Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Welcome to Instagram Week | Accessing & Printing Your Photos

Here at write. click. scrapbook. we love Instagram! We even have an account for the collective so you can keep up with us there too. (Quick, click over and follow us!). No doubt you've seen many a photo in our monthly albums, and in individual posts which use photos from Instagram. If you're wondering how you can do the same, this week we'll be looking at how to scrap your Instagram photos!

Hello my name is Francine and I am addicted to Instagram. I really am! I have been using the application for just under a year now, and it has almost replaced my DSLR camera when it comes to taking everyday photos. It is so much simpler for me to grab my phone to take a shot of something happening in the moment, as compared to having to get the big camera on and started up to shoot. Once I realised this, I knew the next step would be to scrapbook those photos!

This week, I'll be sharing tips & tricks for getting those Instagram photos off your phones and onto your pages. Today I'll address how you can get your photos printed, and the rest of the week I'll be sharing page ideas & other techniques.

Of course if you're a digital scrapbooker like Amy, you can just skip the printing part, but I will also address how to get the photos onto your computer, so stick around!

::layout by Christa::

How to access your photos.

I started out using an online application called instaport.me to get my photos from Instagram and onto my hard drive.

Click to see larger.

You log in with your Instagram account, and then the application grabs all your photos and exports them in a zip file that you can save to your hard drive.

Pros

1. Quick and painless

2. Many options for selecting photos e.g. you can choose to only download photos in a specific date range, or those with a specific hash tag, only your last 10 or 60 photos, or even just photos that you liked.

Cons

Photos are low resolution, so not the best for printing larger than 2x2

Once I realised the downside of this method, I opted for downloading my photos directly off my phone storage because those were higher resolution (I can print up to 8x8 with those). I simply used the Samsung software for my phone to access the storage and copy the photos to my hard drive. I use an Android phone, but I know that iPhone users can do the same using Apple Photostream (thanks Christine for that tip!).

 

Printing Your Photos

At Home

So far I have only printed my photos at home. I simply open the photos I want to use in Photoshop, and resize them before laying them out on a new document. I originally designed a template for doing this, but found it was easier to just drag and drop my photos onto a blank A4 (letter) document and then print out. I try to print lots of photos at once to save on photo paper.

I also discovered that by using the Printer Wizard on my computer (I use a PC) I can easily print 4x4 Instagrams onto a 4x6 photo sheet.To do this, I select my paper size and 4x6 and make sure that the "resize to fit" box is unchecked.

At a Professional Printer

Persnickety Prints is a very well known printer for scrapbookers, who now also offer Instagram prints. (Psst! They are currently having a sale which ends today!) You can transfer your photos to your hard drive and then upload to their site, but iPhone users (lucky devils!) can download an iPhoto plugin to directly transfer their photos. Persnickety Prints will ship your order within 2-4 business days, and if you are in their area you can even order to pick-up at their store. They can print photos in 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, and 5x5 sizes, and have other options like photobooks and posters. You can read all about it here.

Sue orders her Instagram photos from Persnickety Prints and she loves the quality. Here is one of her layouts

They will also print your photos to look like a Polaroid, which is one of the ways Christine loves to print her photos.

You can also send your photos to be printed by Walgreens and Costco. Christine wrote a great post here about her experiences using both of these services. So check it out for more details.

 

Two other services I have come across, but have yet to try are

Origrami

and printstagr.am

 

 

I'll be back on Wednesday to share a whole host of layouts by collective members that use Instagram photos. (Tomorrow is Launch Day, be sure to come back for that too!).

Do you have any tips to share about accessing and printing your Instagram photos? Let us know in the comments!

Sunday Photo + Words

In Review

September isn't just filled with glorious color outside, our gallery was a wonder this month. The color palettes were splendid and inspiring. Hundreds of color combos can be had from the 24 that were showcased. But there is more to the gallery than just the color. Shall we look together? 

 

Thank you, for stopping by! We hope you enjoyed our colorful layouts and that you have found additional inspiration today.

