Several months ago, some friends visited with a common goal in mind. We sat around my kitchen table, talked, laughed, and tore up some magazines. Our mission was to collect inspiring pictures and words to create and add to our vision boards.
First, I began with a honeymoon magazine. I have always wanted to go somewhere for a honeymoon, and I love the beach. Other topics which caught my eye involved bright colours, decorating ideas, pets and plants. As a result, the number of pages I collected soon added up. This was the beginning step of creating my first physical vision board.
I have previously created a digital vision board. People are using them for backgrounds on their computers, and even on their phones, to be a constant reminder of what their goals are. Therefore, it makes sense to have pictures and digital photos where they can be seen easily, and frequently.
My first digital vision board
#Tishspiration Tuesday | The Vision Board Project Part 1 Digital Vision Board
The goal for my digital vision board was to stay on brand, create inspiration, and show several goals at once. I was pleased with the outcome, but I also had all those pictures ready to glue onto a physical vision board.
When I set aside a second afternoon to work on the physical vision board myself, I selected and created a base. Next, I decorated it to add texture and colour. Then I stapled some bling around the outside. At this point, I was finally ready to go through the pictures I had collected.
A few hours later, I had collected and cut out every picture and word I thought I would use in my quest to create a vision board. After that, when I sorted the pictures and words, I realized I certainly had more than enough to create several differently themed vision boards.
Here you can see the 4 steps I used to create the first physical vision board.
#Tishspiration Tuesday _ The Vision Board Project Part 1
As you can see, in step 4, the board is complete. I am still finding pictures which fall off the board, now that it is hanging on the wall. When I notice they are missing, subsequently I glue them back in place. However, it is a little annoying, but because it is my first one, there is a learning curve. The glue sticks didn’t seem to be working, so I tried the glue dots. For now, it is a great visual reminder of one of my main goals.
Finally, when it was finished, I then took another hour to rearrange the art on my office wall, to make room to hang up my new vision board. It is easy to see, and a colourful, vibrant reminder of something I am working towards as a personal goal.
#Tishspiration Tuesday _ The Vision Board Project Part 1 Final Result
I am pleased enough with this first physical vision board, that consequently, I am going to keep creating more. I am not sure if I will make them the same size as this one, or if I will vary the size based on the theme.
Have you ever created a vision board? Please feel free to share your pictures of yours in the comments, or a link to your vision board picture. I would be thrilled to see what other people create to inspire themselves to keep moving towards their goals.
We are both home this weekend. He works one in three weekends, and this is his favourite, the three-day weekend. He has been off since Friday. I have every weekend off, and rarely go in for overtime on the weekend unless there is a need for extra cash or to make up for missed time.
I am on a mission this year to clean my house, so I can be guilt free when I settle in to write my book, and work on various craft projects. So I am working on a cleaning challenge, and an organizing challenge. I also have a plan for maintenance cleaning after the main cleaning is done. They say it goes quicker every year, and this is the year I plan to finish it.
I am not a hoarder (except when it comes to craft supplies; I am dreading the necessary purge of them), and I know how to clean. Laziness is my issue. Combine that with a poor sense of time management and a healthy dose of procrastination, and you get the mess my house is in. It is lived in, I can find what I need almost every time I need something, and I do enough to get by. I don’t feel comfortable with guests seeing the disaster zone. So I have taken it upon myself to get this place clean and tidy before I dive into my next creative projects.
I also go in circles, and am finding this is creeping into the cleaning and organizing schedule. Yesterday I just could not bring myself to continue the projects started on Friday after work. I am procrastinating the dreaded craft supply purge, even though I have decided that I will donate the items to the annual Relay For Life Yard Sale in support of my team from work in their fund-raising. I will be joining the team again this year. I am moving my craft supplies into my bedroom, out of the guest room. I have the cutest shelf that I bought for this project. Last weekend we got it assembled. Friday the old mattress was removed from the master bedroom, so we could get the new shelving unit in place. I bought plastic bins for it, and it really is pretty to look at. Now I am over thinking how to organize it. So I have stopped that project.
He went to work on the man cave yesterday. He put his new bookshelf in place Friday night, but needed bolts to complete his project. Yesterday he went out to get what he needed, and today the man cave looks a lot more organized and there is room to move in there. We can even sit on the fold down couch that doubles as a guest bed to watch movies in there if we want to. It hasn’t been cleaned the way I intend to clean in my challenges, but one thing at a time. I do not plan to clean it for him. He will have to do that room himself. I will make sure he knows what needs to be done for spring cleaning in there, and leave it to him.
Yesterday I asked him what he wanted to accomplish this weekend. He was going to putter in the man cave. I was OK with that. This morning, we are taking a bit of time to relax before diving back into the weekend projects. I asked him what his plans were for today. As expected, he wants to rearrange furniture for the new fish tank we bought a couple of weeks ago. The next question was to define my role in his project. I have been drafted to help lift and move furniture around. That is fair. So I am left to figure out what I am going to tackle today, when I am not moving the sofa and chair.
