I’ve fallen in love with Instagram over the last year and a half as a quick place to share random moments. They’re often the “small” moments. The ones I don’t have time to grab my DSLR for. And many times, they’re the moments that mean the most to me… the ones that capture “real life” the best.
But, what can you do with a bunch of square, low resolution (in comparison to my DSLR pics) pictures? Turns out, lots. In fact, I think it’s safe to say I have more Instagram pictures printed than I do DSLR pictures at this moment.
Here are some of my favorite ways to get Instagram pictures off your phone and into your home:
1. Printstagram – I landed here simply looking for a way to print off my pictures into old-fashioned, hold them in your hand, prints. And while their prints ARE lovely and a great price, I fell in love with all the other little things they offer, too. Like Mini-Books and stickers!
2. Blurb for Instagram- I was able to print off a Blurb book last year full of Instagram photos of the spring and summer of 2011. It was such a simple process and the book turned out beautiful.
3. Rag & Bone Bindery Instabooks– So what do you do with those 4×4 paper prints you order from Prinstagram? You pop them in one of these gorgeous, handcrafted Instabooks. It’s super easy, but the end result is so sophisticated and… real, you know? Like, an actual stack of paper pictures, carefully adhered (with included sticky corners) inside a quality, archival, accordion style book. This is the stuff you hand down to your kids.
4. Stickygram- Turn your Instagram pics into magnets! Our magnets are pretty lame-o. The assortment ranges from the pizza-delivery number to the Cowboys football schedule. But these? Little squares of happy memories. Forget using the plumber’s magnet to hold up your favorite family photo. Just make the picture the magnet!
5. CanvasPop– Sometimes a picture deserves to be the center of attention. Sometimes it begs to be printed on a gallery-wrapped canvas. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this 12″x12″ canvas of one of my favorite Instagram pics of all time.
6. Coastergrams by Fleur de Stone on Etsy- I did a quick search on Etsy last month to see if anyone sold Instagram-specific items, and I was thrilled to turn up this shop, located in Austin, TX. I immediately sent him 4 Instagram pics I took at my mom’s beautiful country home. I could not be more happy with the quality! These are Christmas gift worthy, and I’m wrapping them up for my mom tomorrow. Well… I’ll probably not bother with wrapping since my mom reads this blog religiously and will already know. So happy early Christmas, Mom!
There are many more options out there for printing your Instagram pics. These are just a handful I’ve had the chance to try out and really love. Whether you print them for photo albums, or you turn them into wall art, make sure you get some of your favorite Instagram pics off your phone and into your home soon. They are even more beautiful without a screen between you and them.
While we’re on the subject of Instagram, you can follow me @BabyRabies. And here are a few of my favorite apps for Instagram pics for the iPhone:
- Snapseed– Love using this app for when I need to get detailed with adjusting the white balance and brightness of photos.
- Camera Plus– This is my go-to app for iPhoneography. I take pics in this first, then adjust the settings (usually adjusting my exposure by choosing the “Backlit” setting), then send it over to Instagram.
- VSCO Cam– This is my favorite app for black & white pictures. I love that it replicates a filmy look, and I learned of it from one of my biggest photography idols- Emma Wood- when she guest posted here.
- InstapicFrames– Sometimes you need a few pics to tell a story. Rather than clogging your followers’ feed, try piecing the pictures together in one collage, like what I did with the Printstagram pics above. This is a super easy app to use for that.
- Phonto– Easy and customizable way to add text to your photos. Whether you want to caption it, or use it to convey a message, sometimes it’s helpful to have a way to put words on your photos
*Disclosure- Some of these items I purchased myself, and some were sent to me to review or to demo on Texas Living (I’ll be on Monday, November 19th showing them off!). I wasn’t paid to write about them, and didn’t include a few that I couldn’t personally recommend. Everything I listed above is good stuff, and all the pictures are my own.
- 41Shares
18 comments
RT @babyrabies: New Post: Get Instagram Pics Off Your Phone And Into Your Home http://t.co/1BlgJJrL
I love the Blurb for Instagram book we made, as well as the Stickygrams. We sent some of the Stickygrams to the grandparents, and they were beyond thrilled.
@babyrabies I haven’t even read this post yet and already…THANK YOU!
I love these ideas! Definitely going to start printing more instagram shots.
RT @babyrabies: New Post: Get Instagram Pics Off Your Phone And Into Your Home http://t.co/1BlgJJrL
Amber Burns … This is right up your alley. RE: Instagram Pics
I will be using ALL of these sites … now that I know about them. Thanks! I especially LOVE the CanvasPop! 😉 ?
Just did…
We made a blurb for instagram book of all our summer photos, this year. I love love love it. thanks for the other ideas!
Now I’m off to post a billion pictures on Instagram because you just gave me a ton of stocking stuffer ideas for Noah. 🙂 He LOVES looking at pictures, he loves stamps, and one of the walls in the playroom is magnetic!
For once I was so busy I had not stopped to read your blog in a couple of days, so I was wonderfully surprised by the coastergrams. They are beautiful. Thank you again. For all Jill’s readers if your looking for an amazing unique and personal present these definately are something to consider.
Great post! I really love the coastergrams idea! Have you heard of Bumblejax They’re kinda like canvaspop, but they can mount photos on bamboo, acrylic, gator board and aluminum. I used them for a recent project and was really happy with the quality! You should check ’em out!
http://blog.bumblejax.com/hipstamatic-instagram-photos-gallery-art-prints/
I can NOT find the answer to an instagram question anywhere. I would like to make a book with my instaram pics like above. There are some pictures on my phone that I would like to make instagram-y for the book, but I don’t want to share them or publish them. Like pics of my kids in the bathtub filled with bubbles. I want it in my book, but not on instagram. Is there a way to use the filters and have it saved, but not “shared”. I cant figure it out. PLease please help. I want to make it as a Christmas gift. Thanks.
Hey Erin, I totally understand what you’re talking about. I *think* Blurb lets you upload pics in addition to pulling them from Instagram. I know Shutterfly does, but the downside of Shutterfly books for Instagram is they will only auto import your last 30 Instagram pics. You have to manually upload any older than that.
If you want to make pics look like that without using IG, try the Camera + app. In the crop function you can choose a square crop, and there are lots of fun filters and effects you can play with. Then just save that to your camera roll or email it to yourself. Hope that helps!
[…] So I’m a sucker for ways to get pictures off of my phone and into my home (check out this previous post with more great ideas). […]
What is the best way to create an instagram photo book for my wife without her knowing? She takes a tone of Pic via instagram and I want to make a book of her work as a surprise for her. I assume I need access to her username and password for instagram. Any thoughts?
What is the best way to create an instagram photo book for my wife without her knowing? She takes a tone of Pic via instagram and I want to make a book of her work as a surprise for her. I assume I need access to her username and password for instagram. Any thoughts?
Hmmm… try downloading the pics via Webstagram! I think that should work. BTW, that is a super sweet idea.