Aren't you so curious to know who these mystery teachers are? Only six days left until you find out!! Sign-up now to be in the know, and don't forget the fun daily challenges and amazing giveaways, generously provided by some of our favorite companies.

American Crafts
Bazzill Basics
Echo Park
EK Success
Epiphany Crafts
Lily Bee Design
My Mind’s Eye
Pink Paislee
Scrapbook.com
Stampin Up
Unity Stamp
We R Memory Keepers

Well with all the fun we are having taking pictures with Instagram I decided to share some awesome printing options. 

Persnicketly Prints

Instagram printing in sizes 2"x2", 3"x3", and 4"x4"

Printstagram

"We make your photos physical, with wonderful products that match the quality and magic of the instagram app itself."

squares

mini stickers

mini book

StaticPixels

"DeepSquare prints give your Instagram™ photos the character and presence they deserve. Our 5 inch DeepSquare prints include their own stands and wall mounts. It's easy to make any space, your space."

Imagesnap

"ImageSnap’s Teeny Tile is 2-by-2-inches of ceramic fun! Each photo tile includes a self-adhesive magnet that you can slap on the back. Stick your Teeny Tile on the fridge so everyone can admire it. Perfect size for your Instagram photos."

Stitchagram

"Our pillows let you keep your photos alive by bringing them out into the real world, to be enjoyed every day. The photos are digitally printed on a linen-cotton canvas. The pillow back is a dark navy color with an envelope-style closure, which we hand sew in Washington, DC."

Kanvess

"We print your Instagram photos as perfect little 3x3 inch squares with a crisp white border."

Stickygram

"StickyGram is a personalised printing service that turns your Instagram images into lovely little magnets. You create your pack online and we deliver them to your door."

Keepsy 

"Make a calendar your family and friends will enjoy each day of the year. Keep track of birthdays, anniversaries, and more with custom dates."

What Instagram printing have you tried out? What projects do you want to do with your photos?

Share with us below! Thanks

Instgram is all the rage and can be a bit overwhelming. Below are a list of some of my favorite Instagram web apps that enhance the Instagram experience for users and viewers.

Instagrid

We publish a nice gallery so you can view and share your Instagram photos on the web. You can even invite people who don't use Instagram to subscribe to your feed via email.

Web.stagram

Allows you to

• View photos of the people you follow
• Like and Comment on photos
• Follow and Unfollow other users
• See your followers and following
• Browse popular photos/tags/users
• Get your RSS feeds
   

Followgram

Followgram is a web app that provides users with plenty of exclusive features such as RSS feeds, photo galleries, Facebook integration as well as custom vanity URLs.

Followgram allows you to create a follow button for your website or blog.

Instaport

Instaport is a simple way to export or backup all your Instagram photos by downloading a single zip file.
You can then use it in combination with Google+, Facebook or any other (photo) application.

 What Instagram apps do you use? Share in the comments! 

The countdown is on for our Big Idea Festival 2012. Grab a front-row seat; you won't want to miss the spectacle of the season. Seven of your favorite BPC instructors are teaming up with seven surprise instructors—who will be unveiled on opening night—to share their biggest big ideas with you. Sign-up for free so you don't miss out!

Paperclipping and Scrapbook Update produce a weekly podcast called Roundtable it is a

"light-hearted discussion on scrapbooking. Listen for free!"

The past few shows feature some familiar names!! Listen in and enjoy.

PRT 125 See the Light with

• Katrina Kennedy
• Tracey Clark
• Karen Russell
• Noell Hyman

PRT 124 The Things that Amaze You with

• Heidi Swapp
• Ali Edwards
• Julie Fei-Fan Balzer
• Noell Hyman

PRT 123 The Confession Show with

• Stacy Julian
• Angie Lucas
• Jess Forster
• Noell Hyman

You can easily subscribe in iTunes for free.

(click here to watch video showing how to subscribe)

 Check out one of our favorite shopping features at Scrapbook.com, Scrap by COLOR

 Here at Big Picture we are getting so excited for our last 4 expert class of 2012, Project Real Life with Becky Higgins. Registration will be opening soon!! For now enjoy this delightful video from Becky, and make sure you have seen all of Megan's fabulous Project Life Challenges. (links below)

Challenge 1: Just Add Photos

Challenge 2: Make it Work

Challenge 3: Incorporate Memorabilia

Challenge 4: Embellish Photos and Pages

and of course, please join our FREE Project Life community to connect with others.

 

Lisa Day

Jaime Warren

Lynn Ghahary

Kimberly Neddo

Sasha Farina

Jenni Hufford

Michelle Wooderson

Virginia Tillery

It is impossible for me to pick a favorite season. Like my children, they are all favorites for different reasons. But if you promise not to tell the other seasons, I will admit that I might like summer just a teensy bit more. Long days, bare feet, a laid-back vibe, an abundant supply of watermelon, sleeping in, and free time for daily mini adventures are just a few reasons that summer holds a special place in my heart.

In our family, the first evening of summer vacation is an event worth celebrating with a backyard s’mores party.