This is the progress in the man cave so far:
The bookcase on the right, and the shelf between the two bookcases that the TV is on are new. We both have a long way to go in finishing our projects, but progress is progress.
Last night I started cleaning and organizing around my desk. I wanted to just watch TV, and needed to feel like I was being productive. So I started. My office is in the living room, and I need to work on purging paper, and cleaning and organizing the desk and office corner. All areas of the house need this, so I am not wrong to find something that I can do from my desk. However, it is not getting the kitchen or the craft supply project finished, either.
This is where my creative mind needs to be put on the back burner for a bit. I NEED to finish in the kitchen. It is the first project in my larger, more in-depth challenge. I am also going to have to delegate some chores for my husband, or I will never get to write my books. He is going to get the list for the living room. He will be exempted from my office area, as I am not going to tackle the man cave. So he will get the responsibility of 3/4 of the living room. He doesn’t mind some chores, so if I pick the ones I don’t feel like I need to be in charge of myself, he is fine with pulling his weight in maintaining the household. Thank goodness! We both work outside of the home, so we need to team up to tackle things around here. Sometimes we growl at each other if we are in each other’s way while working on the same tasks, so we work better alone for some chores. Depending on what it is. I am fine helping move furniture around. He is fine pitching in when I need help. We do work well together, and can count on each other to get things done.
I am going to head back into the kitchen today. I really need to be puttering at it all week. I sent out a message that I may be needing help next weekend, as I grew up with sisters, and I am used to sharing the workload. My husband was an only child, and he is fine going at his own pace on chores by himself. He will be working next weekend. I don’t expect my friends to clean my messy house for me, not at all. An extra pair of hands is appreciated, but even more importantly, someone to chat with while I work, and help keep me from wandering off to procrastinate is what I really need. Sometimes, the music isn’t enough. When I feel like I am OK having a friend over, even if they bring their own craft project to work on while I am cleaning; it helps me stay on track. It also keeps me from starting ten projects at once; as I wander through the house. Yes, I find a way to go in circles, even though I live in a mini home. It is how my brain is wired.
Once upon a time a man was introduced to his granddaughter, Patricia MacLellan. When he met her, he called her Tish. It stuck. Tish MacLellan grew up in Cape Breton, in a house that used to be a church, on the world famous Cabot Trail. She spent her summers at local beaches and at a place she calls The Cabin. She learned to swim, and spent a lot of time rock hopping along the shores and coastlines of Cape Breton Island. She had a wild imagination, and dreamed of owning a horse someday. She still has her walkman with the best mixed tape ever, and it still works, even after putting all of those years and miles on it.
She loved to read, and began writing. Creative writing is one of many hobbies that she spent her spare time on. She kept a diary and when she got older, she called it a journal. She enjoyed cross stitching and embroidery. She learned to knit and to crochet. In high school, she wrote her first song.
Her love for animals made her decide to take a pre-vet program at NSAC. She was ill during her first year, and this delayed her completion of her B.Sc in Agriculture, majoring in Animal Science. While studying at NSAC, she met her future husband, Roy Webber. They dated, fell madly in love, and made it official with a wedding. The same day they got married, there was a hurricane. It was all very memorable, and all who attended the celebration of their marriage had a wonderful time, despite the weather.
Before the wedding happened, Tish was thinking about the name she wanted after she married Roy. She thought it would be a fun thing to create a new last name, and they could both become the first MacWebber Clan. Roy did not agree to this idea, and did not want to make any changes to his last name. Not even when Tish told him that she would create a brand new tartan for the new name. Tish decided to go the traditional route and take his last name, and legally became Patricia Webber. It didn’t take her long to adapt to her new name.
They moved around the Maritimes so much, that Roy’s family joked about them being gypsies. After living all over Nova Scotia, they moved to New Brunswick, shortly after a brief time living in Prince Edward Island. In Fredericton, New Brunswick, they made new friends, had roommates, and eventually bought their own mini home. They had cats constantly as pets for many years. After living in apartments for the majority of the years they were together, Tish decided that it was time, now that they have a home of their own, to get a dog. She looks forward to that. She still has no horse of her own, yet, the baby barn is not quite big enough for a horse.
When Tish decided one day that it was time to take a chance and share her songwriting with the world, she thought about creating a blog. Little did she know that it would build itself into a bigger project than she had imagined. She had also always wanted to write a fantasy trilogy, being a fan of reading them, herself. She asked her friends online what the best options were, and decided to go with a Blog page here, on WordPress. Then another new friend stepped up and made her think beyond the surface of what she was building. She revisited an old idea of hers to write her novels under a pen name, and she remembered wanting to become the first MacWebber. So, there it was. Tish MacWebber became her pen name.
