Here's an easy and quick tutorial to make DIY Polaroid Pictures that don't require great art skills and looks exactly the same as real ones for much cheaper. My personal favorite DIY!



Okay, let me tell you straight up. This DIY has to be my most favorite one yet! It is super easy, requires very little computer knowledge (if you aren't technology savvy), only requires a document-editing software, is wayyy cheaper than buying a polaroid camera + the films every time, and looks literally the same from the front! 5 amazing pros with the only con being...nothing!

P.S. Go to the bottom of this post if you wanna skip the reading and just watch the video!



Without further ado, here's an easy and detailed tutorial to create perfect polaroid picture dupes in about only four (yes, 4!) cents each! (for a mini polaroid. for a larger polaroid, 8 cents only!). For my Indian viewers, that's around 2.5 rupees per mini polaroid (and 5 rupees for a bigger polaroid)!

Disclosure: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links, which means that I get a commission if you choose to purchase after clicking a link. This doesn’t cost you anything, and I only recommend products I love! Thank you for supporting the work I put into this site!

How to edit your photos:
To give the polaroid-like effect to the pictures, I use one of my favorite photo editing apps - VSCO.
Literally all you have to do is add the T1 filter (I like to keep it around +6 only not the entire effect, but that's up to you) and then increase the contrast. Again, it depends from picture to picture how much editing is required to give it the polaroid effect but I usually stick to +1 contrast only. The settings I use give it only a slight polaroid effect so you can adjust them according to what you want.


 


Also, the colors do look slightly different when it is printed so if you're lucky, your printer will help you achieve the polaroid effect! 

Let's get to the physical stuff now:

The first thing you will need is some glossy photo paper. Preferably, use the same brand as your printer but it doesn't really matter that much. I used the HP glossy photo paper in my Epson printer and it turned out fine. The Epson glossy photo paper, I believe, is cheaper than the HP one in case you want to go for the cheaper option. I used the HP one because it was already lying around, probably from ages ago.


Next, you will obviously need a laptop and any document editing software (Microsoft Word or the apple document editing software. I clearly have no clue what it is called).

Start by first adjusting the paper size and margins. Here are the settings I kept for my specific type of photo paper:

If your photo paper has tabs and you would like to avoid those tabs, make sure to select the size option "with tab" while printing. I did not do this even though my paper had tabs. This is what I did instead: After my first print, I understood which side has an excess margin and made sure the tab came on that side when inserting the paper into the printer. By doing this, I could just break off the tab after printing and the white space in the polaroids would be uniform instead of two having longer white spaces than the other two (you will understand this better when you see how I added the pictures below).

Next, use the ruler feature to create two perpendicular lines going exactly through the middle of the page. Make the lines a light gray color so that if you cut incorrectly, the lines won't be as visible.


If the rulers are not visible, then go to the "view" tab and click on the ruler box as shown below:

TIP: To ensure uniformity, use one picture and size the other 3 pictures to the same dimensions as the first one. You can crop the picture if needed. Use one picture as a guide so that the placement is exact for the next picture and so that the white space is the same for each "polaroid".

This is my aesthetically pleasing August 2017 Bullet Journal Setup. I decided to continue the same minimalistic and monochrome theme with the elements also having the similar style. I decided to make some minor changes as you will know as you continue reading this post.


If you'd like to skip this post and watch the setup being made, you can go to the end of this post for my August 2017 Setup video.

Read my previous Bullet Journal posts:

• Bullet Journal Setup (New)
• BuJo June 2017 Monthly Spread
• BuJo July 2017 Monthly Spread

I must admit, my July spread wasn't filled as much as I had hoped, especially the weekly log sections. I didn't really do much and ended up opening my Bullet Journal less often than compared to the month of June. For August, again, I know I will not use the pages much and so decided to try and not waste pages. I created a monthly spread very similar to last month and the month before that. I did, however, add a different element or two and change the look of one of the elements.


I decided to keep the calendar layout the exact same with the same dimensions because this particular element and the style has worked very well for me. I highly recommend making this calendar spread if you want to keep track of tasks/events that have particular dates but don't want to make an entire daily log for the one or two words you will write down:


As you can see above, I wrote "August" (amateur lettering) and decorated only the top part of the page with a simple black and white washi tape that I recently purchased (Click Here to see my Washi Tape Collection).

I added a small title for my monthly goals, monthly stats, and "to buy" (last minute shopping list containing items I couldn't or didn't have the time to buy in July).



