Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How To Frame Instagram Photos With Jewel Cases

“Who has two thumbs, an Instagram addiction, and just bought a bunch of jewel cases?” I think we all know the answer. THIS GUY had a little art project up his sleeves.

CD 10 Done Straight

Ever since jumping on the Insta-wagon back in April, I’ve been itching to get some of our photos printed. We just never had a place for them and were always a little wary of the quality through various printers. But a few weeks ago when I spotted a Facebook coupon for five free Instagram prints using Picplum, I ordered away (nothing to lose, right?) and I was pretty impressed with my handful of free 5×5″ prints… so, like the sucker they hoped I’d be, I purchased a bunch more for $1 per print.

CD 2 Instagram Prints

My paid order was fueled by the fact that I stumbled upon something completely accidental. With a tiny trim on two sides, these square prints fit pretty darn perfectly into the front of a jewel case (you know, the clear plastic cases that CDs come in… used to come in?… do I need to refresh everyone on what a CD is?). The only reason I ever discovered this is because my five free prints were sitting on my desk on top of an old CD case, and I realized they were basically the same size.

CD 3 Trimming Edges

So I swung by Office Depot and snagged a $10 bulk pack of slim jewel cases (there were 30 of them in the pack, and I didn’t need that many, but it was the smallest pack of thin ones, and I thought thin cases would look the best). Then I just slid some of my favorite prints inside twelve of them.

CD 4 Sliding In Case

As you may have guessed from that first picture, I’m not designing homemade covers for some stocking stuffer mixed CDs or anything (although I guess this would work for that too). I actually thought they made for a cool way to display photos in my Man Cave Complete With Pegboards as I’ve lovingly come to call the basement these days. Because nothing too precious makes sense down there with pieces of wood and sawdust flying everywhere – but something to cover photos that I want to display (thereby protecting them from said sawdust) might just be handy, right?

CD 5 Final

It’s certainly not very fancy or overly fussy, but I really like how easy this was and how stress-free it feels. If a rogue screw cracks a “frame” it’ll cost less than a dollar to replace. Plus they look pretty great against my navy pegboard, amIright?

CD 10 Done Straight

Total cost for each “frame” including the art inside = $1.30. Can’t buy much other framed art for that price, right? And you know Sherry loves to say that geek is the new black. CD cases are bound to be the next mixed tape/eight-track, right?

To hang my grid I just used 3m Command strips (the velcro kind for “damage free” picture hanging). I actually like to use the strips perpendicular to one another (rather than right on top of each other) – that way I have more flexibility to move things around once both strips are stuck in place (I can shift things up and down or side to side a bit that way).

CD 7 Velcro On Back

And fortunately the holes on my pegboard made for a great guide when I was pressing them into place.

CD 8 Pressing To Pegboard

Ta-dah!

CD 9 Done Angle11

Wanna know a secret? I actually tucked an extra photo or two behind some of them. So if I ever want to mix things up I can just hinge the case open, swap the photos, and call it a day.

CD 6 Extras Behind

And since I have extra photos and extra cases, I can always expand my super classy inexpensive art installation across the whole board down there. But for now I’m leaving it open so I can hang some other non-Instagrammy item on the right. Ya never know when I might come across something else to dude things up down here. Although I’m surrounded by hammers and drills and saws, so I’m a pretty happy guy already.

CD 11 Room Fuller

Oh and every time we share pics we realize that we should mention a few other things on the basement agenda, so here they are:

  • stain some of the wood going on down there (like that burned shelf and the dusty and less-forgiving-because-they’re-so-light counters)
  • possibly stain the concrete floors (since they’re pretty light and not-too-forgiving either)
  • paint the old scratched up door that leads to the basement (yellow like the front door)
  • hopefully deal with the exposed ceilings (although there are things like plumbing and duct-work that hang down, making it less simple than just screwing up some drywall)

In the meantime, does anyone else have Instagram art projects up their sleeves? I’d love to hear ’em – especially if you know of other cool places to get them printed on paper, canvas, etc. Oh yeah, and if you want to follow us on Instagram you can find us at (you’ll never guess) @younghouselove.

