61 IHeart an Instadesk Update!

Some of you may have realized already, that I am a little obsessed with Instagram. Since finding the app {a little late in the game}, I have gained in so many ways.  What I love most is that I now find myself being better about capturing our special daily moments, and I am often OK leaving my DSLR for more important photos {it is still typically with me, however, it is far more convenient to snap and share via iPhone}.

Then, it happened.  My phone had taken over 1,000 photos in just a few months.  Ouch.

So, I got to wondering, what does one do with all of their Instagram photos?  Sure, I love that they are stored on the Instagram app and that I can look back and see our summer in a snapshot, it's like a super quick 2012 version of a family blog, so easy.  But since I had been snapping so many special moments, I wanted to do more.  

So, welcome to my Insta weekend.  Today I am sharing one project I did with my Instagram photos, and this weekend I am having a super amazing Insta giveaway that you absolutely will not want to miss.  Hoorah!

Because of this project, you may start to notice me being obnoxiously over-cheerful as I blog on a daily basis so my apologies in advance.

You may recall that at the end of last year we began building my studio desk.  Then, at the beginning of this year, we finally finished it!  The one thing that I loved most about our plan, aside from the massive amounts of both open and concealed storage, was the fact that I could play around with the desk top design.  Adding a piece of plexi to the top of an old bi-fold door, gave me the option to use decorative papers and fabrics as the backdrop to my mouse and keyboard.  When we first finished the desk and revealed it, we had this:

I kept it simple and neutral at the beginning, but then found some dreamy fabric on Joss & Main and made a happy upgrade {I also found myself disappointed with the comfort of the gray chair so I sent that up to Preston's bedroom}.

So for the last six months my daily bloggy home looked like this:

Not bad eh?  Yeah, I am smitten.  But the whole reason for installing the desk the way we did, was to be able to swap things out when I get bored.  And bored I got.

Then, I remembered I had seen somewhere that you could actually get all those Instagram photos printed.  So I googled around and found a few options, however, none were very easy or straight forward, so I ended up selecting Printstagram.  It seemed as though some of the other options required printing to specific photo lab locations that were nowhere near me, and with the Printstagram site I was able to have my order mailed directly to my home.  Done.

I thought the prints were a smidge pricey but since it was all I could seem to find, I selected only my most favorite shots and clicked the "buy" button.  Once I got them in the mail, I was beyond happy with the quality {no, they are not paying me to say that, they have no clue who I am}.  The photos were printed on premium heavy duty matte photo paper and had a beautiful white boarder.  

By now, I am sure you know where I am going with this, so I thought I would show how incredibly simple it is to make the quick switch.

I started by clearing off my desktop.

And determining a layout for my Instagram prints.  Whew, they fit exactly perfect edge to edge of my desk top, I couldn't have planned it any better if I had tried.

I used a scrap piece of pretty wrapping paper along the back since my photos didn't fit as nicely the vertical way.  Once I had my layout figured out, I used a small rolled piece of tape on the back to secure them in place.

I taped the entire front edge, to give a good starting point, however, only a few here and there as I worked my way back, just to act as solid placeholders for the rest to follow.

Once they were all where I wanted them, I just popped the plexi back onto the desk top and used my exacto knife to cut the wrapping paper for the cord hole {it worked out nicely that I didn't need to cut the actual Instagram print}.

And two minutes later, it was done!

SO very much in love!

And that is why I love my desk.  And Instagram.  And printing Instagram pictures.  And blogging and working at this very happy place.

I have a feeling this arrangement will be around for awhile...

Anyone else obsessed with all things Instagram?  What are your favorite photo phone apps?  How are you bringing your Instagrams out of your phones and into your homes?

Don't forget, a huge Insta giveaway is coming your way this weekend and it will be a quickie that will be worth checking out if you love Instagram as much as I do!  I am geeky excited about it!