Turning my DIY Planner into a part-time Manifestation Board using an IKEA catalogue, glue, and crafting tape

Inside a book, clippings from a catalogue are glued in. On the left hand side a woman with brown skin holds out a glass of water, her face is occluded. On the right hand side a page reads "2017: the year we plant more flowers." Below this is a collage of images of trees, candles, and artwork featuring flowers. Over the collage are the words "Imperfect is perfect enough."

Hey everyone! Hope your holiday season and your January were pretty good.

It’s been a while since I’ve been on here….January was mostly reserved for me recovering from 2016, and I fell ill a few times. The rest I had was sorely needed, and I hope to have more energy and focus in the near future.

One thing I’ve been working on a bit is my DIY planner. I started this project in 2016, hoping to have it ready by 2017 but that didn’t happen. So I’ve been working on it in January and now February, trying to get it mostly complete sometime soon. So far I’ve got all of February written out and the March title page.

I decided I wanted to do something special with the title pages, and it occurred to me I could do mini-manifestation boards, especially as I’ll be looking at my planner every day.

Manifestation boards, or vision boards, or treasure maps, are something I’ve toyed with off and on since I was in high school and we made one as part of youth group at church. This was years before “The Secret,” and to be honest I’m not a huge fan of the ideas from The Secret or its followers. I believe that desire is a powerful tool, but not as all-powerful as some followers of The Secret seem to believe it is. There are lots of situations we simply cannot change by force of will alone.

However, I do believe that what we interact with on a regular basis does have an effect on us, so seeing (or hearing, touching, smelling, etc) something everyday will work some sort of magic in our lives, for good or for ill.

Anyway, my point here is: there’s a certain magic in repetition, and having mini-manifestation boards in my planner is super for my mental health.

A pile of clippings from an IKEA catalogue rests on a hardwood table (also from IKEA).

Catalogue carnage!

My main goal for 2017 is for us to get a place to call our own and start a family. That second one can’t happen without the first thing happening, so it’s really important to me that we get a place to call our own and soon. In Vancouver’s housing market, that reality is…well, less reality, more pipe-dream. So it’s hard not to feel hopeless.

Enter the vision boards. I used the IKEA catalogue because a) I love IKEA, don’t judge me, and B) it’s full of pictures of not only well-put-together homes, but people expressing joy in those homes. Also, as I discovered when I went through it, there are tons of words in there that are rather inspiring to read and will help with the vision boards.

So step one was to go through and dog-ear all the pages with pictures on them that called to me; pictures that made me think “Yes, home.” (I didn’t take pictures of this step because it didn’t occur to me to blog about this until well after.) After doing that I spent time cutting them out, and as I was doing this I noticed some words I wanted as well, so that was my next step.

Then came the trimming, as most things I cut with too much extraneous stuff on the sides. I’ve now put together 2 month title pages (January used a bulletin from church) as well as putting some stuff on the very first page and inside cover, and I’m planning on doing more month title pages in the coming week. Next to my computer is a pile of clippings from the catalogue, waiting to be arranged into more mini-manifestation boards. I’m also adding bits of crafting tape to the collages, as you’ll see in the pictures below.

Here’s the inside cover and the front page (you might recognize the front page from a barer version I posted to my Instagram, before starting this collage-ing madness):

Inside a book, clippings from a catalogue are glued in. On the left hand side a woman with brown skin holds out a glass of water, her face is occluded. On the right hand side a page reads "2017: the year we plant more flowers." Below this is a collage of images of trees, candles, and artwork featuring flowers. Over the collage are the words "Imperfect is perfect enough."

I’m super happy with how this turned out.

This is to remind myself that I want to plant flowers this year (metaphorically) so we can grow flowers (metaphorically). Though literally, I suppose, as well, as I’m hoping my future home has room for a garden!

The water is to remind me to take time, to breathe, to centre myself, and it also has a political message: Water is life. (Which is so obvious it’s weird it’s considered political, but.) It’s there to remind me my commitment to the Water Protectors at Standing Rock (who are still protecting!) and to fighting for water rights the world over.

As well, I’ve put the words “Imperfect is perfect enough” over the front page collage, to remind myself that I’m only human, and can only do so much, and that what matters is that I put forth the effort. I have a tendency to beat myself up for not doing more when the reality is I just can’t. So I hope this will remind me to be kinder to myself.

Here’s February:

A large picture of a balcony with a chair, table, and several potted plants as well as ivy growing on the wall. The words "The best commute," "Unlocking opportunities," "Sometimes the simple things are simply the best," and "February" can be seen on the image, the first 3 collaged on, the 4th written in gold ink.

What I’m trying to manifest with this one is more work on my career, loving where I work (from home), and for me to go out and get more opportunities for myself.

March:

A blonde, light-skinned woman is joyfully making food in a frying pan. Over the main picture are thre smaller ones of kitchen storage options: jars, dried foods, hanging herbs. Added to the collage are the following words: "Tidy sink, happy cook" "Make it work for you" "Cook like no one's watching" "Easier is delicious" and "A kitchen that moves with you."

The kitchen is the centre of the household and I want one where I can be happy and joyous as I cook, bake, and clean. I long for a beautiful, large kitchen with great storage options and a perfect layout. The kitchen I have now doesn’t fit that bill, but part of my visioning with this is to make the best of it and try to find that joy even before we get our own place.

I’m not sure what will emerge as themes for April or the following months (I didn’t set out to do themes with Feb/March, they just appeared!) but I’ll be sure to keep you all posted when I get them done! I’m really loving doing this; it’s awakened my creativity in new and interesting ways. I’d forgotten how much I loved doing collages!

Have you ever experimented with a vision board? What did you find worked for you or didn’t? Tell me all about your experience in the comments!

~Katje

3 thoughts on “Turning my DIY Planner into a part-time Manifestation Board using an IKEA catalogue, glue, and crafting tape

  1. BB says:

    I love this! What a lovely tiger you are!

    1. Katje says:

      Thanks momma!

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