There are a few items needed to create a vision board, but only one primary rule is that there aren't any rules! No matter how hard you try, you cannot mess this up.

First, you need to grab a pad of paper and a pencil. Write down your goals in the following areas: relationships, career and finances, home, travel, personal growth (including spirituality, social life, education), and health. This is your starting point that triggers your mind to search for bits that feel right.

Next, you'll need a base to assemble your assortment. Deciding on a size will determine this. If you want to make it big, use a sheet of poster board, foam-core board, or corkboard. I like to create my vision boards on a small scale because I tuck them into my daily planner, surely to be viewed every day. In this case, I use a decorative file folder, cut it to fit the A5 size, and punch holes, so it slips easily into my binder.

Scissors, pins, tape or a glue-stick will be used in putting your board together. I use double-sided tape. If embellishments make you feel great, collect fun markers, stickers, stamps, or anything else you can think of to deck out your board. Just go for it!

Where to get images? Magazines, catalogs (yes, these have LOADS of terrific bits to incorporate), and revisit those Pinterest boards too. Simply download choice images from Pinterest to your computer or phone and print them from your home printer. The sole purpose is to represent feelings you want to experience, quotes of those goals and ambitions, images of places you want to go, reminders of events, people, postcards from friends, and just about anything that will inspire your personal affirmations. You want to bring everything on this board into your life in one way or another. The point is to make this something special you will want to look at and admire each day.

After I assemble and tape all the images in place, including a snapped photo of a meaningful tarot or oracle card reading, I like to write a few keywords in my own handwriting from my mission to fill in the blank spots. This adds an even stronger personal stamp to my vision board and solidifies subliminal motivation.

This is all about you, meant for your eyes, your heart, your mind. Be brave and experimental. Find exciting images that captivate that deeper desire. Dream big. Have fun! Allow and invite magic into your life. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Maybe even more.

Visions boards 101 - try it and see for yourself... xoxo-Sonya

Projected beams of color flood the room. Candy colors in puzzle pieces take form, angled and brilliant, a complete picture of glory on the floor. The older the glass, the more intricate the honor of figures in subtle shadings and superlative detail. Modern arches of the bright, clear spectrum create simple geometry. Each is a magnificence to behold - of color, composition, conscience.

Home.

Fishtown Church conversion in Philadelphia

St. Boniface Church in Jersey City

The logistics of converting such a voluminous area into a personal abode has its challenges. While the dramatic expanse lends itself to an open floor plan in many cases, there is still the quandary of intimate nesting. The living area, dining domain, a culinary dream kitchen, and private bedchamber become special thrills.  Plumbing, electricity, temperature control, and access are the architect's albatross, while also keys to their ascendancy.

Former Lutheran church

There are order and tradition in a church's superstructing, with most great churches cruciform in shape having a defined axis. The axis is generally east/west with external emphasis upon the west front, normally the main entrance, and internal emphasis upon the eastern end. The congregation faces the direction of the coming of Christ, foretold in holy scriptures. As it is also in the direction of the rising sun, the east end's architectural features often focus on enhancing interior illumination by the sun. Not every church maintains a strict east-west axis, but East End and West Front are used even in those that do not.

Traditional church layout

The crossing is the point in a church at which the transept intersects the nave. This point is often marked externally by a tower or dome and internally by the piers and arches required to bear such a structure's weight. The dome or tower's interior may be one of the major architectural features of the church's interior. In a centrally planned church, the building's major interior space is roofed by the dome.

A church renovation with a modern extension in Perth, Tasmania

Home to faith, security, and eclectic living, church conversions have gained popularity. With the resurgence of empty places of worship available on the market, such renovation projects bring light and life rather than reckless abandon. Just try a search on Zillow. You'll find some unique possibilities.

Kentish Ragstone Church converted into a four-bedroom family home.

Modern interiors can be designed to contrast with the original church features, offering stained-glass windows, arched wooden doors, a font, a pulpit in the kitchen, and even a pipe organ in the dining area. 

A heritage church in the Northern Rivers region of Australia’s New South Wales as a sustainable family home

As parishes and congregations shrink, many century-old churches have ended up in the hands of developers. That’s not always a blessing, as church conversions are a tricky business. Faith, hope, and light all command space once found as a possible future home. Details and design add personality and style.

Former St. Casimir Catholic Church on the South Side was the first Lithuanian parish in the Pittsburgh Diocese.

Vestiges of its former life as a Catholic church in Old Lyme, Connecticut, with high ceilings and subtly stained glass windows

Stunning chapel conversion

Conservatory - style kitchen in downtown Boston

Peek inside a floral designer's gorgeous, converted rural church

Gramercy Parish House

Church turned condo in Denver, Colorado

Whether deemed a benediction or conventional challenge, sacred spaces exalt splendor and security. Despite renovations, elements of the interior still carry the spirit of another era. While keeping classic features intact, designers also add contemporary elements to keep the new home from feeling dated or predictable. Alleluia for that "wow" factor.

Take me to church...xoxo-Sonya

Well, Halloween might not be celebrated quite the same as usual this year, but there are many fun, creative ways to capture the spirit and enjoy with your close clan. Whether you are planning a social-distanced Trunk or Treat within the neighborhood, keeping your kiddies close at home in a devilish den, or crafting the night away, this gathering of festive frights will inspire. I've mustered various ideas collected from my favorite Pinterest trove to share with all of you. Feast your eyes and fancy your talents with these fine imaginative details.

There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for a brightly-lit front porch. ~ Robert Brault

Anyone could see that the wind was a special wind this night, and the darkness took on a special feel because it was All Hallows' Eve. ~ Ray Bradbury

By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. ~ William Shakespeare

A mask tells us more than a face. ~ Oscar Wilde

I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. ~ L.M. Montgomery

Amid pumpkins, prose, and panics, enjoy a very Happy Halloween! xoxo-Sonya