How to Make an Inspiration Board

This week we will be making an inspiration board for The Creative Play Challenge. You can do this by decorating a cork board or you can also make a miniature inspiration board in an art journal or sketchbook. I made an art journal version here, if you’d like to take a peek.

The goal here is to gather materials, pictures, scraps of paper, etc. that make you smile and that get your creative juices flowing. You can think about who or what inspires you, write out quotes from songs you like or books you’ve enjoyed, pin up a gift tag from a friend you want to keep in your thoughts . . . really, the sky is the limit.

I actually have a whole drawer dedicated to inspiration board goodness. I often draw on it to find papers for art journaling and collage. In this case, it proved useful in creating a new inspiration board for myself. I usually have some organic touches to my boards like leaves and lichen but we had a big rainstorm last night. I’ll have to wait until we have a sunny day to gather those pieces.

An inspiration board is meant to inspire YOU, so take a few minutes to think about the images, smells, music, and thoughts that inspire you. How could you recreate those? You might find looking through a magazine for words or images works. I’ve definitely taken apart many a magazine for inspiration boards, that’s for sure! 🙂

Maybe you have pieces of artwork from the grand kids or a card a friend sent you that you don’t want to get rid of—those are perfect items for an inspiration board.

You could also decide on a theme and try to find images and items that relate to it. I’ve done this in the past when I make an inspiration board at the beginning of the year. If you’ve decided to make a miniature inspiration board in your art journal, don’t be afraid to add paint and various textures (tape in a feather or a piece of cloth).

Did I mention you can’t mess this project up? I’ve made so many of these in the past; some of them were up on my wall for years. Some only lasted a few weeks until I became bored of them. When I was running marathons, the back of my bedroom door was an inspiration board of running quotes, race bibs, and images. Just remembering that door brings a smile to my face.

I also decorated a couple of guitar cases in high school with quotes, images, and memorabilia, making a guitar case inspiration “board”. It’s actually quite fun to think outside the box and decorate whatever inspires YOU.

In the image below, I didn’t show the final step of using push pins to hold everything in place. I was just playing around with some layouts of how I’d like it to look. In my sketchbook, I tend to place everything with tape first and then use a glue stick to hold everything down. If I really want to seal the page and all of its contents, I paint white glue over the entire page. It will dry clear and matte, making a lovely surface to write on with Sharpies or gel pens.

Have a lovely {and creative} day!