Mini Instagram Prints | DIY | make your own mini polaroid prints

I’ve been wanting to buy some of those mini Instagram photo’s that I’ve been seeing everywhere. I searched and searched, and while I found few great sites that were pretty cheap, I just couldn’t press “BUY”. Good thing, because I got over 200 mini prints for $12!

The thing I love about Instagram, is it’s REAL LIFE. A sneak peak inside what is going on at that exact moment… whether it’s how someone is feelings, what they are seeing or doing… you are able to be right there following a long. And it’s is always a pretty journey! Cause Instagram makes everything pretty.

I’ve seen a quite a few cool ideas using the IG mini prints. Like Elsie’s Instagram Wall or turning them into old-school Photo Strips with The College Prespster.

I’ve settled on making a scrapbook filled with snapshot of our daily life, inspirations and projects. Something not so traditional. Here’s a sneak peak of what is in store.

Cute huh?? I really wanted it to look non-traditional… kind of thrown-together”, but still cute. More details in a later post, but know that I am putting all my pretty Washi tape to good use!

Anyways, while I was making my mini IG prints and sharing the goodness on Instagram (go figure), I had a ton of people comment, FB, tweet and email about how they could make them or just state they NEED them now! So to answer most of the questions I received, I’ve thrown together a quick tutorial.

It’s really easy.. I’ve seen Photoshop tutorials out there… and well… Photoshop and I have barely hit first base… which makes me a little insecure around him. So, we’re going to use Picasa… because 1. it’s a FREE download if you don’t have it and 2. it’s way less complicated!!!

 

 

TIP: Now you should have all your IG photo’s on your computer, because we all know how important syncing your phone is… but in case you don’t.. never fear! I recently upgraded to the 4s and then upgraded from my (what now feel like a dinosaur) Dell laptop to a Mac…. so the only IG photo’s I had were from the past few months. Just head to instaport.me, where your will be able to download a zip file full of every IG photo you’ve ever taken!! Easy peasy.

What you need:
Photo Paper (anything semi gloss!)
Printer
Paper Trimmer (this is not necessary, you can use scissors… but using a trimmer makes it so much easier and is totally worth the $$!)

So after you have all your IG photos, here what you’d do:

• Select the photo’s you’d like to print and click the Collage button
• You’ll be taken to the Collage screen, in which you would make sure that Contact Sheet is selected.
• Pick whether you would like a square border, which would make them look like the mini prints you would buy online, or you can choose to make them look like old polaroids.
• Select your Paper size, make sure the the shadow box is unselected and click CREATE COLLAGE.

You’re ready to print =)

NOTE: Depending on your photo paper size and how many photo’s you select will vary your mini print size.
I used 8.5 x 11 inch HP Semi Gloss photo paper. Here are the dimensions I got:
12 Photo’s selected. Landscape. Square: 1.75” x 1.75”
9 Photo’s selcted. Portrait. Polaroid: 2” x 1.5” (roughly)
6 Photo’s selected. Landscape. Square: 2.5” x 2.5”
6 Photo’s selected. Landscape. Polaroid: 2.25” x 2.5” (roughly)

ANOTHER TIP: You can definitely use smaller photo paper. I did a few prints on 4 x 6 and they are super cute… super MINI… but super CUTE! Just remember the more photo’s you add, the smaller your prints will be.

ONE MORE TIP: While there is no excuse not to be using IG, as it’s now available on Android, you can use ANY picture for this project. Just crop the pictures into a square and play with the AWESOME (Picnic like) filters Picasa offers now, before placing into the collage. (Secret, I did this to 10 or 11 pics that I just HAD to have in my scrapbook.)

While this is pretty basic, I know there are some people that are not familiar with Picasa, so I found this great in-depth step-by-step photo tutorial done by Finding Nana for you to check out. If you’re at all confused… take a look at her post to get some clarification.

I was able to get a little over 200 mini prints out of 25 sheets of 8.5 x 11 photo paper. Office Depot has their HP semi gloss photo paper half off right now, so for 25 sheets I paid $12! That’s a total steal, because one of the places I checked out to make my mini prints offered 48 prints for $12. WHOA!

Here’s a quick size comparison of the super mini’s, 8 square photo’s printed on 4 x 6 photo paper. Next to a quarter, and then next to the 1.75 “ x 1.75”, just to give you an idea.

xoxo 

Remember, The $12 doesn’t reflect ink, but depending on your printer/ink prices… I’m estimating at most add maybe $5 –$10. The prints are mini, so in all actuality, it’d be like printing around 10   8 x 10 prints.