How to use Instagram in 12 easy steps

How to use Instagram in 12 easy steps

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

STEP 1.

Take one million pictures that basically all turn out exactly the same.

STEP 2

Open your favorite photo editing app.

You know you have an entire section dedicated to them.

You probably only use 2 or 3 of them but you keep them all. Ya know, just in case.

STEP 3

Spend 101 hours trying to decide which pictures make the first cut.

Because even though they all look pretty much the same to the naked eye, if you look really close you can tell your elbow is slightly more to the right in picture 52 than in picture 33. WHICH ONE IS BETTER?!

STEP 4

Import these pictures into your editing app.

STEP 5

Try 8 different filters on each picture. 4 semi-final pictures x 8 filters = 32 filters.

STEP 6

Spend several more minutes debating which picture and which filter is the best.

32 OPTIONS.

How do you choose?!

STEP 7

Debate for one minute whether an entirely different picture from the million might be better?

STEP 8

Dismiss that idea since you've already spent 20 minutes for one instagram picture that is not even uploaded yet.

STEP 9

Upload chosen picture to yet another app.

Because it just won't be the same if it's the basic instagram square.

STEP 10

Share to instagram.

STEP 11

BUT FIRST.

Spend 10 more minutes typing, backspacing, typing, backspacing [on repeat] coming up with the best caption. And then the best hashtags. And then officially post.

STEP 12

Check instagram every few minutes to see how many likes and comments your beloved picture has.

AND DONE.

So easy, right?

and that, my friends.

is why i took a mini hiatus from posting on instagram.

TO GET A HOLD OF MYSELF.

 Don't even try to tell me this isn't your instagram life too.

PS I still love instagram.

Follow along here.

Because, ya know...

if I spend 45 minutes on one picture it could at least be scrolled by real fast enjoyed and appreciated by the masses.

xoxo

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Family Pictures

Family Pictures

Friday, April 4, 2014

This post is so overdue!

Family pictures + Phillip's newborns.

When we had Jack's newborn pictures done we went the really posey [that's not really a word] route.

I mean, the pictures were really adorable.

^^amiright?^^

But this time we decided to go more of a "lifestyle" route.

Our photographer, Janelle, came to our house and did a really natural shoot.

We still had a few "posed" pictures of Phillip but I'm so happy with how the overall natural, lifestyle shoot turned out. It seems so much more real to me and I love it.

[and also, lemme just tell you - if you have the opportunity for your newborn photographer to come to your house instead of you traveling to the studio, do it! It was 10x less stressful than bringing the babe to a studio.]

I'm so in love with this little family of mine.

^^am i lucky or what?^^

PS I'm super excited about guest posting over at All Things Katie Marie today!

Go here to read my top 10 tips on how to satisfy your shopping appetite on a budget.

And also - stay awhile and look around - Katie's blog is so adorable and she has the best outfit posts!

xoxo

PPS be sure to come back monday for the first link-up in my new weekly series "my life in lists" because it's going to be so fun!

follow along with bloglovin' by clicking here on my bloglovin' button over there ---->
so you don't forget and miss the link-up!

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Gallery Wall

Gallery Wall

Saturday, September 21, 2013

I've been wanting to do a gallery wall for awhile now.

When T went out of town I decided to finally attempt it.

It was definitely a pain in the patooty but I LOVE the end result so it was well worth it.

I started with a bunch of Goodwill frames, all of which I got 50% off on Memorial Day. I didn't pay more than $1.50 for any frame.

I also had a few things we had hanging in our last apartment [most of which we got for our wedding] including "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" in a nice frame, a wall clock, a wood sign that says "And they lived happily ever after..." and a few other frames.

I arranged and re-arranged the frames about 50 million times.

I finally decided I needed to know how much wall space I actually had to work with.
So I measured the wall according to where I wanted the area of the pictures to cover.

Then I laid out masking tape on my family room floor per the measurements.

Good thing I did this since my original layouts were either too tall or too wide.

Oh. And see the masking tape box on the middle left?

That's the AC control...I needed to make sure I left a space for it.

I knew I wanted to find a "W" so I laid out my pictures as best I could without it

but I would recommend getting anything you want in your gallery before you try laying anything out.

I ended up needing to rearrange after I bought the W.

I also picked up some cheap $1 (actually 97 cents!) frames from Walmart to fill in some small spaces.

FINALLY I found a layout I liked:

[sorry, two pictures are missing on the end because I had already removed them to hang them before I remembered to take a picture.

I flipped all the frames onto their backs so I could see the spot where the nail needed to go.

Then I taped three sheets of wax paper together and laid it out over the frames.

Using a sharpie, I marked the nail hole for each frame.

 ....I forgot to take a picture of the wax paper over the pictures, sorry.

Then with the help of two friends I taped the wax paper to the wall.

See the nail hole marks?

 Then I just hammered nails into each sharpie mark.

I spray painted all my ugly Goodwill frames white.

My BFF helped me to rub the vinyl quote onto the wall

[pain in the butt, I tell you but well worth it].

A huge thanks to my SIL, Lisa, for giving it to us as a house-warming gift.

Here is the sort-of final result.

I say sort-of because I did end up needing to move some pictures a tiny bit up.down/left/right.

Like that family picture on the right...it moved up a bit.

 All of the printables I used came from this very blog.

You can find them at the following links:

The Future is as Bright as Your Faith

Yellow Heart on Gray Stripes

Any Home Can Be a Castle...

I love so many things about this gallery wall.

The pictures are easy to change to switch up the entire look.

It makes a HUGE statement in our hallway.

It's a great way to feature multiple pictures/printables.

It makes me smile seeing these pictures every single time I walk down the hallway.

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