There are only a few days left until we present our new gallery. If you need a sneak peek here are some places to try:

Sue Althouse
Lisa Ottosson
Amy Kingsford
Laura O'Donnell
Carey Bridges
WaiSam Ho
Francine Clouden
Jenny Larson
Stephanie Bryan
Monika Glod

Leave us a word if you think you can determine our new theme! Have a wonderful weekend.

Calendar Week - Day 5

 

On our last day of Calendar Week, we are going to look at a few examples from the write.click.scrapbook team of how calendars can be used on scrapbook pages.

Design Elements

First, calendars can be used as small accents; while serving the purpose of documenting time, they can also serve as an embellishment on your page, matching the theme of your layout.

 

In this page by Jenny, in addition to indicating the time of the year this photo was taken, the calendar serves to ground the felt tree elements and draws the eye to the title.

Laura used a small calendar for her layering on this page. Simple and effective!

Backgrounds

Calendar backgrounds are perfect to document daily schedules, or favorite times of the year.

Laura used a calendar grid paper in the background, and the stamping and title work let us know exactly what this page is about.

Jenny used this grid calendar background to really ground the design of this page.

 Page Design 

Finally, you can use calendars as the inspiration for your entire design!

I love how the design ofthis page by Jenny is inspired from a calendar. She included a grid for the photos, and the daily schedule is documented at the bottom of the page.

On this page, I wanted to document the special time we spent when my mom came to visit, so I selected a few favorite photos from the ones I had included in my Project Life album, and used a template by Amy Martin for this calendar grid design. The kit Dayplanner by Paislee Press and One Little Bird was perfect for the theme of my page - so many memories, so little time..

I hope you enjoyed this Calendar Week.. now to put the inspiration in practice on your projects!

Calendar Week - Day 4

So far, in this Calendar Week, we have been focusing on calendars in their most traditional use, and as standalone projects. Now, let's look at how to incorporate calendars in mini albums and other projects to keep track of time.

The reason I include calendars in these projects is to add a time reference, but I always like to make the calendars part an integral of the design. I usually accomplish this by customizing colors and themes.

Mini Albums

For mini albums, especially ones that are dedicated to specific periods in time such as December Daily, I love to include a calendar. Here are two examples for my two past DD albums.

In 2011, I included a printed digital calendar element to the inside cover of my album. That year, my album had a red+aqua color scheme, so this calendar was a perfect match.

Last year, I layered the calendar on top of a digital paper, and used it on the first page of my album.

Pocket Page Scrapbooking

I am a huge fan of Becky Higgins' Project Life concept to document our everyday life. I make weekly 2-page spreads, and each week I like to include a way to keep track of time. Calendars are a great way to accomplish this purpose, and also add visual interest.

For this card, I used Amy Tangerine's customizable calendar stamp by American Crafts. Since this particular week was spanning two months, I thought this ampersand card would go be a good complement.

Here is another example of how I included the calendar stamp in another pocket. I added some arrows to highlight the particular week.

Finally, here's a card created digitally, and printed out. I used the calendar cards by creashens. I love how the different elements on these cards come in separate files, because it allowed me to change the colors and rearrange the big numbers as needed to spell out the week number.

Do you include calendar elements in your mini albums? I'd love to see your examples, please share them in the comments!

Calendar Week - Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of Calendar Week! Today I will show you a couple of ways to put together a desktop calendar.

Desktop Calendars

Due to the smaller format, I find that desktop calendars are quicker to put together than wall calendars. I also love that it's easy for me to put them together at home. I have designed a few over the years, and in most cases I used pictures from scenes around our home.

CD Case Calendar

Here are a couple of pages from a CD case I made a few years ago.

I decorated the background with digital scrapbooking papers by Jenn Barrette, and also printed out a few digital embellishments and adhered them with pop dots to add some dimension.

I repurposed an old CD case to use as the holder for the calendar. I printed these at home, on my old but trusted printer (a multi-function printer and scanner by HP), on matte paper (my favorite for hybrid projects).

4"x6" calendar

I recently put together a 2014 desk calendar using templates by Paislee Press. This calendar was so quick to make! The templates are in .PSD files, so you need Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to use them. All I had to do was pick my photos, and print them out. The photo selection was by far the longest part of this process.

