polaroid picture frame diy

For one of my best friend's birthday, I knew that I wanted to make her something personable that she could take with her to college because uhm WE ARE OFFICIALLY SECOND SEMESTER SENIORS!!! This is a great present to make because it is not that difficult to make (to be honest the hardest part was finding all the material), but the end result was super cute and she really liked it. 

Materials:

Shadow box picture frame

Tiny wooden clothes pins (the ones used for scrapbooking)

Ribbon

Scrapbook paper to line the back ( I actually found a thin sheet of scrapbooking cork that I used instead!)

Hot glue/craft glue/scissors

Pictures cropped to square size

Step 1: Cut your pictures out of the paper into a Polaroid shape. All this means is that you leave a wider white border at the bottom of each picture.

Step 2: Remove the backing of your picture frame and trace it on your scrapbook paper/cork. Cut to size.

Step 3: Measure out ribbon and glue the ends to the other side of your scrapbook/cork lining, then glue the non-ribbon side of the scrapbook/cork to the back of your picture frame.

Step 4: Clip on your pictures onto the ribbon and arrange to your desire

Step 5: Place the whole thing back into the frame and ta-da! Wasn't that simple?

TIP: If you cannot find a shadow box frame, an alternative is to use a regular picture frame and just remove the glass! The point of using a shadow box frame is so you can place three dimensional items inside the frame, like the clothespins.

la flower district + thoughts on being named after a flower

(left: my namesake flower/ right: pretty pastel hydrangeas)

Walking through the midst of a sea of buckets crammed with pastel petals, out of the corner of my eye I see a bucket with just a single bunch of flowers left . The bucket is extremely dirty, the water level is low, and the yellowing sign that names the flower has been stained with water damage. But the single bunch of flowers inside is unashamedly, shockingly bright violet. I bend down, intrigued by this survivor of abandonment, and flip around the sign that has drooped down.   

Although my name is spelled Emilie, and the flower’s name is Emile, I immediately develop a strange emotional attachment to this bundle of violet petals. Although scientifically, I know the flower’s will to live has nothing to do with its actual survival, (because flowers are inanimate objects and don’t have wills), in my fanatical mind, I imagine the flower resolutely being bright violet, surviving despite all odds. You can blame Daisy in the Great Gatsby, because ever since I read the book junior year, I've imagined anyone named after a flower to be very fragile and demure- something pretty to be looked at. Unfortunately, this dreamy misconception of mine is only reinforced by the fact that I do not know anyone named after a flower to prove me wrong. In any case, it makes me happy that my namesake flower is fearlessly violet, unique, and a survivor. If you Google image “Emile Flower,” fewer than three rows of images of my flower pop up, just as when substitutes pronounce my name, they usually stop, blink a few times, and completely butcher it. 

Looking back, I realize that I have just spent three paragraphs rambling on about how I relate to a flower that does not even fully replicate my name, but something about that flower triggered a spark in me that has empowered me. Today, I finally finished formatting and coding this blog after two weeks of non-stop work, and have even started studying for my finals. Thank you, little flower, for giving me this spur of motivation.

-emilie