A few weeks ago, for a piece I was writing for Tech Girl, I got a R500 to spend on anything I wanted at Prinstagram, a site where you can get pics framed or put on canvas, and stationery and items customised.

Prinstagram can print canvas pics, and even frame them or put them in aluminium frames. There’s a huge choice, and when you add stuff like personalised gift cards, phone covers, stickers, calendars, posters and memory boxes to their mix, there’s something for everyone. And then some.

For my R500 and a bit, I got a ring bound A3 glossy calendar, with a cover and image for each month. I also chose a sticker book with 150 little stickers. The most “difficult” thing about Printstagram is choosing products you want, and then selecting what images to place on the products. The rest is done by Prinstagram, and I found the print quality on the calendar excellent, even with most of the pics taken on cellphone and sometimes filtered.

This is blurry owing to child movement. 12 takes and there was blur each time…

The thing that worried me when I ordered was whether my cellphone pics would translate well to print, especially on the calendar in such a big size. However, I was completely surprised and wowed with the results – the printing pretty much turned me into a better photographer.

One word of advice though – order early. This is not an overnight service, and I think on the other side of the site are printers who aren’t churning products out, but rather making sure that everything is just right.