I shrunk the templates slightly in order to fit four pages on a letter-sized sheet. I love the clean design that showcases my photos.

I printed them at home on matte paper, and trimmed them.

For the theme of the calendar, I chose scenes from around our home. These pictures make me so happy - I love our home and it will be really nice to have this calendar on my desk at work. This is how I will be displaying my new desk calendar.

Once the month is passed, the calendar page can transition to my Project Life album.. which brings us to tomorrow's theme - using calendars in mini album and pocket page scrapping!

Calendar Week - Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of Calendar Week! Today we will be talking about wall calendars.

Wall calendars

Around this time of the year, I always start working on the calendar I put together for our parents. It's now become a tradition since I have been doing this for five years, and I want to share what my process is for that. I design an 11.5"x8.5" calendar topper (12 monthly pages + the cover), and use a blank grid for the dates. Since I am also a digital scrapper, I find it quite easy to select a few of my favorite 12"x12" pages and modify them to fit the smaller format. I always make sure that my design is at least half an inch within the edge of the page, so it won't be cut during the printing phase.

Several printing services offer ready made backgrounds, so depending on what your design preference is, you will find plenty of options. I really enjoy picking a few favorite pages made in the past year and turning them into calendar toppers. If you want to design your own calendar toppers like me, or use a ready made quick page, make sure that the printing service allows for custom backgrounds. I have always had my calendars printed at Artscow, because they have great prices, and allow me to customize my calendars. Other services are known for top quality, so it all comes down to what you are looking for, and how much you are willing to pay for it.

To create a calendar of this size, you could also print the pages on letter sized paper, and bind it yourself. I don't have the patience to do this, so I outsource.

The inside pages

Here's a look at some pages from my past calendars. I always include a picture of my husband and me (I try to take them over the course of the year, but inevitably come September I need to schedule a few extra photo sessions to make up for the missing photos!). I decorate the page with colors and themes that match the month, and if at all possible I use a photo taken in that same month.

I prefer to keep the grid part clean and simple, so that everyone can use the calendar to jot down other appointments and events. I always include all the dates of family birthdays and anniversaries on the calendar (this is an option that Artscow offers).

The cover

I like to include some photos of us on the cover as well.

This project takes a few days for me. Selecting the photos and designing the calendar toppers takes a while, but the end result is worth the time for me! Tomorrow we'll be looking at desktop calendars, and I would say that those are much quicker to put together.

Calendar Week - Day 1

September is almost over, summer is now a somewhat distant memory, and by this time I think we are all well settled into our regular daily schedules. I felt this would be a good time to talk about calendars. Calendars are very useful tools to keep track of time and events, but as scrapbookers I think they can take on a whole other dimension, as design elements, source of inspiration, and gift ideas.

I think it's only fit that we start with talking about the most traditional purpose of calendars, before we jump in during the next few days into some more creative uses.

Planning

OK, let's say that you decided to make a calendar. Or maybe you're just considering it and want to see what's involved. The first step is to make a few design choices regarding

• production
• format
• content.

Production

Will you be assembling the calendar yourself, or have it made professionally? The main factor to consider here is how many calendars you want. If it's just one, putting it together yourself might be fun, but if you need multiple copies, I would suggest into looking into printing places. Look into what formats are offered by professional services, before you settle down on one format for your calendar.

Format

There are so many options for calendar formats! From the standard 11"x8.5" wall calendar, to desk calendars, planners, wallet calendars and more.. Thinking about who you are making the calendar for might help you narrow down the choices.

Content

Naturally, your calendar will include a daily schedule for all the months in a year. But what else do you want to add? Once again, there are several options to consider. First of all, you can use photographs - either of people, or of nature. Another popular choice is to use inspiring quotes.

Here is the plan for the next few days:

• Tuesday: wall calendars
• Wednesday: desktop calendars
• Thursday: incorporating calendars to keep track of time in mini albums and pocket scrapbooking
• Friday: using calendars as time keepers and/or design elements in scrapbook pages.

I would love to hear from you about how you incorporate calendars in your creations!

and the giveaways go to...

Vicki and Karen, congratulations! Please email your mailing address to us at writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com? Thank you!

Sunday Photo + Words