I am a recovering former scrapbooker.
How I Use Instagram to Make Memory Books
I LOVE the creativity of scrapbooking. I love the end-result of scrapbooking too.
JENNY10
Read through to the end of this post to find out what JENNY10 is all about 😉
But the pace and content of my life can’t support that lifestyle… fairly regular weekend getaways (absolutely necessary in order to keep-up) and even more… an enviable level of organizational skillz.
One day my friend (HI ANDREA!) told me about her system of using Instagram with Chatbooks.
Memory books, YAY!
Chatbooks has not paid me to tell you about their service, nor have they ever contacted me. But I am so sold on the process, and I want to share the how-to with you because it has been a GAME CHANGER for me.
Related – links to Chatbooks in this post are referral links. That means if you use my link and make a purchase, I receive a little credit on my account! When you sign-up for Chatbooks, you also get your own link to share!
Here’s how I use Instagram to make memory albums (a.k.a scrapbooks):
FIRST, I set-up a brand-new, PRIVATE Insta account. I permit only my immediate family to follow it. I named it The Mighty Ingrams. I’m so fun.
I fill the designated account with pictures I want to see added to my books.
After a few volumes I realized I could have been making collages… which means I don’t hit 60 pages/pictures so quickly.
I don’t have permission from the fam to post most pics to my Jenny On The Spot account, but they don’t mind what I publish to our private Instagram account… and thus our memory books.
I linked my new Instagram account to Chatbooks. (You can link Facebook and Google+ too).
Once linked, I had a number of choices to make… Because I intend to use my Insta account in an ongoing manner (not just a special occasion or two)… I decided to go with the Photo Book Series.
You CAN choose to make special occasion books as well.
I chose the softcover 6×6 album, that includes 60 photos… at $10 an album. But then I decided to add $2 to each album and get a pretty cover series… Rifle Paper Co series.
My friend Andrea chooses photos for the her covers, but the thought of having to decide on a photo for the cover overwhelmed me (I am such a pansy when it comes to decider-ing)… PLUS? Aren’t the covers just DELICIOUSLY LOVELY?!!!
(You can see with my first two albums I didn’t have my deciding set as far as album title, BUT I DO NOW)
So.
This is how it works… You add a photo to your Insta account (the one that is linked to Chatbooks)… and your photo (with caption) heads on over to Chatbooks.
I like to make any changes from my computer, but you can also work from the app on your phone… It’s super user-friendly. You can leave everything exactly as it was posted, or you can make edits. Since I am working a little backwards (I started the series with pics in my phone from 6 months ago), I have to go in and adjust the dates if I want those dates reflected on the spine… otherwise you get the date the photo was posted to Instagram.
This is what a new book looks like on my computer.
I sometimes edit captions (or add more or correct errors), sometimes I will remove a location (or add one or use it as a creative location caption). The service also supports certain emoticons.
In Chatbooks you can move photos around. I do this sometimes if I want a two page spread of an event… it’s nice not to be locked into an order since picture stories in a book are a bit different that photos in an Instagram grid. It’s nice to have that option.
You can also play with photo size a bit…
You don’t HAVE to edit at all. You can totally just let the albums roll on in!
It just depends on your personality/control issues.
Once 60 pics have gone into a book… you are charged the fee (mine is a little over $13 per book) and the book is sent!
*high kick*
I choose to edit to make sure I have the dates right (since I am still catching up to present-day) and just to give everything a once-over before it goes to print.
My ONLY issue is once 60 pages have loaded… you have THREE days to make any updates. They send you an email to let you know… since you are probably not keeping track of how many pictures you are posting.
The one time that 3-day window didn’t work for me, I was able to catch it before it went to print. I reached out to customer service and they paused the book until I emailed back and let them know I had completed my updates.
And that’s it. If you want to poke around and check-out Chatbooks, you can do so here! Let me know what you think! I’ve met a few people who do the same and LOVE it! Of course, if you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll see if I have any insight!
Until July 11, use the code JENNY10 to receive $10 in credit toward your first book… which is just about the price of a book! Use it. Do it… it’s a great way to check it out. Test drive Chatbooks. But I promise you’ll get hooked 😉
Happy photo-taking!
