create-a-gram // silver mess

SO GUYS. Guess what. One of my favorite blogger friends is launching her new website and it's stunning!!!!!!!! Rachel has a fantastic sense of humor, is a ridiculously gifted writer, and is a genius for everything creativity. Which is why I'm so excited about her new and more focused website! But I won't go on and on about that. Feel free to read about it below and find out how to make your Instagram look the best it's ever been. Check out the new SILVER MESS now!

Hey there! My name is Rachel Alison, and in lieu of launching my latest website, Silver Mess, Olivia has graciously allowed me to guest post on her blog!

    Silver Mess is all about creativity, and how it pertains to all areas of life--style, art, music, film, literature, architecture, photography, and more. Since Olivia and I are both avid Instagram users, I thought it would be cool to post on how hard-core Instagrammers create content to post on their accounts.

    Instagram is often stereotyped as a shallow institution, one that exists for the sole purpose of middle- and high-school girls posting duck-faced selfies on it. However, once I opened a public account myself and started following people, I realized that, in certain circles, it’s so much more than that. There is an art to using Instagram: people have gotten quite inventive in ways that they market themselves or their brands.

    For example, the way Brandy Melville markets itself is absolutely genius--they’re active on Instagram, hire models who not only look good but have active, matching Instagram feeds as well, and, consequently, reach the millions of teenage girls who use Instagram on an hourly basis.

    And then there’s the whole art to matching one’s feed. Many times, public Instagrammers align their pictures under a common “theme” to attract attention and gain followers. (Would you rather follow an Instagram account with pretty pictures or mismatched selfies?)

    For some reason, I find the process of matching my own Instagram feed fascinating. Trying to figure out which filter looks best on my pictures, playing around with the Contrast and Exposure, Sharpen and Temperature tools on the VSCO app, trying to make one’s feed as aesthetically pleasing as possible--it’s fun for me, and doubtless for other Instagrammers as well. I also love looking at people’s Instagram feeds, wondering how on earth they can so artfully match mismatched pictures. I love discussing how to make one’s Instagram feed match.

    It’s not just for the number of likes or followers, although those do play into account too. It’s the entire creative process behind editing and photography, how to make the mundane seem insane, how to define one’s own personal style through P5 (currently my favorite filter). How do you show color through black-and-white? How do you make yourself seem perfect when you’re really not?

    And that’s why I’ve begun to love Instagram. Not only can I keep in touch with old friends, but I can also share pieces of my life and somehow fit them together in one giant marvelous puzzle piece. Even though my life is sometimes a mess, piecing together my Instagram feed reminds me of who I am in Christ, what work is waiting for me at the end of the tunnel.

    And besides, He made me to create. Creativity plays into a large factor of life, and it gives me pleasure when I can create. And when I create something beautiful and Christ-glorifying, it gives God pleasure as well.

    Even if it’s just on Instagram.

Some other Instagrammers that I love include…

There’s something about Olivia’s Instagram feed that I just really like. It’s warm, it’s cozy, it’s homey, and it’s adventurous. If you’re into shots of coffee mugs and inspirational quotes, follow Olivia → @Summerof1999Blog (And yes, I’m very well aware that I’m shouting out her Insta on her own blog. But seriously. You should follow her.)

Ella is one of my good friends, and she’s insanely talented. Her feeds (both her private and her public) are impeccable. @Lifedoings is her public, and her pictures of architecture and food are seriously on point. I’m not even saying this just because I’m her friend---I genuinely love looking at Ella’s feed. (See the picture of the chair and the window? That’s at my house! And also, the cafe picture on the bottom right corner was taken when I was with her.) *Note: Her username used to be @EllaMCho, but she changed it since the making of the collage*

Sabrina Carpenter is one of my favorite celebrities, not just because she’s an awesome actress and singer, but also because she just seems so chill and vintage. Her feed isn’t starkly matchy-matchy, but there’s just something about it that goes together. Maybe it’s the warm tones or the consistent black-and-white, but I just love her feed.

And, naturally, I have to shout myself out (@SilverMess if you didn’t see the white lettering at the top of the picture). Currently I’ve got a stark contrast of black and white and gray going on, but I have an idea for an Instagram feed that will take time to build and grow...but that’s all the detail I’m going to give you because I’d love to see have you guys along for the journey.

Thank you so much for reading! This is the third day of the Silver Mess Blog Tour-Nado, and if you’d like to see other posts I’ve done on other blogs, click here.

Also, I’m holding a GIVEAWAY! (Unfortunately, this giveaway is only open to U.S. residents; I’m so sorry! But...I’m a starving high school student.) Enter down below!

You can click here for a full list of the things I’m giving away, but it’s basically just a bunch of art supplies and a Starbucks gift card.

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope to see you at Silver Mess someday!