The thoughts, feelings, and projects of an expanding solitary.

Friday, January 15, 2016

DIY Portable Dream Board Tutorial

The Introspective/Personal Bit
     It's not a big secret that I'm not the best with budgeting my money. I like to shop. a lot. I've gotten better over the years at not spending excessive amounts of money and I'm not in financial trouble because I can't control my desires to buy all the shineys or anything like that. But, I do spend more than I need to, especially when I have goals for the future that require money. So I am starting a few things to really help me to spend (or save) money where it would make me actually happy and peaceful. Two of the things I am working on are a budget (which I may post on more later) and a portable dream board. Since I travel for work I wanted something that folded down small and could fit into a journal or planner so I could always have it with me. Who knows, maybe it would be helpful when I'm in Target and wanting to feed my addiction and buy that really cute purse haha. I'm hoping that this board will help me to make decisions about my money that, in the long run, will make me happy and remind me of the budget that I have set up for myself. Basically reminding me that if I buy X now, I'm actively taking money away from building a greenhouse or or buying dog food. Instructions on how I made mine are below.


The Crafty Bit
     As I said in my "introspective bit" I created this dream board to remind me of the things that I want in my future. It's specific purpose for me is to help me to realize why I am saving money now. Dream or vision boards have a lots of different purposes for many people and you may want to create yours for a different reason- maybe to remind you why you exercise or to be kinder to others or to work towards whatever desires or goals you have in life.
Basically, they can be helpful for days when you feel like this.

     So what's the difference between this and a Pinterest board? I really think that it is the physcial-ness of it. Performing the action of picking out the photos and creating something feels more tangible and meaningful than just pinning something you will likely not look at as often. Having the physical thing with you is also different. You can pull it out at any time and not be distracted by  things on your feed or other boards. You can set it in a place where it is visible, like your dresser or your desk at work.
     So what's the difference between this and a traditional dream board? This version is small and portable. You can put it up where ever you are - at home, in the office, etc and then you can take it down and carry it with you easily. It's also nice to be able to take it down if you have dreams and desires that you're not ready to or wanting to share with others, like if you have a party at your house. It's also nice to be able to carry it with you even when you aren't expecting to look at it. Sometimes you need motivation when you least expect it.


Alright I'll stop blathering on and get to it!

1. Choose the material for your base. I made mine out of 6 blank cards. I wanted something a little more sturdy than plain printer paper and I had some blank cardstock sitting around. You could easily make this out of different materials though. No need to run out to the office supply store.


2. Assemble your base. I used washi tape to tape together my cards and folded the long strip accordion style.


3. Choose inspiring images. This is the part where I can't tel you what to do! But to give you an example: I picked images that represented freedom to signify myself being debt free from student loans, pictures of the kind(s) of dog(s) I want to own one day, pictures of what my future family may look like, pictures of gardening, greenhouses, fields, and farm animals to signify my homesteading dreams, and pictures of beautiful houses and art studios to signify my desire for an ancestral home and peaceful locations to grow.

4. Attach your images. I just used a glue stick. Nothing too complicated! I just made sure to avoid putting any images over any of the folds so that none of my pictures got worn down with repeated folding.

I completed mine in a few hours and that was just the front of the board. I am planning on doing something else on the back- a more short term dream board. Really, more of a motivation board than a dream board. Basically, I want to put on images that remind me why I want to do the little things that I want to do - like exercise, meditate, research, create, etc. I think that half would be especially helpful on those days when it's so hard to get out of bed and all you want to do is be a burrito and watch TV!


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