How to Create a Vision Board

By Ann Quinn

Create your Vision Board or Picture

It is one thing to have an image of your dream in your mind, but now you're going to make it even more powerful and create it. There are many ways to do this and I will let you decide what works best for you. You could do any one of the following motivation techniques.

- Make a poster board to hang up on your wall.

- Make an A4 or A5 paper poster to put in your diary

- Create small cards for each goal to carry around in your wallet

- Make up an album of pho tos

- Create a power point slide show to watch on your computer

- Make a film to look at on your iphone, ipad or computer

Which Vision Board is Best?

I have tried many ways over time. Every year I used to do a poster board which I liked to gaze at everyday , but as I was always on the road travelling with my athletes, I did not get to see it too much. Many athletes I have worked with loved doing these and it became the center piece of artwork in their bedrooms. Others chose to hang them privately and would do so inside their bedroom cupboards, or behind the rest room door.

Wherever you place them doesn't matter, so long as you see it daily so as to strengthen your dreams.

I have also done A4 and A5 posters too and had them laminated and I would take them with me wherever I went. If you like the concept of an enormous poster for home, and the fun of creating it, you can always create that and then take a photo of it and make it into a smaller size to carry around with you. You might even go one step further and make the photograph your screen saver too!

Add your favourite, inspirational song and you are well on the way to creating your dream.

I'll be talking about goals in a minute. Everyone does goals. They write them up, and some even carry them around with them. It's no use just reading them. They must be felt and seen and imagined vividly so to work at a deeper subconscious level and here is where the vision board can help significantly. Goals are very good but by themselves are not enough.

You need to feel your goals, and bring them to life.

Have fun now gathering pictures and images of what you need to become. Dont just limit yourself to your sporting life. Add in family, friends, health, fitness, nutrition, career, finance, spiritual, environment, and personal development pictures too. Find old mags you can cut up. Otherwise you can always download photographs from the Net or from Google Images. They are so straightforward to find, so no excuses! Put some music on and have a good time collecting your favorite photos. You might also like to use some stills you have taken too.

Tips for Collecting Photographs

Lets return to the example of building your perfect home.

When searching for a picture, it will not just be any picture of a house. This is going to be your waking dream. As fast as you see it, you may know it is ideal for you. Feel it. Get excited about it. Imagine yourself living there. Visualize how your life will be. Do not forget to be realistic though. It's no use putting a picture of a $20 million dollar home if that isn't practical. A place like that is not a goal it is a potentially misleading fantasy and only sets you up for failure.

Begin by choosing photographs that might be a stretch for you and continue to update as you progress toward that $20 million home! The same guidelines apply to your sporting dreams. It could be totally unrealistic to shoot at winning the World Championships if you cannot even make the finals in your National Championships right now.

Make sure your goals are realistically viable.

Find excellent quality photos that:

- Are a real challenge

- Are of something you really want

- Excite you

- Provoke you

And make up a poster or display of all you would like to be.

About the Author:

If you enjoyed this article and would like to read more about motivation techniques, visit Ann Quinn's sports conditioning site now!

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How to Dream Big

By Ann Quinn

There is not any magical formula to believing in your dreams and becoming Amazing.

It means hard work and knowing and understanding you and what you've got to do to reach your goal. It is very similar to building a house. Before you start building, you've got to create the vision of what the house is going to be like, its structure and design, and that is exactly what we're going to get on with next.

Step 1: Dream Time Create your Vision

Now it's time to fantasize!

What would you really like to gain? What are you wanting to win? Dream Gigantic! Ordinary is not something you want to aspire to! That is what you want to run away from. Discover the genuine you and be all you wish to be. What could you dare to fantasize? Follow your heart. Aim high. Great. Now go one step higher, use the following motivation techniques and be Incredible.

What you aim for really expands. What will you win? How will you play? What do you appear to be? Are you in good shape? What team are you playing for? Where are you living? How do you feel? There is not one single Olympic Gold Medalist who didn't begin with a dream. They also worked incredibly hard day in and day out for years and fully believed in themselves too.

Do not proceed any further in reading until you know your dream! If it is something within your clear reach, it isn't a dream. If you would not have to stretch beyond what you believe is possible, then it isn't a dream. If you could do anything, what would it be?

Firstly you've got to create it in your own mind. That is where it all begins. Winners know where they'd like to go in detail! And they never, ever, ever give up.

The great Walt Disney, the creator of Disneyland and Disney World, the pioneer of animated cartoon films, and the receiver of forty eight Academy Awards and 7 Emmys is a good example of a great dreamer and visionary. He had passed away by the time Disney World was officially opened and newshounds queried his son and claimed it must've been a sad day for Walt not being here for the launch of his dream.

His boy simply answered, Walt saw it. Thats why it is that you are seeing it today.

What are you seeing? The key is first to form your dream, believe in it with all your heart and have the bravery to pursue it. Then you can get into some enjoyable pastimes and make a vision board.

About the Author:

If you loved this article and need to read more about motivation techniques in sport, got to Ann Quinn's peak performace blog right now!

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A Picture Perfect Baby Girl Scrapbook

By Janette Miller

Lets do a fast exercise. I want you to picture someone showing you a scrapbook. A book designed for their baby girl. What kind of book are you visualising? Possibilities are it is going something along these lines:

It is a pink or lavender colour. There are bits of ribbon and lace on and around the pages. There are some pattens, most involve, pink and white and most probably have lines or checkered styles. Among them are countless pictures of the baby spread over a bunch of pages, which are over the space of around a year.