In fact, we’ve become quite the s’mores connoisseurs. Sure, the standard graham cracker/Hershey bar/marshmallow combo is delicious, but try a few of these favorite variations from the S’Morrison Test Kitchen, to add s’more pizzazz to a scrumptious summer staple.

• Graham crackers + marshmallow + peanut butter cup
• Graham crackers + marshmallow + caramel kisses
• Chocolate-covered graham crackers + marshmallow
• Peanut butter cookie + marshmallow + chocolate
• Ginger snaps + marshmallow + dark chocolate + bacon (Not even kidding…try it!!)
• Banana boat s’mores: Slice along length of banana, leaving an inch or so at each end and stuff with graham cracker pieces, mini marshmallows, and chocolate chips. Wrap in foil and stick in the campfire or on the BBQ until the insides get gooey, then eat with a spoon.

Looking for s’more kid-friendly ideas for a memorable summer? Treat your little sweeties to my summer class, Kidding Around It’s s’more fun than you can shake a marshmallow roasting stick at!
 

Welcome BPC Scrapbookers to The Hunger Games Scrapbooking Challenge #1: Main Characters. Let the Games Begin!

Hello Scrapbookers! I am Katie Scott, a long time fan of Big Picture Classes, an avid scrapbooker and blogger, and a busy working mom who only recently found time to read some fiction books. After originally thinking they sounded violent, I was reluctantly intrigued by the Hunger Games preview, and eventually read the books. After reading them, I knew I wanted to scrapbook the experience of reading these novels in some way.

Want to play along? Here's how:

Step 1. CHOOSE A FICTIONAL CHARACTER AND COMPARE WITH A REAL LIFE PERSON.

I chose myself and Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. You could choose yourself or another person you love and pair them up with a fictional character, it doesn't have to be from The Hunger Games. For example, if I were to do this for members of my family, I might compare my son, Mac, with the boy from the No, David books by David Shannon; I might compare my daughter, Allison, with the ever creative and social pig named Olivia from the book series with the same name; and I might compare my husband, Charlie, to (hmmmmm) I'm not sure, maybe Jimmy Buffet or Alec Baldwin (I think celebrity personalities could count).

STEP 2. CHOOSE COMPARISON PHOTOS:

I found some photos of The Hunger Games' main character, Katniss Everdeen, on the internet and some photos of myself at about her age from the 80s. I picked one full body shot with weapons (amazingly enough I had a photo of myself as a teenager with a statue of Posideon and his trident) and one head shot with a more serious face for each of us. I scanned in my old photos. Then, I created a photo collage in Picasa. I would have put Katniss all on the left and me all on the right, except that I wanted our faces to be facing inward; I don't think Picasa has the mirror flip feature so I mixed them up our photos, I actually think it is a bit more interesting this way.

Step 3: COMPARE AND CONTRAST:

This part of the process sort of reminds me of high school English class when we had to write an essay comparing and contrasting something. For this layout, I created a table in Word Perfect listing the similarities between Katniss and myself – it really was funny to see our common threads. Choose categories to compare according to what the similarities are; you could start with basic demographic information like name, age, place of residence, and then go into education and life experiences, and whatever categories would be interesting to compare like taste in music, phobias, and special talents.

STEP 4: CHOOSE SCRAPBOOKING PRODUCTS TO SUPPORT YOUR THEME.

Once I had my table and photos printed, I knew I wanted to create an 8 ½” x 11” page. Because my table and photos were big, I knew I didn't have a lot of space for embellishments or the title. I wanted the photos and the table to shine and for the rest to support my theme. I found appropriate patterned paper and title stickers, and added some machine stitching to "jazz up" my page. That gave me the idea for the title: "Common Threads" so I stitched over my title letters as well and along the bottom of the photos with the zigzag stitch under the head shot photos.

STEP 5: SHARE YOUR WORK!

I would love to see what you create with this challenge, upload your page to the Big Picture Classes Student Sharing Gallery, and please leave a comment with a link to your page.

Anxiously awaiting the release of the movie The Hunger Games, your friend and fellow scrapbooker,

Katie Scott.

P.S. You can follow along with The Hunger Games Scrapbooking Challenge series on my blog, we are visiting each of the 13 Districts in the imaginary dystopian world of Panem from The Hunger Games to find scrapbooking inspiration from everything from coal to cows to lumberjacks. I also have video links which explain the inspiration concepts from the districts in greater detail and in which I explain my theory of using principles of improvisational comedy as applied to scrapbooking. It is a lot of somewhat random scrapbooking fun. You can also join in with me on Facebook.

I have been wanting to update some photo displays in my home lately and need a little push. I can find beautiful ideas, buy haven't done anything with them yet. So I am asking you for help. For now look at these lovely displays and then share with me your favorites, ones you have done, ones you have made, etc.

thanks!!

pallet shelving from Amanda Carver Designs

photo wreath from Country Living

old windows turned photo frame from Cottage Instincts

infamous Buick family photo wall, from Kasey Buick

Resources

How to create a display wall from Pottery Barn

Make a gallery wall right now from the Nester

Help!

What are your tips for hanging beloved photos? Do you have a gallery wall in your home? What do you love about it? Share with us your best photo gallery wall secrets!