagination Gallery Super Color Inkjet “Over Coat”: Meant to be used for coating photos printed at home. I used it because it was at my parent’s home and I was impatient/didn’t want to pay for the Krylon Gloss spray if I already had this one available. :p I think the Krylon Gloss spray can be used for photos too.
10. Mod Podge: A waterbase glaze/glue. Gives things a gloss coating. I personally don’t like as much because I feel like the final texture is a tiny bit sticky.. I may be wrong though. Also not good for anything that will be exposed to a lot of water, as it is not completely water-resistant (I once tried to make a screen-printing design with Mod-Podge as the blocker. The screen only last through one application because the Mod-Podge started washing away when I was washing the paint off, haha oops..)
11. Painter’s Tape: Sososooo useful. It’s like masking tape but slightly thinner and easier to remove. I use it to protect parts of projects that I don’t want to ruin with brushed paint, glue or spray paint. I also use this to hang posters up on my wall. ;p
12. Packing Tape: Sometimes I’ll this to laminate things (lay strips side by side). Mostly I just use it to pack things to ship out. :]
13. Barge All Purpose Cement: I use it for repairing shoes or gluing things I absolutely want to be water/weather proof. I bought this because I was unable to find Shoe Goo Shoe Glue and a shoemaker said that it worked the same. Cons are that it has a very strong odor, as well as a yellowish color that will discolor your project if you aren’t careful.

Wow that was a lot.. hope this helps a little! As always, feel free to message me with any questions. :]

If you have nothing better to do you should play the javascript game I made a few weeks ago. :D

Click the image or go here to play~

(I think it only works in firefox though.. D: )

Made this flask tonight for a friend. :D

Tutorial up tomorrow~

I filled my old laser kitty moleskine so I decorated a new one with the bat stamp I made last week. :D

Somehow I’ve got the feeling that halloween icons aren’t going to be only for halloween anymore..at least for me. :o

How Eva knew that I’ve been wanting a clean, new gum eraser to make a stamp with, I may never find out.

But she sent me one today and now I have a new bat stamp~

All I did was draw my design on the eraser and cut it out with an exacto knife. :] (I’ve heard you can do this with a potato as well.) The ink in the photo was just marker, but I’m thinking about trying fabric paint on leggings..