instagram art (and how to print your instagrams for cheap!)

Hi, my name is Erin, and I'm addicted to Instagram. It's a fact. And a few weeks ago I found myself lost in my Instagram archives, reminiscing and smiling at some sweet pictures and even sweeter memories. Then I started thinking about a frame I bought at IKEA a few months ago that had been sitting empty next to the kitchen table while I found the perfect tea towel to put in it. So I started thinking about that frame and all of the pictures and how who the heck knows how long it's going to take me to find that perfect tea towel to frame, so I decided to fill that frame with Instagrams (I kept picturing this picture that I've loved forever, only on a much smaller scale). Yay for one less empty frame! And yay to you for making it through my crazy long thought process!

I've looked into several options for printing Instagrams, but let's face it, when you want to do a project you don't want to wait for them to get mailed to you, and the app that sends them to Walgreens was not working right and it was bugging the heck out of me, so I decided to just straight up print them old school.

Here's two ways that you can print them at any photo center (I use Costco), the finished photos will be 4x4 inches:

Photoshop Elements:

Import your Instagrams into PE, then click on File --> New --> Blank File.

That will open this screen. Under the "Preset" drop-menu, choose "Photo". Under the "Size" drop-down menu choose "Landscape 4x6". Make sure the color mode is RGB Color and the background is white. Hit OK. 

That will open up a blank 4x6 canvas. Drag your Instagram into the blank canvas. 

Size it so it fills the canvas from top to bottom, and then save. This will be the finished photo that you send to the photo center just as you would a normal picture. Again, these Instagram's will be 4x4 inches when done. 

If you don't have Elements you can download Picasa for free and do it there, here's how:

In Picasa:

Open your Instagram in Picasa, go to "Create" along the top left, and choose "Picture Collage." 

Once that opens up, under "Settings" choose "Picture Pile." Make sure that under "Page Format" the size is 4x6. Then straighten and size your photo to fill the white canvas. There will be space on the sides, as shown in the picture above. 

Then save your photo, and send it to your photo center just as you would any other picture. 

I sent mine to Costco, so these were $.13 each. 

This is how the printed photos will look. (Sorry for the crappy phone pictures!)

Trim off the white edges.

Then arrange them in your frame. I arranged them and then taped them down, it worked like a charm.  

I'm pretty much I love with it. I think it makes the space a little more fun and I love being able to enjoy the pictures I take on my phone. Because seriously, I capture some of the best photos on that thing!

I also like that I can switch a few out when I get the urge for an update. 

So have you ever printed Instagrams? What did you do with them? I'm kind of thinking of printing some more and sticking them  on my refrigerator. I think it's so fun when refrigerators are covered in pictures!