Sunday, January 18, 2009

Inspiration Board Tutorial!



You must be thinking "2 posts in 1 day? What, excuse me, what?" Well I'm here to tell you that I've been commissioned to do a tutorial on inspiration boards, cute ones. :] A friend asked me for some help and I figured I would rise to the occasion and share my mediocre wisdom with my readers! I don't claim to be an expert on the subject and this is hard to just...TEACH someone, but I'll try my best to give you some good inspo at least, So here we go!

The key to inspiration boards is surrounding yourself with things that you love. So let's say...you love Paris? Fill your boards with all things Parisian! My inspiration boards have lots of images of cupcakes, clothes I like, stimulating patterns, inspiring quotes, family photos, pictures of my boyfriend, pink, yellow, art people make me, etc.

Here's a prototype as to what can be your canvas:

Other options might include a real canvas, french doors on a closet, the outside of a mirror, a chalkboard, or just a wall!
There are also several different ways to go:

*organized bulletin board
*scrap board (made to look sort-of like a layout)
*collage board (one of my favorite types)
*inspiration wire (line strung across a wall and elements hung by clips)
*what i like to call the pile-it-on technique
*fabric and ribbon board (corkboard covered with fabric and ribbon stretched over)
*or just go raw corkboard! Old school!

The way I like to start out is to pick an image that you find particularly stimulating. Something that you really really love. Then work around it. For my latest inspiration wire above my bed, I chose this layout to hang:

I put this layout in the center and pieced everything else around it.

AS a general rule of graphics, start with the larger items first and let the smaller ones fall in. Your college will differ depending on if you're a symmetrical or asymmetrical person.

Ideas on other paper ad-ons might be:

*wrapping paper
*magazine clippings
*pretty images from brochures or catalogs
*chipboard letters
*scrapbook papers
*packaging
*postcards
*clothing tags
*bits of maps
*sketches

Overlapping is your friend! I hate seeing boards that have everything contained within the frame and not touching. It makes me seem to stark and plain and lacking in character! Color outside the lines! I love watching my boards explode!

I think a classic reason that people don't like their boards is because they have so many photos crowded on with busy and dark backgrounds. Piling on magazine clippings, embellishments, and notes will help balance it.

Here I've compiled a mosaic of different photos containing inspiration boards to give you some ideas. Click here to get a closer look at each photo and the credits.

Make sure when you're designing your inspiration boards to incorporate 3D embellishments to make it pop off the wall!

Some ideas of things to include are:

*ribbons and buttons
*pins
*fabric swatches
*pretty magnets
*clips
*silk flowers
*necklaces or other jewelry
*cute gift tags or bows
*thin garland and fibers
*vintage items and more

Go to your local thrift store and see what you can dig up!

You can attach these items with anything from tape, poster putty, push pins, thumb tacks, binder clips or decorative straight pins. Straight pins make nice, small holes--good for further use if you want to take the board apart and start again! To finish, I always like to hang my boards with Command Strips because they don't peel the paint off the walls when you remove them. Dorm room safe! :]


I hope this has helped a bit, if not a lot if you've been considering sprucing up your room or desk area. I know that surrounding myself with inspiration and things I love helps me to create and live wonderfully. <3

2 comments:

Elisa P. said...

love your blog, your style. Your magazine journals really inspire me

Mollie said...

You are so awesome! I'm glad you are back! :)