With the rise in smart phone usage, Instagram is bigger than ever. Chances are you have an account and use it on a weekly or even daily basis. Whether you are posting your "selfies," your latest creation in the kitchen, your newborn baby's first moments on earth or all of the above, Instagram is a great place to snap and share your everyday moments. With an array of great filters and easy user interface, it's no wonder Instagram has become the #1 photo sharing app. Check out @HABAusa's Instagram account! >>
.If you are one of the millions of people on Instagram, at some point you may have thought to yourself "hmm, I wish I could do something with all of these beautiful photo memories!" We thought the same thing and after doing a web search discovered there are quite a few services out there that will help you create keepsakes from your photos. Some of our favorites include: ChatBooks - Easily create gorgeous coffee table quality photos books of your instagram photos (and even from facebook and your camera roll) straight from your phone, for just $6 each for 60 pages! . StickyGram - Turn your photos into magnets, Printstagram - Has quite a few options from digital prints, cards, photo books, posters and even t-shirts and CanvasPop where you can print your photos on canvas. All for a price, of course. *Please note that we are not affiliated with any of the companies above, we just think they make cool products.
We loved all of these ideas, especially the idea of printing our beautiful Instagram photos to canvas. Who wouldn't want to showcase some of their favorite photos on the walls of your home? However, we were not a fan of the steep cost of these sites and set out to discover a less expensive way to achieve *almost* the same thing.
Below we will share with you how to create and order a 12" x 12" canvas collage of your Instagram images for only $19.95 and without needing any prior graphic design skills or expensive programs like Photoshop!
1. Visit instaport.me and sign in using your Instagram account. (We are not affiliated with instaport.me in any way)
2. Use the criteria in the middle box to download your Instagram photos. You can choose to download all photos, a specific number of recent photos, photos posted within a certain date range, or photos tagged with a specific hashtag. If you choose all photos, it may take a while.
3. Once your download is ready, click "download" and extract the photos from the zip file.
4. Now that you have your photos, you will need to download/install a program called Picasa to create the collage. It is a free program by Google. It is great for organizing and editing your photos. (We are not affiliated with Google in any way)
5. Once Picasa is installed, open it up and find where you saved the Instagram photos you just downloaded.
6. Select the first photo you would like in your collage and click the green push pin at the bottom of the screen in the tray. Repeat this for every photo you would like to include in the collage. We recommend choosing 4 or 9 images, but you can use more or less. But remember, the printed collage is only 12" x 12" so the more photos you choose, the smaller each image will be.
7. Once you have selected your images, in the menu up top, click "create" > "picture collage..."
8. In the collage settings , choose "Grid" and decide if you would like any grid spacing. Adjust the slider accordingly. You can also select a color for the grid spacing or leave it white. In "page format" click the drop down and scroll to the bottom. Click "Add Custom Aspect Ratio" and put in 50 x 50. Name it "12 x 12 Instagram canvas." Click "Create Collage." This step is important because using these dimensions ensures that your collage is large enough to be printed.
9. Once your collage is done processing, it should come up in the Picasa editor. When you see your new collage, right click your mouse and select "Locate on Disk" and click and drag the collage file to your desktop so you can find it later.
10. As of writing this, we found that Walmart has the best price when it comes to printing your canvas collage. It is only $19.95 and it will be available to be picked up at your local Walmart that same day. No joke, the SAME DAY! Follow this link to upload and order your collage. *Please note that we not affiliated with Walmart in any way, we just like the prices of their photo items.
11. It will bring you to the Faux Canvas page. Click "Create a Canvas." At the next page, scroll down to the grey area and click "upload new photos" another box will pop up (you may have to scroll up a little to see it). Click the orange "Select photos" button and locate the collage you saved to your desktop. Once the photo uploads, click "Done Uploading" and you should see your image displayed on the canvas.
12. Under #2 "Choose Your Faux Canvas Size" Select 12 x 12
13. Under #3 "Choose Wrap" select "Mirror Wrap" (this step is important, as the gallery wrap may cut off your photos).
14. Choose your quantity and click "add to cart".
15. Follow the check-out process and voila!
We were satisfied with the quality of the final product, considering it was only $19.95 but please be aware that this is a "faux canvas" meaning it is not printed on heavy duty, artist-grade canvas and wrapped using staples and wood. As stated on Walmart's site: "Your photo print is wrapped around a lightweight 1.5 in. deep cardboard frame to create a unique "gallery-wrapped" look." If you are looking for artist quality canvas prints, we recommend a service like CanvasPop. However if you are just looking to use your Instagram photos as an inexpensive yet personal way to tastefully decorate your home, then we think this is a great way to accomplish that!
Let us know in the comments how yours comes out. Feel free to share any tips or suggestions you discover along the way!
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