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Camera Lens Pal- Making Kids Smile- A tutorial

June 20, 2011 by Wifeeclectic 30 Comments

 

One of the hardest things about photography can be making children smile, and/or to getting them to look at the camera, enter the Camera Lens Pal. This wonderful little guy slips over my lens giving the kids something to look and smile at. So far, he has been a big hit and the best part? He cost about $2 and took about 15 minutes to make. Here’s how.

 

You will need:
a stuffed animal (a hand puppet is the easiest one to work with but you can make others work too)
scrunchieΒ in the color of your animal
needle
thread
cup

I bought both items from the dollar store. There was a whole bin of small stuffed animals in the toy section. Look for animals that have hands and feet such as this elephant, this will let your animal surround the camera lens. A animal without limbs, like a dolphin or snake won’t have the same effect.

First cut out the center of your animal, leave enough fabric on the top, bottom and around the arms that you can sew it to the scrunchie. About an inch or so of fabric is adequate.

Find a cup about the size of your camera lens, you can use your actual lens if you need to but it is slightly easier with the cup. Stretch your elastic over the cup and then wrap your stuffed animal around the cup until it looks they way you want it and pin. Hand sew the your animal to the elastic, making sure to catch both the front piece of fabric on your animal and the one on the back. Leave the elastic wrapped around the cup while you sew will ensure that your animal looks the way you want it too when it is on your lens.

If you want, you can repeat the process with the feet of your animal. I think a pal would look cute both ways and leaving off the feet with save you a little bit of time. Although, I do think it is completely darling to have the complete animal hanging around your camera.

Add to your camera lens and use to get those kiddos smiling.

 

I love my elephant, what kind of animal would you use to accessorize your camera?

post signature

Filed Under: Parenting, Tutorials Tagged With: Arts and Crafts, Feature

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. affectioknit says

    June 20, 2011 at 4:33 pm

    What a good idea! really cute!

    Reply
  2. Kari says

    June 20, 2011 at 6:08 pm

    I LOVE THIS! We recently had a photographer use a duck one and it actually worked and got my little ones to smile! Thanks so much for sharing!

    Reply
  3. Kristine @ JandMs Eye Candy says

    June 20, 2011 at 6:32 pm

    WOW!! So genius!!! And not to mention SUPER cute!! Found you thru Ucreate! Thanks for sharing!!

    We are hosting a link party called β€œHelp a Momma Out” every Tuesday! This would be an awesome link up for other momma's out there ! I would appreciate if you'd add it. Thanks in advance for your consideration πŸ™‚

    Kristine
    http://www.jandmseyecandy.blogspot.com

    Reply
  4. Kim and Corey Nasfell says

    June 20, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    Super genius!! I'm definitely going to be making several of these!!

    Reply
  5. Cook Clean Craft says

    June 21, 2011 at 12:27 am

    How adorable! Unfortunately, I'm strangely uncomfortable cutting into stuffed toys so I won't be able to make one for my camera!

    Reply
  6. Carol says

    June 21, 2011 at 2:25 am

    Cute, cute, cute! I do have one question–maybe a dumb one. How do you see to take the picture? Isn't the viewfinder covered up?

    Reply
  7. Three on Grove says

    June 21, 2011 at 3:27 am

    That is totally awesome. I will be making one this summer. Thanks for the crafty inspiration!

    Reply
  8. Lorene (just Lu) says

    June 21, 2011 at 4:03 am

    Remember how this was and is awesome? And way easier than making your own animal and sewing it to the scrunchie? Yeah, good times πŸ™‚

    Reply
  9. Sean says

    June 21, 2011 at 5:29 am

    MR ELEPHANT NOOOOOO

    Reply
  10. Johnnie says

    June 21, 2011 at 11:36 am

    Genius! Stopping by from Craftomaniac Hop. New follower! Blessings… Saved By Love Creations

    Reply
  11. Heather says

    June 21, 2011 at 2:46 pm

    What a great idea! My friend just started working as a professional photographer, I'm going to show her this idea. Please think about adding your blog to our directory, it's free! πŸ™‚ Heather at 500dollarwedding.blogspot.com

    Reply
  12. Amy says

    June 21, 2011 at 7:59 pm

    I love this and can't wait to make one for my photography!!! Thanks for the great tutorial!!

