Do you Instagram?

I am a pretty techy person--I love technology--and I love everything Apple. BUT--I am really not that into social media. Sure, I like to look at Facebook and see what everyone is doing--but I rarely post anything myself. I love me some Pinterest.... Twitter, Instagram...not interested. UNTIL, a few months ago. I am now a Twitter lurker--and I find it is one of the best ways to keep up on educational technology. And Instagram is now one of my favorite things. I'll admit--I've been horrible about taking pictures. But, I took the plunge into Instagram with my iPhone...and it is so much fun. Now--I am definitely not one of those people that goes crazy. I post, maybe a picture a day--I keep my account private--and I'm not that creative with my pictures. But, it has got me taking pictures of the everyday.

It's pretty simple to use. If you just push buttons within the app, you will have it figured out pretty quick. You can comment, then you put hashtags with your pictures to label them. You can put as much thought and effort into this as you like. Sometimes it's fun to see what hashtags you can come up with.

 

Now--I wanted to be able to print these cute little square pictures. There are some companies that will print your cute little square photos--but they are a little on the expensive side. I figured there had to be a way to do it yourself. So--I went to the source that answers all my questions---GOOGLE. I came across this blog post, which really helped me. How to Print Instagram Pics

 

Yeah--I had to try it all out and it worked PERFECTLY My other option was to use Photoshop to create a 4x6 photo, which I could drop the Instagram photo on. I did it both ways. The only thing I noticed was sometimes my frame got cut off a little. And I never knew that COSTCO had an app you could send your pictures from--so Cool!!

 Here they are, printed as 4x6 photos.

 Then I just cut them with my paper trimmer to a 4x4.

 I had to search a little bit to find some sheet protectors that would work for me. We R Memory Keepers makes a 12x12 protector that fits 9 photos. Becky Higgins has several different protectors also. I found these at Hobby Lobby, they are 8x8. I am just putting the picture in the album right now with no journaling. I haven't decided about that. The thing I love most about this, is I would never have taken a picture of my alarm clock at 4:30 a.m. or the flat tire I got when going to an important meeting in Utah.  It's pretty much my own version of Project Life--through Instagram.

After I had them all printed, I was thinking that it would be kind of fun to have the hashtags on the pictures. So, I went into PicFrame and under the Labels icon, I added text. Then, I sent it to my printer right from my phone--I kinda really love it like this.

 

You can also export your photos from Instagram to your computer. It's really easy too. Just go to this website http://instaport.me/ It's just three easy steps. You log into your Instagram account, then choose how/where to export the photos. You're Done!! Sooo easy!