{How To Print Your Instagram Pics}

I'm slightly addicted to Instagram.  To me its like blogging, but in real time, and with no words, just hashtags.  You get almost immediate responses and it takes only a few minutes to answer comments or like and comment on other peoples photos.  I love it.  I take part in challenges (including Fat Mum Slims #photoaday challenge) and take photos of everyday life and random things that catch my eye.  Its a non-themed free for all, and you don't have to have things in order or a set way ready to write a lengthy blog post about or around.

Do you print your Instagram pictures?  I must admit most of the photos I've taken I wouldn't need to print, but some of my earlier photos are from when I was on holidays in the US/Canada, and most of these I wanted to have copies of.  Plus every now and then I really surprise myself and take a good picture!  So it would be nice to have these little reminders around and not just out there in internet cyberspace.

There are some good companies that you can upload your Instagram pictures to and get prints in the mail.  But I'm too impatient to wait for them to come from overseas.  I tried one company and couldn't get it to work properly and even after emailing them for help, received no help at all.  So besides being impatient, I also hate spending money.  If I can't thrift it or successfully DIY it I don't really need it!

Which led me to search for a way to print my Instagram photos at home.  I have a half decent printer (that is quite a few years old, and hardly used!) and photo paper.  I have all I need to print them, I just need to know how.

Enter the wonderful Jennifer from SimpleScrapper.  Jennifer has kindly done all the work and provides a free (requires registration) template to use in Photoshop.  (I have Photoshop Elements) And Jennifer provides an easy to understand video tutorial on how to use the template.

First you will need to download your Instagram photos.  I used instaport.me - this is a great tool to use if you want to download direct from your instagram account (an added bonus is you have options about what you want to download.  Either all your prints, ones uploaded on certain dates, or with certain hashtags). After downloading the ZIP file, saving and extracting the files (takes only a few minutes, depending how many photos you are downloading of course) you now have a copy of your Instagrams ready to play with.  

After watching the video tutorial, and a few minutes playing around in Photoshop Elements.....

Taa Daa!  I now have an A4 size photo page with 12 Instagram prints. (One page printed, another 100 to go!!)  Now my dilemma is what to do with them.  Turn them into magnets, put then into a travel scrapbook, make posters, frame them.....the list goes on and on with whats possible!

P.S.  You can find me on Instagram as @iheartsunnydays or you can see my #photoaday challenge photos on my Pinterest board!

{Sunday Poll: Drip Drying the Dishes}

I had so much fun doing that post about pegs last month, and enjoyed reading your replies.  (Thank you for commenting!)  It seems, like most things I do, I have been doing it wrong.  Well, I managed to take all the pegs off the line and put them in their little basket, and had no pegs on the line for about 2 days. I was so proud of myself, Mum would have very been pleased.  You'll be disappointed to know that that was as far as it got.  As soon as I did another load of washing, out came the pegs and they stayed!!

So todays question is: 

For those of us not lucky enough to have a dishwasher or a maid:  When you wash up dishes, do you dry them as well or leave them to drip dry?  I'm in favour of drip dry.  I learnt this from my mum.  I hate trying to dry dishes with a wet soggy tea towel, so things get left in the drainer until they air dry.

This of course poses a problem when there is not enough room in the drainer for all the washing up.  I end up washing up half now, drip dry that load then wash up the other half!

I have heaps of these dilemma type issues and am thinking of doing a once a month Sunday Poll.  Good idea or not?  But tell me, are you a wiper-uper or a drip-dryer?

{Five Favourites For Friday}

Today iheart....

(source: Scott Coppersmith Designs)

I love fairy lights and shiny things (proof).  So its only natural that I love ALL the creations of Scott Coppersmith.  This anchor would look fabulous on my lounge room wall.

I'd love to try and make this DIY Louis Vuitton Jelly Bag - tutorial by Make My Lemonade.

I want this seahorse print from Etsy seller summerowens.

In love with Lucy Fentons home that was featured in my favourite magazine InsideOut.

The Pintester.  I stumbled upon the Pintester this week and I seriously love it.  What is the Pintester?  Well in her own words she "...tests pins from Pinterest.  Mostly I fuck them up".  This sounds so like me (see here for proof)

 

{That Time I Tried to D.I.Y a Juju: Part 1}

We all love Juju hats, yes?  Well, I do.  I love everything about them - they have feathers and they are a fun addition to any wall.  I also love Louise's (from Table Tonic) juju's.

(Source: Table Tonic Shop)

The only thing I dont like is the price tag.  Some prices range from a couple of hundred up to onwards of eight hundred dollars.  Now for me, that is a cheap holiday down to Brisbane for the weekend.  And well, I love holidays too, and would much rather spend that couple of hundred on a holiday.

So don't laugh, but I tried to make my own juju!  It ended up being a F.A.I.L. (as I expected!) I googled a few tutorials and ending up doing a mix up of the ones I could find.  So here goes:

I used a wooden round base, double sided tape and of course feathers.  For the end middle bit I had thrifted a bunched up feather thingy that was on top of a ladies hat.  I considered using glue, but thought that might have been a bit too messy and I wanted the feathers to be flufflyish and not hard and stuck together.  I worked the feathers around and around and around until I got to the middle bit.  This is where I glued the bunched up hat feathers.



And this is what it ended up looking like - F.A.I.L.

Now that I've slept on the idea overnight, I think I might have figured out another way.  So I will give this new way a try and will let you know if it FAILS too!!

Some good DIY Juju tutorials I did come across are:

RefreshRestyle

FlutterFlutter

Live from B5

{London 2012: The Olympics}

Did you all stay up late/get up early to watch the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games?  I got up early, but fell asleep and missed the middle bit.  But I did watch it all again on the replay that was later in the afternoon (a much more civilized time).

It was spectacular.  Every four years I look forward to seeing what each country will put together to entertain the world, and I must say London did a fantastic job, and is probably one of the best ceremonies I have seen.  As for all that sport for the next 16 days?  Well I might watch bits and pieces here and there (hubby has already declared he is sleeping on the couch for the duration so he can watch it ALL.  And he probably will, he watches any sort of sport)

But it seems every Olympics there is always kerfuffle about the uniforms our athletes wear.  Green and Gold.  I agree that yes, Australia is recognized for the green and gold, but is that because there has hardly been anything else?

(image source: Australian Olympic Team Outfits - Past and Present - smh.com.au)

The only uniform that I didn't really mind was the blue ombre style uniform that was worn by our athletes back in 2008 for the Beijing Olympics!

When I think of my Australia I think of bright blue waters, white sandy beaches, the oranges of the outback and the sparkly lights of the night time big cities.  So why not incorporate that into the uniforms?

(source: iheartsunnydays on Polyvore)

Denim jeans, orange shirt for the guys and navy blue and white chevron skirts and orange blazers for the ladies.  With some sparkly opals thrown in somewhere.  Surely thats more Australian than green and gold?

What do you think of the Australian Green and Gold?  What colours remind you of Australia?

Enjoy the Olympics if you are watching :)