Are special moments you’ve captured with your smart phone held hostage and long forgotten? I have three quick and easy ideas to help you start enjoying your smart phone photos today. These ideas also make great gifts for the holidays.
My iPhone has quickly become my go to camera. It’s now easier than ever to print images and make digital scrapbooks right from your phone.
One way to enjoy your camera photos is to make a digital scrapbook. There are many companies that allow you to create photo books through an App on your phone. Three that I’ve used are Simple Prints, Chatbooks and Mosaic. I like all three companies for different reasons.
I created a photo book of my girls trip to New York using Simple Prints. This was the first book I created using my iPhone photos. An 8 X 8 soft cover book costs $14.99 for up to 20 pages. They also offer a hardcover option for $29.99. I don’t love the cover photo I chose of the Empire State Building. I had to zoom in quite a bit which caused the image to be a little blurry, but I love how my photos turned out inside the book. You will want to make sure you have a good quality images unlike my cover photo which looks better on a smaller scale.
If you’re on Instagram and want a way to automatically print all of your photos the Chatbook Series is a great option. In a Chatbook Series you can create an ongoing book series linked to Instagram, Facebook or your Camera Roll Favorites in a matter of minutes. After creating your series your photos will continue to update any time photos are added to that photo source. Series Chatbooks only cost $8 with free shipping and you can order as many additional copies of each volume as you want.
You can also create custom books which is what I’ve done. A Custom Chatbook lets you create a single book with anywhere from 30 to 366 pages using any photos you would like. Custom Chatbooks cost $8 for 30 pages and an additional $1 for each ten pages after that plus shipping. Adding a hardcover is an additional $5 per book. Chatbooks are extremely affordable and I’ve found the quality to be good.
If you’d like to create a Chatbook Series Account you can use the code below and get your first book free.
I used Mosaic to create a photo book of my 25th Wedding Anniversary trip to Cape Cod. Mosaic books are the most expensive of the three options I’ve used, but the quality is worth the price. A book costs $20 for 20 pages plus shipping. The beauty of this book and the others is that you can create it all from your phone in a matter of minutes. Get $10 Off Your First Mosaic with this link.
A second way to enjoy your camera photos is by printing them and putting them into a traditional album or displaying them in a photo gallery. I’ve used Artifact Uprising for printing my iPhone photos and Print Studio. The photos below are from Artifact Uprising which uses a little thicker paper, but I think both are good quality. They both also offer photo book options.
The third way to enjoy your camera photos is to create a work of art with them. The Waterlogue App can turn your images into beautiful watercolor pictures. I shared information about Waterlogue in a past post here. Do you recognize this furry guy?
We live in a digital era where everything lives on computers, iPads, laptops and cell phones. Part of me is glad that we have less paper waste, but part of me is also sad this new generation relies so heavily on computer technology. If images only live on your computer or phone what happens when technology becomes outdated or lost due to a virus? When I asked my daughter recently if she wanted to print some of her iPhone photos she couldn’t fathom why she would when they are on her phone. Call me old school, but I still love things in print.
I hope these ideas inspire you to get some of your favorite images out of the confines of your phone.
Neat albums! I’m still in the tradition of printing my pictures and scrapbooking them but it’s VERY time consuming and can be overwhelming. I may have to try one of digital scrapbooks sometime.
I still love traditional scrapbooks too Keri! I take so many pictures with my phone though now so I want to get them in print or in a book too. These are some easy options that don’t take a lot of time for phone photos.
I am going “out of my box” and I am going to do a few of these options for Christmas. Expect a phone call for help!! Love it Dawn!
Thanks Christine! You can do it 🙂 The first step is to download the app and if all of your pictures are on your phone you are good to go!
Oh Dawn what a beautiful idea, something Im working on myself actually. Ive recently started printing my art work into throw pillows and books. Its all so fun and cheerful, especially for Christmas. Love the pictures as well, they’re stunning in the book. Thanks for sharing <3
How fun Ulyth! You should print your art work 🙂 I liked that these Apps were easy to use, but I know that there are many other companies as well. I want to try Blurb sometime. I appreciate your kind comment 🙂
I lost my doggie last year and the painting idea is really touching me… I think I might need to go and do this!
So sorry to hear of your loss. The waterlogue app is really easy to use. I hope you give it a try.