Visualize Your Dreams- Making a Vision Board

Hello Loves,

You know when you hear about some awesome project and you want to do it, but you keep putting it off and never get "around to it"? That's how it was for me with making a vision board. Actually, let's be honest...that's how it is for me with most projects.

 I've always liked making collages and scrapbooks of my favorite things, but I was first introduced to the concept of a vision board several years ago. I totally meant to make one, but I just kept putting it off. Finally, last month I found an old cork board someone was throwing away and decided to finally make it happen.

A vision board is a board where you display pictures, words, stickers, etc. that remind you of your goals and dreams for the near future. You display the board somewhere where you will look at it often every day. It is meant to focus and encourage you in manifesting your vision.

The board can be made of anything, but it is usually a cork board. Each board is unique to the individual making it, and it should be decorated so that you enjoy looking at it.

I liked the idea of a cork board because I can rearrange what I put on it, or replace things as my dreams come true and new ones take their place.

So I had an old, ugly cork board with a plain metal frame around it. I thought about how I wanted to decorate it, and in the end decided that the best (and easiest and most inexpensive) way would be to cover it in fabric that I already had in my sewing supplies.

The material I had in mind was too short, but I found some old cheetah-print sheets I was saving to re-purpose, and I liked the way it looked when I draped it over the board. I also like cheetah print in general and I have a few cheetah print items in my room, so it seemed appropriate. I lay the sheet on a flat surface and the cork board face down on the sheet and cut the sheet a few inches bigger than the board so I could staple it to the back. Once the cutting was complete I stretched the fabric tight around the board and pinned the fabric in the back, making sure the corners looked neat. Then I got a staple gun and stapled every few inches all the way around. I cut holes in the fabric for those metal things at the top of the board (that are used for hanging it on a wall), so they would stick out. I attached twine to them so I can hang it up.

Cut the fabric a few inches larger than the board

Staple the fabric to the back and add a way to hang it if you want

Now that the board was done, I spent a few days thinking about what to put on it. I wrote down my dreams of what I want for the next 3 years and wrote down ideas of pictures and words that would represent those dreams. Then I started looking for those pictures. I thought I'd be able to cut them out of magazines, but I don't subscribe to any and I couldn't find anyone who had magazines that I could use. So I ended up printing pictures off the internet. I think it's the best thing anyway if you have a color printer. Just search Google Images for whatever you are looking for. Then copy and paste the picture you choose to a blank Word or Wordpad page. You can re-size the image and arrange several on one page to print. The only drawbacks are image quality and using color ink, which is expensive to replace when you run out.

I also had some travel-related cardstock images from packaging that I used.

I printed out words and quotes I wanted in cool fonts too, and some I wrote by hand (trying to do caligraphy...haha).

Once I had most of my materials gathered, I cut them out and started arranging them on the board. I let them kind of flow naturally from one "section" to another. Arrange them however feels right to you. I taped small related pictures together (with the tape in the back so you can't see it) and pinned these larger sections to the board. I used short sewing pins pushed in at an angle for most of the pinning, as they do not distract from the pictures. I also glued acorn caps to thumbtacks to make them look interesting and used those for some sections.

At the top of my board are generally inspiring words, such as "I can do anything" and "All good things are coming to me". In the middle of my board I glued a small clothespin to a thumbtack and used it to hold a dollar bill and my income goal written on a piece of paper over it. All around it are words and quotes such as "Abundance" and "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life". Next to it are pictures and words related to my travel goals, and on the other side of the dollar are pictures and words pertaining to things I want to learn and hobbies I'd like to do more of.

The words and quotes I printed are both related to my dreams and also how I want to grow as a person. Some words were
Confident
Capable
Adventure
Explore
Fearless
Grow

I also pinned some dried leaves of wild plants to the board to represent my goal of getting better at plant identification.

Materials:
For assembling the board:
Cork board
Fabric
Staple gun (with staples, of course)
Pins

For decorating the board:

Images (pictures, magazines, pictures printed off internet)
Words and quotes (handwritten or printed)
Anything you can pin on that will represent or remind you of your goals
Pretty paper to embellish quotes (optional)

For affixing your decorations to the board:
Pins, push pins, and/or tacks

Tape (optional)
Glue (optional)

One of the things I love about this project is that I didn't spend any extra money on it at all. I was able to use things I had on hand in my craft supplies already. That may not be the case for everyone, but this doesn't have to cost much if you are able to re-purpose things. Recycling crafts are my favorite types of crafts for sure!
-Shelby

Pumpkin Spice Chai Latte

Dear Peoples,

Happy October!!! I am sooooo excited to finally be able to enjoy all my favorite fall things again. Pumpkin spice desserts, scarves, pumpkin spice drinks, cooler weather, pumpkin spice breakfasts, shorter days and acorns everywhere, pumpkin spice foods, boots and sweaters, fall scented candles, pumpkins....yeah, I kind of really love pumpkin spice. And fall. And pumpkins.

I am not really a coffee drinker (it usually makes me feel jittery), but I do like a nice warm latte on a fall day. And of course, all places that have coffee are advertising their pumpkin spice lattes and other delectable fall spice flavors, and so when I'm out and about, I will occasionally treat myself to one. But unfortunately, I am usually disappointed. No one seems to get it just right. Some are too sweet. Some are too bland-not enough spice. Others don't even taste like pumpkin at all. And besides, most of these drinks are flavored with sugary flavored syrups and not wholesome ingredients. They leave me feeling the blah-ness that comes after a sugar high.

 So I usually make my own lattes. I use all natural whole food ingredients, and I control how sweet and spicy I want my latte to be. And it's cheaper. Win-win-win.

Since I use real pumpkin and coconut milk, my lattes are very filling. Perfect for an on-the-go snack. I actually practically lived on these once during a very busy few weeks, when I barely had time for meals. Not that I'd recommend replacing meals with lattes, but it helped hold me over until I had time to eat something proper. Rushing out the door? No problem, I'd whip up a latte and take it to go.

I am more of a tea girl, so I usually make my lattes with chai tea instead of coffee. This recipe is the one I make for myself, but you can replace the tea with coffee if you prefer

For pumpkin, I usually use butternut squash. I will cut a squash in quarters and boil or roast it until it is soft. I use one quarter of the squash for two lattes, so I just store the quarters of squash in a container in the fridge, and use them as I need them. If you want, you could also skin and puree the entire squash after you cook it and store it in a jar, or use canned pumpkin.

Okay, enough chatter. Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Spice Chai Latte
1 cup Chai tea
1/2 cup pureed (or mashed) squash or canned pumpkin
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 tablespoons raw cane sugar
2 tablespoons raw coconut oil
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger (or 1/2 inch fresh ginger!)
1/8 tsp. ground cloves or allspice

Boil water and add tea bag. Let steep 3-5 minutes. Put the other ingredients in your Vitamix (or other high-powered blender) and add the tea. Blend starting at a low speed and work up to high speed. Blend for about 30-60 seconds. There should be frothy bubbles on the top. Pour in your favorite cup or travel mug and enjoy! If you want to make it even more special, you can top it with some cinnamon, whipped cream, and cinnamon sticks!

 I am thinking of trying it with some fresh turmeric added as well. I am out of turmeric at the moment so I can't try it, but I think it would be delicious.

If you try it, I'd love to hear what you think! Leave me a comment. :)

Happy Fall!
-Shelby