Crafting always has a special part in my heart and I love to indulge whenever I can. I always come up with these crazy ideas and it’s always a challenge to see if I can execute them, much to my budgets’ dismay…but we’ll discuss that later!

Making vision boards is a real tradition of mine. It must forever be accompanied by sparkling mimosas, glitter, and a few of my closest girlfriends. However, I know that it can seem daunting to create something from scratch so I thought I’d create a little guide of what I do every year to create a board that will motivate me whenever I’m feeling not so on fire.

Define Your Goals

First, you need to have a clear vision of what you want. There’s no board without a vision. So this is going to be the heavy lifting part. Sit down, get quiet, and really think about what you want your life to look like for this year. Start by working backwards. Day dream a little. Do you want a new job? To finally stick with finishing a project? or Have Financial Freedom? Once you’ve settled on something, then create a list of small but detailed steps that you can take this year alone to help you reach that goal. It can be as simple as having 10% of your paycheck set aside each month or using your tax refund to pay down extra debt.

I say this year only because I’ve found that when I create a board that represents my overall life goals it is too overwhelming to try and focus on so many aspects of my life at one time. It’s a true “master of none” situation. Pick at least 3 big things or a few small little things you want to improve on this year and stick with it. It’s much easier to chip away little by little than trying to create a masterpiece.

Completing small goals will motivate you to keep moving forward. Not seeing progress or feeling helpless is the number one reason we always quit so get ahead of the problem before you even start.

Here’s My Goals I’m using for my Vision Boar this Year:

Find Inspiration

Really allow yourself to get creative. Don’t just limit yourself to using pictures out of magazines. Gather physical representations of the things you want to manifest into your life this year. I love using a mixture of Fun Sticker Letters, Scrap Booking Paper, Beautiful Ribbons, printed blank greeting cards, and anything that makes you feel “sparkly” inside once you see it. This is about feeling inspired! Texture, color, and placement can create beautiful outcomes no matter what your crafting skill level.

Also, Walgreens usually has photo coupons available so make sure to take advantage. I usually create a specific Pinterest Board for my Vision board and then download and print multiple sizes and photos through the app (along with personal ones of family and friends). Not only does it make your board look more polished or make it easy to create color schemes, it’s also helpful when trying to mix and match different photo sizes on your board.

Get Started

White Board

Permanent or Adjustable Double Sided Tape

Printed Photos and other crafting materials

Printed Sheet of Goals/Small Stickers to Write them In

I generally prefer to keep one small board at work and a larger one at home. Personally, I prefer to not only have visual representations on my board but to see the actionable steps I set out for myself on the board as well. It really helps keep me more accountable once I see what I need to be doing everyday to reach my goals- i.e. something I won’t do unless I’m physically reminded, ha ha.

Step One: Edit

Okay, so If you’re like me, I usually have way more than what I actually need for the size of my board. So first I like to move things around on the board. I can see if any color pattern begin to emerge or I can remove what images I don’t like now that I see them in person or how it looks together with the other images. That way I have a smaller, more curated selection of visuals that will speak more clearly to me and what I want to achieve.

Step Two: Assemble

Once you have what you like together, I like to use large scrap-booking sheets to fill the background. This is important because all of your photos and other visuals won’t fit together perfectly and this will solve that awkward white space issue and will just add more dimension to your board. Glitter is also great for this!

Step Three: Find a Layout

This is probably the hardest part. Since I have a mix of words and images, Sometimes I’ll divide my board to show four sections/four goals that I want to have represented or place my goal list in the middle and use the surrounding space to create a “relevant” collage in the background.

Step Four: Finishing Touches

Now this may just me but I always like to add a finishing touch to my board to really make it feel “creatively” polished! I love using bows, colored overlays with words on top, or a couple splashes of glitter. Anything goes! I’ve also used small things I’ve held on to like music festival bands and inspiring messages that I find that speak to me in the moment from my Yogi Tea bags (yes, like really, I’m that lame, lol).

And there you go, Now you’ve easily made a vision board that’s unique and fun as you!