Where do we even start when it comes to a new year?

There are so many things we are hoping for, meanwhile we’re grieving everything that was the last year. There is a lightness expected from this new year, but is that what’s to come?

For one thing, our perspective has changed. You may have worked much more this year as an essential worker, or much less do to precautions. You may have had many plans changed and longed for things to go back as they were. Something this past year has taught us is to go-with-the-flow.

We may not have wanted to go with the flow, but we really had no choice but to! We have been pulled and pushed until we gave in to the flexibility of the human spirit. We are resilient and can bounce back, whatever the circumstance.

And there is hope. I’m one of those highly optimistic people that always believes there is hope, so if you ever need a shift in perspective, call me up and I’ll find the silver lining in anything.

As we walk into the new year, we have no idea what to expect and how soon to expect it. If you’re anything like me, your entire being is aching to be with people. Really be, as a verb. I miss people so, so much, and want to just give someone other than Greg a hug already! I want to host parties and have people over. I want to have long conversations, where I can see the nuances in one’s face and body language. I want to laugh together and see my friend’s mouth open wide in the light-hearted laughter that has ensued.

And what’s so tough is that I know none of these things will arrive soon. Even with the vaccine rolling out, it will be a hesitantly extended time until we can safely be with each other again, like we used to.

Even still, there is hope. We can look forward and continue in our process of unfolding. We can make goals, think up dreams, and think in terms of aspirations. We can envision our year and our future.

What does yours look like?

I suppose that’s the best place to start when we look into the new year. What do you envision? What do you want? How do you want to feel? I’m thinking about goals, yes, but more importantly I’m thinking about me.

Make a Vision Board

I love crafting, and paper crafting is my favorite! Therefore, creating a vision board out of selected pieces of paper is right where I want to be. 😉

What kind of board do you want to create?

Do you want to create a physical board or a digital board?

Are you wanting to make a board filled with specific goals you have in mind?

Or are you looking to make one more open to interpretation?

As I started to think about creating a vision board this year, I knew I wanted to make it very intuitively. My word for last year was “trust,” so I’m honing in on that skill and trusting that I’ll know when a picture or word is right for my board. I might put down specific goals and I may not. We’ll see where the crafting takes me!

Step 1: Gather materials

If you’re planning on creating a physical vision board out of paper, you’ll need to gather materials. If you don’t want to take up space with materials and clippings and things, I’d suggest you look into creating a digital vision board. You could create a Pinterest board specifically for 2021, create a graphic full of beautiful images in Canva, or get really fancy with Photoshop or Illustrator!

But here, I’ll be talking about paper.

Paper - you need something to put your clippings on. I’m using a sheet of cardstock that I have in my collection of craft supplies. You can use computer paper or a sheet of paper from a notebook, but when applying glue to a thinner sheet of paper, the paper may wrinkle. I suppose you can always put your vision board through a laminator to smooth it out if it gets a little wavy! 😂

Scissors - Gotta cut out the clippings with something! Sure, you can rip them out for some cool jagged edges as well! ✂️

Glue - glue stick, Elmer’s glue, craft glue, or even tape! Any of these things will help to keep your clippings stuck on the paper!

Magazines - to find your inspiration for the year, gather some magazines to peruse for your project.

A note on where to find magazines in a digital age.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while and had no idea where I could find magazines when we really don’t get any! Then I realized we did have some; one from a grocery store, one from my college, one from the neighborhood. But what I really wanted was a magazine that was inspirational, colorful, and enjoyable to look through. Yes, I can always buy one at Target or Wegmans (our local grocery store), but I didn’t really want to buy one if I didn’t have to. So then my friends and I were on a Zoom call chatting about it. We ruled out getting magazines from our music therapy clients’ homes and brainstormed other ways. If you’re going out anywhere these days, there may be a magazine rack at the entrance to wherever you’re going. If you’re visiting a doctor, they may have “untouched” magazines that they haven’t put out yet. Your grocery store may have some free catalogs you can swipe.

Another option is find some local people to swap with! I haven’t been actively spending time with my friends, but I have been very active with a local group called Buy Nothing. It’s a place where my neighbors will post a picture of an item they are ready to part with, and other neighbors will request to be given the item. I have gotten so many things from this neighborly group (an amazing printer, instruments for my private practice, candles, and magazines!). Turned out I picked up way too many magazines for this small and simple project, so if anyone reading this is local, let me know if you want any!

Step 2: Cut out your clippings!

While looking through your magazines, are there any words that stand out for you? Are your goals screaming at you from the pages? Are there images, colors, or pictures that call your name?

You can clip out words, pictures, colors, etc. Whatever feels right, do that!

Another thing you can do, which I’m considering because there are a couple words I just can’t seem to find in these magazines, is to cut out single letters and piece them together to spell out a word. This is a fun and funky way of making your vision board come alive!

Step 3: Paste

Finding the pieces that stand out to me and then layering and placing them in just the right spot will take me forever! But the pasting piece is what I enjoy doing the least, and yet it’s the most necessary to actually create a vision board! We gotta put it all together!

Here’s another picture to give you an example of cutting, layering, placing, and eventually pasting! You can get so creative with this process. Your creativity will take time, though, so don’t get SO creative that you won’t ever complete your vision board! 😜

Extras!

You can take your vision board in so many directions! Add some string or ribbon to it. Why not draw, paint, or color over it? Use that glitter that you have and you never touch because it gets everywhere (why not!).

Find some decorative paper and add that to your vision board if you wish!

The beautiful floral and gold-specked paper in the picture below is actually an old tissue box!

If you don’t have any of these extra materials, don’t worry, not many people have a craft closet busting at the seams like mine! You can always pick up extra things from Michael’s, JoAnn’s, or your local craft store.

Tips of the trade

I wanted to leave you with more because there are so many ideas floating around my head!

Instead of just cutting straight across where your word looks like it’s in a box, consider taking extra time and cut around the shapes of the letters. Notice how I did this with “live your best life” clipping. I cut around the shapes of the top of the letters and left the bottom straight.
(I also did this with the orchids I cut out!)
Use blocks of color to fill in the white space. You are essentially creating your very own background and giving your vision board a whole new feel!
Think about layering your pictures like a collage instead of keeping them all separate. Layering text over pictures or circles under squares may give your vision board an elevated look! On the contrary, single words with white space separating them may be just what you need to chase your goals and see your vision come to live this year.
For a super unified look, search for words or pictures with a similar color. You may see lots of pinks from the florals, background colors, and some words in the pictures above.
Frame your vision board!
And if you frame your vision board, make sure the page you’re using is cut to size. You’ll see here that I cut down my page to 8X10 because that’s the size of the picture frame I’m planning on using.
Get creative and most importantly, have fun! If you’re not having fun while creating your vision board, I would suggest not creating one. This process is for you and only you. You’re not creating the board to showcase it over instagram (or maybe you are, but that’s not the point), it’s not going up on a blog (or maybe it is), it’s not something you’re creating for other people. It is a creative craft project solely for your enjoyment and benefit.

If you had a fun time creating your vision board, if you are proud of it, if it accurately describes your hopes for the new year, or if it’s not what you expected, I would love to see it! Share away! 💕