Psst- We hear the Cultivate quiz from yesterday’s giveaway is still running very slowly/crashing. Looks like they weren’t quite ready for all of you quiz-loving folks! So sorry about that, guys. We hope they get all the kinks worked out soon… and there’s still a $200 gift card for one lucky winner (whether you take the quiz or not), so that’s the good news!

Comments

  2. Maureen says

    I think you have just stumbled upon something great here, John. This will be all over Pinterest in no time! (That’s how I judge everything in life now)

    Also, I have some SERIOUS workbench envy going on.

    Reply

  4. elaina says

    uh oh… John’s using the “no John cuts” scissors! Did you get permission first? :)

    Love the photos! Makes the basement seem a lot more friendly than mine!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, ironically those are now John’s scissors since I got newer ones (he might have ruined the old ones on packaging tape, despite my sharpie warning, hahah).

      xo
      s

  5. Karen F says

    very clever, and such a sweet project! love it. I must have a million of those skinny cases, too…hmmmm *wheels turning*

    Reply

  6. Tyra says

    Instagram art is oh so fun. The hubs and I went to Chicago and I made a grid of 20 small instagrams in a frame to represent our trip. Just ordered some larger prints (4×4) and planning to string them up somewhere! I use printstagram. Good quality and fast delivery. 24 (4×4) or 48 (2×2) are just $12.

    Reply

  9. Jackie says

    Love this. Just saw a deal for $21 “Casetagrams” – aka iphone cases printed with your instagram photos – on Gilt City! Hard to buy for cousins, mom, and brother — check!

    Reply

  11. Vivian says

    Great idea! I’m going to pass the idea on to my son who needs inexpensive ‘art’ in his first home … also great idea for the son in a dorm room!

    Reply

  13. Heather says

    Love it! Such a clever idea!

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7M5A8Wa_tog/UBiLP9RxTvI/AAAAAAAACrc/NhoqhHby5gg/s1600/abd55fccd9ef11e1b6791231380e6c3a_7.jpg

    I made this little instagram wall in the guestroom a few months ago. Cheap graduation signature frames from Kohls, and the photos were printed from Postal Pix. It;s an app, and you order the pics from your phone. They have sizes from 3×3 up to 8×8 and I’ve been really pleased with all of my prints.

    I also LOVE ordering magnets from Stickygram!

    Reply

  17. Sandy says

    Love it! I could totally see bulletin board on the other side as a place to post plans, directions, etc that you might need while you are working down there. Almost a dude version of Pinterest!

    Reply

  18. LeCheech says

    I’d probably print a bunch of instagrams from my inkjet backwards and put them[a little haphazardly] on a canvas with modpodge, let it dry, then wet it to take off the paper. DIY Canvas printing is FUN! :D

    Sadly, I’m a terrible photographer with nothing but a point and shoot and a dream.

    Reply

  20. Mary says

    Ah! Love this. Was just thinking..if you found a way to hang the case with the extra space on the bottom and stuck a slip of paper in there..BAM. Would look like a Polaroid!

    Reply

  21. Heather says

    Oh, and if you follow PostalPix on Pinterest, encourage people to send in pictures of the prints in use, and then they pin them for their followers to see. Some of the stuff people have shared is REALLY awesome & creative.

    Reply

  22. Sara says

    For some reason, I am never able to comment on giveaway posts – after hitting “submit”, I always get a page saying I’ve already commented / am making a duplicate comment (even though I have not commented yet). But I don’t have problems posting on non-giveaway posts. Has anyone else had this problem?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Whenever someone enters exactly the same thing as someone else (ex: “Frame me!”) you may get that message, which is why we have a bonus question to help to differentiate every comment. So by saying “Frame me! My favorite piece of art is a postcard from my grandmother!” or otherwise responding to whatever the bonus question is, your comment will become unique and it should sail right through.

      xo
      s

  23. Abbie says

    For some reason the “two thumbs” part of the title translated to “two left feet” in my head – as in, did something a little goofy. I read the post THREE TIMES looking for the silly thing John had done. Duh, Abbie!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Burger doesn’t seem to understand how screens work. You can put him in front of a TV or phone or whatever and he won’t even register the items on it. It might as well be off!

      -John

  26. Vicky says

    Love it! Things are looking great down there!

    If you guys do decide to deal with the exposed ceilings down there, you may want to keep in mind access to your utilities. My inlaws have a finished basement, with drywalled ceilings, and is has hindered them in the past when wanting to make changes/fixes upstairs (they don’t necesisarly want to get into major ceiling repair downstairs to move the location of an electrical outlet upstairs).

    Reply

  29. Desiree C. says

    I also have two thumbs and I’m giving you a two-thumbs up!You gotta love accidental inspiration! Those are so clever and the jewel cases add a manliness to them that really works in the Man Cave Complete With Pegboards (ha!). I also LOVE the pops of color in the photos against the navy blue pegboard. This is definitely inspiring me with ideas for my husbands new (!!) man cave. Though, in our case we don’t have pegboards and tools–he’s a basketball coach, so we have white boards and old school basketball photos of past players. Our problem is that he wants to paint the whole room royal blue…yikes. You should help me convince him it’s not the greatest idea. I’m thinking a royal blue stripe around the room, but most definitely not the entire space…in the basement…with one single, small window.

    I already feel the walls closing in on me.

    Reply

  31. Katherine says

    Bing bing bing! Winning!

    I’m heading to that site now to print a bunch of photos – I had been wondering how to showcase them but am much lazier than John, haha. Thanks!

    Reply

  32. Andrea B says

    Oooh! Love this. Totally stealing.

    (Also, am I the only person who still buys CDs because I just love being able to pop them in the player and page through the album art and lyrics and all that tactile old-school stuff?)

    Reply

  37. Janice says

    I adore this project ! So fun! :) I don’t have instagram or know anything about it (I mean, YES, i’ve heard of it, but I don’t really know what it is other than I think you have to have a special phone or something…bah, I don’t know)

    And although I love this project, I have to say that I’m positively JEALOUS of the space and how it’s coming along. Yes, I’m a girl in lust with a workbench and some pegboard.

    Oh, and I have to say that just because you call it an ‘agenda’ – you’re not fooling me!! It’s a to do list!!!!! I knew you had more of them. ;-)

    Reply

  40. Ellen says

    I’ve also discovered I can put Instagrams into a larger “canvas” (like 4×6) using PhotoShop Elements and have them individually printed at ridiculously cheap prices – like at Costco. Then I just trim the excess. I hit on this when I was printing lots of very old non-standard sized family photos.

    Reply

  41. Brenda says

    I don’t have Instagram, but I love the idea! Might even be a great way to reuse all those old CD cases I have lying around. I’m a fan of small art in grids or carefully arranged chaos.

    Reply

  42. Kate says

    Very nice! What a happy workspace! Looking forward to hearing about your ceiling solution. We have a similar issue in our basement laundry area. I would love to cover the ceiling and walls with drywall, but pipes and random important-looking things jut out all over the place.

    Reply

  49. Jennifer says

    Cute! You guys are king & queen of use what you got, craigslist, freecycle and other sources, but you went and bought jewel cases?! Shucks, I wish you would have asked your readers…I’d have dropped off a ton for you…I have them in a pile waiting to go to goodwill, bc I didn’t want to throw them out. I just did a huge sweep thru our cds. Downloaded the songs we wanted and the rest are…in the goodwill pile! But since you’ve posted this fun, cheap & easy project, 700,000 people will be doing this project now and looking for cases! They make an otherwise boring basement, fun & colorful! Nice work!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Jennifer, that’s so kind of you! I worried the skinny ones in clear (many of them come in colors or aren’t thin) would be too specific of a request! I even checked craigslist to no avail!

      -John

  50. Lindsey d. says

    I’m about to put in an order on PostalPix for a bunch of 4×4 and 5×5 Instagram pics. Very reasonable prices ($.99 for first three 4x4x; $.29 for each additional 4×4). I plan to frame one of my boyfriend and I for my parents for Christmas (we are pre-engagement, so I figure they should have a pic of us both). I’m also planning to experiment with Mod Podge for the first time, using pics and canvas. It will be a trial run for a Christmas gift I’m planning. No chance for a redo on the gift, so I want it some experience under my belt first.

    Reply

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