Did I get close? If not congratulations, you have visualised a different, and by extension, better scrapbook. The difficulty with most baby girl scrapbooks is that all too frequently, people fall into the pot-hole of using 'safe ' and 'standard ' colours and patterns in their books.

This always results in a scrapbook that may come out average at best, and bland at worst. To help scrappers avoid this issue, I have put together a guide of things I am doing and am not doing, when I make a baby girl scrapbook:

Pink is a choice!

You don't have to select pink or for that matter. Pink is the default option that most people use. Instead, consider what her fave colour is or the color of her favorite bits of clothing are. People will be quietly relived that they do not need to look at 'another pink baby scrapbook ' trust me.

There's More to Life Than Just Ribbon

That's right, ribbon is nice and I don't say "do not use it in your book", but only use light applications of ribbon and only once or twice in the book, otherwise it can give off the impression of being clich. Think about other materials children like, glitter, macaroni, stickers and colored pencils are all things kids love and will actually make your scrapbook stick out.

Style By Design

If you can, steer clear of plain pattens, stripes and checkered patterns are ok, but I really like to go for something with a bit more zeal. Floral designs or colored polka dots slot in very well and truly add some flavor to your book.

I do not really wish to tell you what you can't put into your book, that's personal and actually up to the creator, but next time you make a baby girl scrapbook, take the road less travelled and you'll create something special for that someone special!

About the Author:

Jeanette Miller loves a good baby girl scrapbook and she writes more about them on her album scrapbooking site. So check it out right now!

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Vellum Scrapbooking: The Master Scrappers Secret

By Janette Miller

It comes as not much of a surprise that not everybody has heard of vellum before. But don't feel bad, I had not heard about it either until I was shown some vellum scrapbooking by someone who had done scrapping for years. So what is it?

Vellum is very similar to leather. It is made from the skin of animals, most commonly goats or sheep. It is much thinner and softer than leather you've potentially seen it before used on the skin of drums or on a lampshade. It's been around for centuries and was employed as parchment for important documents like land deeds or contracts.

So what's this new trend with vellum scrapbooking? Well honestly, there is not one. This material is a bit more pricey than your standard scrapbooking supplies ( as leather has a tendency to be ) which might make 1 or 2 people apprehensive about using it.

It's rarely considered or consideration of when scrappers are considering materials for their pages. Besides my pal who introduced me to it, I have seldom seen folks vellum scrapbooking.

However, this shouldn't be thought about as a disagreeable thing, when I used it, the feel was so soft and engaging that I had many scrappers asking me what it was and where they could get it. It truly made many of them take an interest in the 'new ' material I was using. They were stunned to find out that Vellum had been around for centuries.

This material also looks smashing in almost any scrapbook. Besides adding a superb texture, it's also got a superb matte effect, stopping pages from becoming glossy or highly reflective. It also has the wonderful property of stick-resistance. This was a great side benefit, as many of you could have experienced some of your scrapbook pages sticking together after 1 or 2 months of non-browsing.

So there you have it, next time you are combing your brain for ideas or merely looking for something to give your book a little flair, go for vellum scrapbooking.

About the Author:

Love to read more great articles about vellum scrapbooking? Go to Jeanette Millers website and uncover how to download 10 free scrapbooking layouts!

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Why A Black Quilt Should Be Your Next Project

By Jane Green

Black is not a typical colour when it comes to quilts and I can understand why. It's a rather morbid colour and frequently darkens the mood or tone of a room. While this can be the case, it does not always have to be this way. If you take the right steps, a black quilt may be the centrepiece of the room and add a new twist or flavour to an otherwise plain room.

To make a good black quilt every time , these are some of the dos and donts:

Mix the Blacks with other colors!

One of the explanations a lot of black themed quilts appear morbid and dark is that the quilts are sometimes plain black or black mingled with a touch lesser black. If you do this, you can expect your quilt to turn out morbid each time. Adding colors to a black base design will contrast significantly and truly bring out the colours for a quilt that really stands out. Whites and bright to mid colours always have a stunning effect and will really draw the eye. If you're not looking at making the quilt the center-piece, use more muted, darker colors for a more refined effect.

Patterns, Patterns, Patterns!

When Im making a quilt with a black theme, I've got a hard time NOT using a pattern, and I'll tell you exactly why. Patterns just look so darn good when mixed with black. When you use a pattern that's got a contrasting colour the effect is just superb. My favourite design is a black and white vine and plant pattern. It brings a stunning japanese-like feel to the room which really makes me feel at peace.

Im a Material Girl!

The material you use is also important. Unless you are making a quilt for a bachelor or to bring a bit of allure to the boudoir it is wise to avoid hairy textured materials like velour or suede. Besides the feel and effect, these can finish up being quite heavy too. It is always good to choose cotton or a similar material to make sure your quilts will be received the way in which they were intended.

Im hoping that you are convinced that a black quilt is the way to go. If not, I understand, they arent for everybody , but for the ones that do, you'll get a new world of creativity and ideas just waiting to be freed!

About the Author:

If you'd love to read more, you can find more black quilt
articles along with tones of other great ticks about making a patchwork quilt on Jane Green's blog.

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