Her beginner attempts at creating a blog page were good, but they weren’t great. So she asked again for help, and her new friends helped her some more. One of them took her page and changed it, and this was her new and improved starting point. Tish absorbed all the information this friend had shared with her, and thought long and hard about the next steps. She is very grateful for all of the help her new friends have given her, and she plans to return the favour, even if it is just by paying it forward. When she asked about her colours, branding and logo, people liked it for different things, but it wasn’t what she needed it to be. She kept thinking. After about three weeks of mulling it over in her mind, things clicked into place, simultaneously.
She searched through hundreds of colour palettes, picking her favourites. She found one that she kept referring back to, and decided that it was the one she would choose. Then she made a tartan design. She got her friends and family to give opinions on her progress as she tried to put the pieces all together. Her father told her that a circle would not be wrong on a tartan, rather that it would be the french connection. Her mother is french, so it fit. The motto for Clan MacLellan is, “Think On.” Her logo was developed with the phrase “Always Thinking…” because she is a dreamer that does think a lot; but also to honour her ancestors. Her cousin helped her pick the final design, and through their online chat the “…” was added to the logo. So that explains the colour, logo, and the circle. But the circle is made up of diamonds. The diamonds symbolize the marriage of all these things together, and connects all of the dots.
Tish does tend to overthink things at times. However, when she does this in terms of being creative, and it works, it makes her feel amazing. Being creative is her passion. She is going to share it with the world, and see how far it will take her.
Well, here I am, on day one of my staycation. I know, it’s not a real word; but it is in my world. I am prepping for my only Christmas Craft Show this year, Christmas In The Dobie; I am going to be working on my blogging and I will be working on this site as well. I have joined a couple of writing groups, in the hope of fulfilling one of my dreams to write a fantasy trilogy. I am now trying to get serious about this writing thing. Having this week off to work on projects that matter to me is going to be very motivational when I have to get back to work in a week’s time.
I have just started here. I have gotten feedback and help from strangers. That is something I have to say is great. I am a pantser which refers to me flying by the seat of my pants, not a plotter that plans things out and works in a structured format. Both styles are successful, if applied properly. So I am here, blogging, from the seat of my pants, and hoping to have others come along for the ride.
The feedback was constructive. I am working with advice from someone in another country, and she is showing me how to make this site more user friendly, and to attract more followers. In the land of blogging, this is what it’s all about. More hits, more followers, and more opportunities in the land of the internet and beyond.
The comment was very kind. Having a stranger take the time to read what I have written and quote a part of it in the comment was really cool. It gives me the courage to keep going.
It doesn’t only apply to the blog. I have been working at getting healthier too. When someone notices, and it is real, by that I mean I am losing weight, it feels wonderful. When someone says that I look like I am losing weight and I am not, I don’t feel good about the compliment. So it depends on me sometimes to be in the frame of mind to accept a compliment in the way it is intended. It is hard to not feel bad inside when it isn’t a real one, no matter how the intended comment was given. We have all had them, those compliments that people give because they are trying to say something nice and it backfires because it isn’t true. Until this year, I have never really felt like I had earned any compliments about losing weight. Because it wasn’t true, not since I went through Weight Watchers with my mom in grade 11&12.
Here’s the thing, though. Those comments aren’t being said to hurt me. They are telling me that I am looking better, whether it is about the weight or not. Maybe the clothes are fitting better because my body has changed since the last time I wore that outfit. Maybe I am happy and as an emotional girl, that shows, and that is what the person is seeing. Whatever is said, it is being said to encourage me to keep trying, and that is what I have to focus on.
It has taken me a LONG time to realize this. I have never been good at taking compliments to begin with, and I think it is because I don’t always feel like I have earned them. That boils down to me being way too hard on myself. It is the way I am. I don’t know how to be any other way.
So, I am trying to learn. It is not easy to change how I react to what people say. Taking the meaning behind the words is how I will be able to grow as a person, and thrive on the positivity. I have to filter out the feelings and run with the good stuff. I am getting better at this. It is something I have to consciously work at, though. Everybody isn’t out to get me or be mean. Some people are. I am going to encounter negative comments and feedback also. It will happen. But that is a different struggle. Those have to be released into a black hole somewhere in outer space, as far away from my heart as I can get them. Otherwise they will drag me down, and that isn’t where I want to live my life.
When I do something creative, like design a new pattern for earrings that is mine from concept to finished product, I feel genuinely accomplished. Proud of what I made, because it is my work, with my own pattern. When I get on the scale, and I don’t want a hammer because it is showing that my hard work is paying off, I shout out loud for everyone to hear, and then if someone says something nice, it does what it is supposed to. It makes me feel good.
Words matter. Choose yours carefully, and make the world a better place because of them. If you can help someone today by being kind, please do. It might be the only good thing that person hears all day, or even all week. It is nice to have something good to remember that tells you to keep going, and that you matter. We all do. If your words come from your heart and are meant to be nice, then go for it. It’s the thought that counts, and for some people, it will mean more than you will ever know.
