DIY Vision Board

Original article and pictures take http://craftartsymiracle.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/diy-vision-board/ site

I’m back today with a simple craft project: Vision Boards.

My Vision Board

What’s so simple about it? Well, you gather magazines, newspapers, and/or books, cut words, phrases and images of things that speak to you, and paste it on poster board in a collage fashion. Seems easy right? Ok, simple maybe. Easy? It depends.

Now, I’m a visual person and I believe there is power within words and pictures. Back in high school, my mom introduced me to vision boards as a way to set goals. Rather than listing my goals with words alone, I was given the challenge to find images that describe those goals and create a collage. With the piles of magazines I had lying around, I flipped through its pages and cut out words, phrases and images that spoke out to me, inspired me even. The idea of creating my vision board was to learn that my thoughts eventually become things. It was a type of creative visualization process geared toward helping my thoughts align with my actions to create the vision I wanted for myself rather than letting life control my thoughts. Of course I understand it now, however, back then it sounded so out of the box that I didn’t care what it meant; only that it sparked my creative side in the world of paper and glue. Within one year of creating my first vision board, however, all the goals I had put down had been achieved. I made new friends, got my first retail job which gave me money to buy a new wardrobe and I was handed down a car just to name a few. Soon I became addicted and before I knew it, I created many boards in all areas of my life. I even created some for friends as gifts. Heck, I think I even taught a workshop on it (with two students if I recall) just to share this amazing goal-setting technique.

What you need:

• Magazines, newspapers and/or books
• Scissors
• Glue
• Poster board (or paper you have on hand. It can be any size you choose)

Step 1: Gather your supplies.

Step 2: Flip through your magazines and books to find words and images that inspire and call out to you.

Step 4: Glue them onto cardstock, paper or poster board.

Step 5: (optional) Frame it!

Note: The images and words I compiled for my own vision board came from extra magazines and books, journaling cards from my digital Project Life Seafoam edition by AC Digitals, and images from Google.

The challenging part of this project can be seeking out the words and images that truly speak to you. Then sorting through the piles of cutouts to weed out the duplicates or the words and images that no longer resonate with you. Or it can be that you think you are not a visual person and are having a hard time creating this project. It can get overwhelming, trust me. If you happen to fall trapped in this situation, I advise to find words that you want to connect with and determine what you want that to look like in your life. If you are in the middle of this project, take a break. Let your work marinate and your mind let go of the overload. Then when you’re ready, continue finding those things that call you. In the end no matter how or what your vision board looks like, you will be rewarded with a complete vision and an even greater picture of yourself. It is awesome.

So I now ask you this, “what do you want to invite more of in your life?”

Comment below. I would love to hear from you!

I hope you enjoyed this simple craft project. To learn more about vision boards, check out this article by Martha Beck for Oprah and this article by Jess from The Wellness Warrior .