Mood Boards, A Sneak Peek, & Blogging Inspiration

Good morning everyone! You may be wondering where I've been. My family and I took a magical trip to Portland and Seattle, and I've been in frantic catch-up mode ever since! I have so much I want to share about our experiences there, but in the meantime I want to tell you about some of my other doings in the past few weeks. I made the mood board that see you here for a May Arts
project that will be posting next week. I'll show how to take many of these lovely objects and transform them with Twinkling H2Os: my new-found love! This is the first mood board I've ever created with one specific project in mind, and it proved to be a very valuable tool. As I've mentioned before, I am easily distracted, and sometimes I lose focus when I'm working on a project. This mood board helped me remember what materials I wanted to use, and kept me on track. And it's pretty to look at too! Here's a little sneak peek of what I did with some of the materials on my mood board and the sparkly little pots of joy called Twinkling H2Os!

Creating a mood board is sort of like putting together your outfit for the day, or decorating your house. You gather a variety of elements and unite them with a theme, a a color scheme, or some other common thread. Designers and artists have a long history of using mood boards to collect their thoughts and ideas, and often use mood board for presentations to their clients. I've made mood boards in the past as a way to showcase some of my favorite images and art/craft supplies like this one or this one. But I didn't realize the full potential of these useful and beautiful tools until I started reading 2 amazing blogs: Decor8 by Holly Becker and A Creative Mint by Leslie Shewring. Leslie writes the Color Me Pretty column on the Decor8 blog, and she has perfected the art of the mood board!

Just look at the gorgeous board she shared on her blog yesterday! I love all the bits and pieces, the composition, and the color story. Leslie uses her mood boards as a starting point for creative photos and projects. The results are so inspiring!

Holly's blog, Decor8, is chock-full of beautiful images, inspiring design ideas, and lovely homes, as well as links to artists, designers, shops, and many other resources. Her new book Decorate is a wonderful read filled with over 500 visually inspiring photographs and lots of practical advice for making your living space both functional and beautiful. Her blog is always dynamic and interesting. I feel so energized and connected with the latest trends, design concepts, and creative people when I read her posts!

For the past 3 weeks, I've been happily absorbed in learning the secrets to creating amazing mood boards, how to improve my photography, ways to make my blog a better and more inspiring place to visit, and so much more from both Holly & Leslie via the Blogging Your Way e-course. Along with Holly's husband Thorsten Becker, they have put together one of the most informative, inspiring, and enjoyable online courses I've ever taken! All my burning questions about blogging etiquette, the best resources for bloggers, photography and photo editing, beautifying a blog, connecting with other bloggers: in short just about everything I've ever wondered about, are being answered! And the community and forum are nothing short of amazing! I want to express a heartfelt thanks to everyone involved in this journey. I am over the moon with with the creative energy this course has been unleashed in me, and I hope all the new-found knowledge I've gained will be reflected here on my own blog. I appreciate everyone who takes the time to stop by and see what I'm rambling on about, and I hope you all have an inspired day!