I changed up the style for the daily gratitude section so that I can keep track of it more effectively. In my July Spread, I just put the heading as "Daily Gratitude" and didn't add any dates. This was a problem because I would forget to write in it every day and failed in keeping track of when I write what I'm grateful for and when I don't.


Finally, I added my TV Show Tracker to the monthly spread because I know what shows I'll be watching in August and I realized that dedicating one entire page for a TV Tracker (like I did in my Old Bullet Journal Setup) didn't suffice. I watch a lot of TV Shows and one page for one year just didn't do it. I'd rather have my current TV Shows listed on the monthly spread so it's easier for me to see what episodes are left to watch and also so that I don't have to go through finished shows in the future months while trying to find my current ones.


On the next page, I added an Activity Tracker and a "How was my day" Tracker. I decided to keep it simple.


Finally, for this month's setup, I have my Packing List element. If you didn't know already, I'm going to begin my first semester at my University this fall and so I want to make sure I don't forget the important stuff while packing.


My August 2017 Bullet Journal Setup Video:

Background image from Unsplash.com

I am not someone who absolutely loves color. My wardrobe is 75% black and neutrals (the rest just being colorful items I bought years ago). I do use color while planning in my planner but if you saw my Bullet Journal Setup for this year (click here to see that), you'll see that it's minimalist and black and grey (except the book which is a blue - not a big fan, but I'm about to buy a new one). Anyways steering back to the topic...
Summer is represented by color and florals and beaches, etc. I don't mind the florals and the beaches, kinda mind the bright colors. I've thought of some Floral DIYs that you could make with any color palette of your choice - whether you want it in gray-scale or filled with neon hues, it's up to you.

An idea of how your frame-calendar could look like!

• Select a photo frame of your choice.
• Print out or draw (your choice) the layout of the month or months you intend to use on paper sized appropriately according to the frame size. (FYI, It doesn't only have to be for summer months, keep reading for more ideas). 
• Collect flowers, leaves, etc. of your choice and decide on a general arrangement that won't completely cover your calendar but overlays a little bit.
• Add a very small piece of double-sided tape (or loop a single-sided tape) to the back of your flowers/leaves but make sure it's barely visible if it is. Stick it to the calendar.
• Insert the calendar page with the stuck on florals into the frame and smush it between the glass of the frame and backing board. 

And there you go! Now all you need is a dry erase marker to add notes/events/reminders/etc to your calendar. If you have some important events you already know of you can write it on the paper before putting it inside the frame.

This one is again very flexible to your aesthetic!
You can add polaroids, quotes, flowers/leaves (fake or real, though real flowers will probably not last long), reminders, and so on.
Here's how I would make it:

• Take a clipboard of your preferred size. You can get one with your color choice, or if you don't find one that's the right color, spray paint it whatever color you desire! Remember to tape the clip if you want it to remain the way it is.
• Take some good pictures, either aesthetically pleasing or great memories. It doesn't have to be a Polaroid it could be a simple printed picture as well (though using photo paper will make it look way better if you decide to print)
• Print out a quote or two and cut it out. You can add anything to it, you can even make it a vision board/inspiration board.
• Add the elements to your board. You can do this in two ways as shown in the picture above:                   1) If you want to make it have a clean look, add double-sided tape or any tape to the back of your elements                                                                                           2) Stick them to the board using washi tape/a thin duct tape or use bulletin pins (you may have to hammer them a bit so they don't fall out. This will work if you have a wooden board, but you'll probably crack it if you are using an acrylic/plastic one).

You can put this up on your wall using a nail. If you live in a dorm or if you are not allowed to drill holes into your wall wherever you live, you can place it on your desk at a slight angle or on a shelf and it'll look just as great!

3 different preferences! From minimal to all-in (and a lot more variations in between!)

This next one is very common but there are endless possibilities on how you can customize it. The selection of glass, flowers & leaves, etc.
Personally, I prefer the glass type shown above (simple and sleek looking) and the first arrangement (left). 
Here are a few additions you can make to this DIY (I recommend using fake flowers/leaves if you do any of the below):

• Add resin or clear candle wax to the vase after arranging your flowers to give the effect of water (you can add stones before adding the resin/wax too).
• use masking tape to make a shape/stripe across your vase/glass and paint or spray paint the exposed part
• spray paint the flowers  a color of your choice. White and/or black is what I would do (minimalist and my aesthetic).
• add pebbles or sand (or both) to the bottom of the vase/glass

Click Here if you want to see how my Bullet Journal for 2017 looks like (setup)
Click below to see my video! (: