The other day my husband announced, “There, I just took my first Instagram photo!” I laughed because I have been an Instagram fanatic for some time now. In fact, I checked my phone immediately after he uttered those words and found that I have taken over 1,000 photos with Instagram! With such a stash of fun Instagram photos on my phone/Flickr/Instagram page what’s a girl to do with them?  Today I’m sharing one of my ideas for projects featuring Instagram photos: Mini Photo Books!

I have a hard time keeping photo albums. I just never find the time to devote to them. And while I love photo books they can be time-consuming to prepare and pricey if you are making multiple copies for family members. Enter the mini photo book. It’s 2″x3″and you can throw it together in minutes. I’m sure a variety of companies print these; I’ve always used Snapfish. I first made one of these mini photo books a couple holiday seasons ago to give to my parents and in-laws.  This year the book features Instagram only pics. The rectangular format does conflict a little with the square format of Instagram photos but for the price I couldn’t argue.

Because mini photo books have a limited number of pages I have a few of rules of thumb when creating them:

• Pick a theme It can be the holidays, a new baby, or summer fun. Try collecting images that take you to a specific place and time.
• Select a cover image that summarizes your theme The cover should make you want to open the book and discover the story inside.
• Pair images to tell a story or capture a moment Memorable photo books read like a story, rather than being a random assortment of images. Juxtaposing the right two images together creates mini stories within the book. I love the two photos of Alonzo and Clara when we picked out our Christmas tree or the pairing of my Dad wearing a creepy Mexican wrestling mask and my son with his stuffed “Creeper”.
• End with a strong image I chose to end with a shot of the tree and bird that commemorate my mother who passed away last year. I took this on Thanksgiving. I plan on giving these books to family members and wanted to include a tribute to the person we miss the most. The last image should be memorable.

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