Fujifilm Instax Printer Unboxing & First Thoughts

I’m back with another unboxing! I have been so excited about getting one of these, ever since I saw someone rave about them on a Facebook group. I bought the printer & 20 shots pack so I could get printing my images right away. At first, I thought this would be perfect for my Project Life, but then realised that the photos are the perfect size to be popped into my planner too.. So, with the help of a CoilClip, I now have a photo of my two lovely pooches in my planner – Which incidentally is the only customising I’ve done with it so far as it’s so pretty, I still daren’t actually write inside it! (Not to mention, I’m still waiting on my awesome stickers to arrive from various Etsy shops!)

Onto the unboxing!

The printer & 20 shots arrived together in the same box.Once I’d opened the smaller, green box, I could see the shots on top, the instructions below (not pictured) and finally, the batteries and the Instax printer itself.

The printer is stunning. A beautiful pearl white with very simple details. I am already in love!

The front of the printer has several lights on it. The set on the left indicate the remaining battery power, and the ones on the right show how many shots are left. The images come out of the slot at the front, and right next to it is the power button.

The back of the printer has a few legal bits of information and the cover for the battery compartment.

On one side is the reprint button, a hole for a power adaptor (supplied separately) & the side of the battery compartment. 

And finally, nothing on the other side.

On the base is some more information & the slider to open the paper compartment.

Once I’d given the printer a good look over, I had a browse through the instructions. It was easy to set up, just pop the batteries in & open the paper compartment on the base using the sliding button. Once this opens, place the paper cartridge inside with the yellow dots aligned – as shown above.

As soon as I pressed the power button, the protective cover from the cartridge printed instantly & I was ready to go!

Next up, I needed to download the Instax Share app from the App Store. This again was simple to set up. Although, what was not mentioned in the instructions was how to connect the printer to my iPhone. Luckily, the app told me that I needed to connect it as though it was a new WiFi connection. I went into my iPhone settings & clicked into WiFi, once it had found the printer via an automatic search, I connected them to each other with the press of a button! Back to the Instax Share app & I was ready to print my photo. There are several editing options within the app itself, but it’s very primitive. It the future, I will most likely edit the images myself first before opening in the app.

The paper came out really quickly & started to develop almost instantly. It did take a few minutes for the image to show details fully, but once it had darkened, it was great quality.

The image is darker than I’d have liked it to be, so next time I will be sure to lighten it before sending it to the printer. This is something that I will have to experiment with. You can just about make out Sox in the background there, it doesn’t help that he’s a black dog on a black couch!

I am looking forward to printing off more images in the future & using them within my Project Life folder, but for now, I have attached a CoilClip to this one & placed it inside my planner. It’s a great way to carry my pooches around with me while I’m out & about!

All in all, I am very pleased with the Fujifilm Instax. From it’s beautiful looks to it’s fantastic print quality. If I had to pick two things that I wasn’t pleased with, they would be that the images print darker than the originals & that the batteries are not easy to come by, like AAA or AA, which we have a large collection of in the home! Really though, these are tiny issues & easy to overcome. Now I just need to stock up on the cartridges & get printing!

 

Erin Condren Life Planner Initial Thoughts

I thought this would be a great intro to my blog really. My first official blog post, my first Erin Condren Life Planner & my first review! I have videoed an unboxing, although it’s a bit wobbly! I will try my best to edit it & put a link in below for any one who wants to see that.

I was so excited when my planner arrived this afternoon. I had paid for priority shipping, however it seems they have sent it by economy – Something I am currently trying to get in touch with them about. Other than that, it all seemed perfect! The box was beautiful, as I’d expected it to be. I could barely contain myself when I opened it up!

First checks were the planner cover & the coil. I’ve heard so many things wrong with the coil & the planners not laying flat. Thankfully mine seemed ok, but it does make me feel for anyone who has had this problem. Luckily, it seems as though EC are on top of it, sending out replacements where they can.

Along with my planner, I also purchased a pack of the CoilClip Connectors, elastic bands and LifePlanner Launch Bundle – Which comes with a classic sticker book and party pop markers. Once I’d given everything a good look over, it was time to test each product out.

The pens are lovely, but they do bleed through slightly & they are thicker than I’d prefer. I am thinking about investing in some thinner pens to write in my planner with, I worry the party pop pens will make it look messy if used for anything other than decorating. They were my only real disappointment. The stickers are beautiful – Although probably nothing compared to the ones I have purchased from Etsy! Sticker Haul to come! There’s not a lot to say about the elastic bands or CoilClips, they do exactly as they say on the tin, so to speak.

I have been through my planner & checked all of the pages, I think from watching unboxings & reading reviews obsessively before buying a product really pays off sometimes! I’ve heard stories of the tabs being misprinted, upside-down pages & so on. Luckily, my pages all seem to be ok. I love the colour schemes & can’t wait to get decorating! Above is a photo of the new layout for the vertical planner. They’ve removed the old ‘Morning’ ‘Day’ & ‘Evening’ titles from the boxes & have left it blank for people to edit as they please. I’m not sure how I’ll set mine up, but the good thing about each box being blank now is that I can change the way I plan each week until I find something that works for me. In the top left corner is now a box for ‘Thankful Thoughts’,  at first I wasn’t a fan of this, but I’ve come around to the idea. I think it will be useful for me to sit back each week and think of something that has made me smile. Especially useful for those weeks that don’t go my way! Finally, the side and bottom panels are just plain lined sections now for whatever I like! I might try putting in some to do lists, meal plans & messages. But again, I guess I can change it up each week!

In the back of the planner is the notes section, which now has lined, plain and grid paper! I am looking forward to using this to design some of the stickers I have in mind for the future. I’d love to buy an Erin Condren Notebook, but I think I’ll wait to see how quickly I use up this paper first! 

The very last pages of the Life Planner are the included stickers, which look very useful, but I’m not sure I’ll use just yet. I’m waiting for my stickers from Etsy to arrive in the post before I commit to any themes. I love that they throw these in with the planners for free & I think they’re great for people who don’t necessarily want to spend too much on stickers.

I have loved filling in my perpetual calendar this afternoon, using my new party pop pens. They’re very vibrant, but as I mentioned before, there is some bleeding through of the pages, which is disappointing. I think the perpetual calendar is a great addition to the planner & I’ve put all of my important dates in there. I’ll still put birthdays in my monthly & weekly layouts, and in the planner itself, I can put down ages as well. Whereas the perpetual calendar will just mark the date. 

I got the usual thank you stickers from EC in my parcel. They are super cute. Because I purchased the ready to ship Life Planner, my stickers aren’t personalised. This isn’t a huge problem for me really, I am happy to write my own name on them! They’re a cute addition & I think it’s lovely that EC put them in there for free.

So, my final thoughts on the planner so far? I think I’ll have to use it properly to get a real feel for the planner itself. It is rather big & currently won’t fit in my bag, but I feel that might just be a good reason to go bag shopping! It is so perfect and clean right now that making the first mark in it is rather daunting, but at the same time I can’t wait to get stuck in! I love the look and feel of the planner as a whole. I was worried that the removable covers would look cheap, but they don’t. In fact, they look very sturdy and, aside from a few scuff marks on mine, durable. I will do another update in a few months to see whether my opinions on the planner have changed & how I’ve enjoyed planning with it. I am really excited to become a more organised woman with this planner!

Watch this space for a clumsy unboxing of my Erin Condren Life Planner, plus sticker hauls, plan with me blog posts & more! I look forward to planning with you all.

PS – If you’d like to get you’re own Erin Condren Life Planner, then why not use *this* referral code to get $10 off!