    Reply
  13. Tina says

    June 23, 2011 at 9:05 pm

    I love elephants! I bought one of those puppets a few months ago for something else, but can't find them now! I will be on a Dollar Tree hunt for him because this is just too cute, and elephants are the best!

    Reply
  14. Rossyl says

    June 24, 2011 at 3:22 pm

    so very inventive….u rock

    Reply
  15. leslie says

    June 25, 2011 at 12:25 pm

    I think this is a very cute idea!! but, I am with the other comment I don't get how you see to take the picture.

    Do you set it up and then put the animal on it? Or I know with my rebel you can use the LCD screen but it is difficult to get pulled up and goes away after one shot…

    please do explain πŸ™‚

    Reply
  16. Debra says

    June 25, 2011 at 8:13 pm

    I am happy to explain! On an SLR camera what you see through the viewfinder is actually coming through the lens. Since this little pal goes around the lens, it doesn't block anything and you can see just fine!

    Reply
  17. Mommyof2girlz says

    June 26, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    Love, love, love! Thank you for sharing the tut with us!

    Reply
  18. Monica @ Equipping Catholic Families says

    June 28, 2011 at 7:23 pm

    really cool idea! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  19. kasia says

    June 28, 2011 at 9:21 pm

    really great idea! I pinned it. Too bad that we do not have dollar stores here. Well I guess I will have to go to the 15 dollar store:)
    and make this cutie for my friends baby – my little one (2.5)poses already:) the little princess. Thank you for sharing

    Reply
  20. Melissa says

    June 28, 2011 at 10:53 pm

    This is awesome! We do some photography on the side and would definitely use this πŸ™‚ Thanks for sharing!!

    Reply
  21. Kristine @ JandMs Eye Candy says

    June 29, 2011 at 8:17 am

    THANK YOU so much for linking up to Help a Momma Out Tuesday!! We appreciate it!! This idea fits perfectly πŸ˜‰

    Kristine
    http://www.jandmseyecandy.blogspot.com

    Reply
  22. Sharra Lynn says

    June 30, 2011 at 10:16 am

    LOVE LOVE LOVE, so much better than some I have seen for sale. This will be a great addition to my studio.

    Reply
  23. jeannine says

    June 30, 2011 at 12:01 pm

    i love this! so easy! I think I would add a noise maker – some kind of bell or squeaky – maybe inside the hands? to get kids to look up at the camera.

    Reply
  24. Andrea S. says

    June 30, 2011 at 12:52 pm

    Genious! Thank you so much for the step-by-step tutorial. I definitely want to try this out!

    Reply
  25. Anonymous says

    September 6, 2011 at 5:43 am

    Do you know if it affects your white balance? I think it's a great idea…. maybe if you custom set it? I think the scrunchie would cover the meter? Just thinking out loud πŸ™‚

    Reply
  26. p*ssedoffMoM says

    March 25, 2012 at 6:02 am

    Great tutorial! I probably should have read it again before dissecting the stuff animals I bought for this project!!! Maybe I should have just bought mine…at least my daughter and I had a good laugh.

    Reply
  27. Lyuba @ Will Cook For Smiles says

    March 3, 2014 at 3:23 am

    LOVE this!! It's so easy and the result is great! Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
  28. Debi @ Life Currents says

    January 6, 2015 at 10:54 pm

    This is a great idea! So cute and so do-able! My little niece will laugh! Forwarding to my SIL now. Thanks!

    Reply
  29. Pam @ The Birch Cottage says

    August 12, 2015 at 4:19 pm

    This is really clever! Thanks for sharing on The Living with Style Linky Party!

    Reply
  30. Mila Myk says

    August 20, 2015 at 10:31 am

    Thank you so much for linking up with iDEA boX !
    Your post has been featured πŸ™‚
    http://milaslittlethings.com/2015/08/idea-box-thursday-link-party-24.html

    Reply

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Welcome to Housewife Eclectic

Debra Hawkins - Housewife EclecticHi, I'm Debra. I am a craftaholic photographer married to a web-programming amateur chef with two sassy littles keeping it interesting. It gets crazy around here. Read More…

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