The instaretreat from meandorla - build your Instagram account

Back in May I crept over to my Instagram account and peeped through the little square window. Many of my blog tribe of old are over there, which is truly lovely as I miss connecting with them each day. I was posting, but sporadically. At the back of my mind was a niggling feeling. A sense that there was more to Instagram than polaroid-style filters and pictures of guinea pigs with hats on (although both of these things are excellent). 

I began to roam about a bit. I found one or two accounts that reminded me of Toast catalogues. In this house these beautiful booklets are things to be savoured over a cup of tea when no one else is in the house. I sigh over them and wish I was standing in a Swedish cabin wearing hand knitted socks and a slubby apron-like smock looking out over sphagnum-covered tundra, rather then in messy little house in East Anglia (although I think I might look a teensy bit cheerier about it). I followed my nose through feed after feed of hand thrown pots, old typewriters, muted, lacy crochet, hand dyed yarn that made me yearn, mist-swathed stands of pine trees, gnarled wood and *deep breath* Actual Real Life Tundra.

Oh gawd. How would I get any work done?

I refound Laura (remember Nimble Fingers and Steady Eyebrows?) and was so thrilled to see Tracy's floristry shed take shape and be able to peep at Val's astonishing twig wrangling more frequently. Some new folk emerged whose feeds I loved. I marveled at the carving skills of stamps.in.hands, I discovered Mirta of ModernBotanics, who may well be as passionate as I am about plant forms and I also discovered the rather baffling Cult of The Unusual Spoon and Cup of Tea. (quirky, wonky or old spoons seem to be revered so much that I considered making some small silver numbers and posting pictures to see what would happen).

I also unearthed the utter joy that is the hashtag #lovelydeadcrap.

Autumn posy. Hashtag #lovelydeadcrap

Sara of meandorla had approx a bobillion* followers yet despite this apparent famousnessousness she seemed to be friendly and encouraging about IG. When I met her in real life she shared some tips on when might be best to post and how to make my feed extra bonny. I was keen to get a bit better at doing the little squares and she was very open about how to go about it which I found surprising and kind.

Image by Sara Tasker.

This week she has launched a Free Thing of Great Excellence. The instaretreat is a seven step e-course focussed on sprucing up your feed, ensuring more folk see your photos, how to use hashtags, oh and all manner of immensely useful things. Sara's encouraging those joining in to use the hashtag #theinstaretreat on both IG and Twitter to share their images and thoughts.

It's informative, fun, you'll meet lovely people online, your IG feed will give you a snog of gratitude, as will your followers** and it WORKS***


It is especially stupendous if you plan to use Instagram to bring more ace folk to your small craft business yard. 


You can sign up any time here and it costs nothing, nowt, nixy, niente.

Best bargain you'll hear about all week.

*may not be quite true

**snogs not guaranteed

*** I know Sara's tips work because I've been taking her advice and my IG follower numbers have gone from approx 500 to nearly 4000 in around four months. This post is not sponsored, I'm just recommending a brilliant thing to those who may find it useful.