13 November 2013

DIY instagram calendar

Thank you for all your sweet words about the ball photos. We had the best time!

It's November but I'm thinking about Christmas and wanted to share over the next few weeks a few simple ideas for handmade gifts.
I love buying presents but I also enjoy making them (although handmade presents for teenage brothers may not go down so well)

This was a DIY I made a couple of months ago for a friends birthday but I think it would work really well as a christmas present.
A simple flip instagram calendar for the New Year.



You will need: 
Instagram photos
Thick A3 card
3 jump rings


1. Find a selection of instagram photos. I wanted to use photos from my friends feed so I logged into ink361 searched for her in my followers and then saved her photos.
Obviously the quality won't be as great as if you took them directly from the phone but if it is a surprise, needs must!

2. Open up a simple photo editing software. I used photoshop but any web based one would work just as well. Choose thirty one photos and add the numbers to the centre of the photo. I made the number quite big and used the photo as the background. You could make the numbers any size you wanted though. I found white was the best colour to use and used this font.


Then do the same with twelve different photos and add the months of the year.

Repeat with the days of the week on seven new photos. To keep things fresh I did fourteen days of the week cards so that it would be on a rolling two week cycle! You don't want to be bored...

3. Once you have edited and saved these photos you need to print them as square photos. I printed mine at 3x3. There are many different ways to print. On photoshop I opened up a 6x4 canvas then added the photos side by side and saved them as a new file. I then ordered these as 6x4 prints online and trimmed them when they arrived.

4. This is the fun bit! You will need a piece of pretty sturdy, thick white card. Most good stationary shops have some. Mine was A3 size.
Holding the card horizontally fold into three equal sized pieces and then an inch flap like this. Score along the folds.


5. Now get your three jump rings. Open them up and place them evenly along the top fold in the card just like this. They can take a bit of fiddling to get them in.


6. Grab your photos. Depending on what you printed them on you could leave them as they are or do as I did and back them onto some thin card for extra strength. I then punched a hole in the top of each photo.

7. Glue your the stand together. Fold along the scored lines to form a prism shape and secure with that inch flap you created and a bit a of super glue.


8. If you want to decorate the stand this is the time to do it. Grab each pile of photos- the months, the numbers and the days. Make sure they are in order! Open each jump ring and attach to the stand in whichever order makes sense to you. I did day of the week, date and then month.


Such a fun gift and simple to make! Enjoy.

17 comments:

  1. This is really cute and I bet she loved it. I love using instagram pics so will have to try this!

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  2. What a fantastic, clever, and personal gift idea, Abi. A great tutorial as well, I might add. Thanks so much for sharing this - I love this idea!

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  3. Wow this is such a fun and original idea for a gift! :)

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  4. I love this. I've just ordered a batch of professionally printed photo calendars for Xmas, but I will keep this in mind for birthdays as it doesn't have to start on Jan 1st

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  5. hey Abi, I love this personal and creative gift! I am thinking even brothers would love it :) Thanks for the step by step with pics. Hope you got my quilting square email.

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  6. What a clever idea, i bet your friend loved it. So lovely and personal .

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  7. ooh that is super Abi you are a talented girl!!

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  8. I've made calendars for my friends for the last three years, but this is one of the most creative displays for one I've seen!

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  9. What a fabulous idea! I know a couple of grandmothers who will get something like this! Thanks for sharing!

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  10. What a lovely idea this is! Very nifty indeed.

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  11. What a fantastic idea & project! I might just make this for my parents and in-laws for Christmas this year :)

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  12. This is such a lovely idea, Abi! And thank you for the instructions - I might just do one for my grandchildren this year ...

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  13. This is such a gorgeous project, I bet your friend loved it! So effective and cute, thanks for the tutorial :D

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  14. Great idea ..... sometimes simple is so more effective than over doing it!

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  15. What a super idea Abi! Thanks for the tutorial.

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  16. holy goodness! this is genius.

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