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Maggie Whitley

joy in motherhood, homemaking, faith & simple living

You are here: Home / blog & handmade advice / {on adding an Inspiration Board to my workspace.}

{on adding an Inspiration Board to my workspace.}

September 16, 2011 · 36 Comments
Filed Under: blog & handmade advice, inspiration

About a week ago I shared with you how I met up with my friend for coffee and our little afternoon adventure inspired me on so many different levels. One of the things meeting with Jennifer encouraged me to do is make an Inspiration Board. Do you want to know the truth? Until just a few months ago I thought Inspiration Boards were SILLY! {isn’t that crazy!} I didn’t understand them and thought there were one of those “things” artsy people do even though they make zero sense. But… I WAS SO WRONG!

Now that I work from home; now that I’m responsible for keeping a team of 4 busy; finding inspiration, motivation & creativity is KEY! And I *finally* understand how important having an Inspiration Board really is.

That’s my Inspiration Board up there in blue. Isn’t it amazing??? Zack cut the wood for me and drilled the nails. I painted it and added the wire + pieces of inspiration.

Here’s why adding an Inspiration Board to my workspace was important:
1. it’s helped me to add pretty art to my office
2. it serves as a catch-all for the pretty + interesting things I find
3. it helps me to define my personal & professional goals
4. it motivates me to work on my goals daily and weekly

As an Indie Biz owner, all of these things are super duper important. Some times it’s just too easy to get lost in the shuffle of deadlines and packaging orders and purchasing materials. All of those things are critical, but if your purpose and goals aren’t constantly on your mind then it’s really easy to get off-track. Looking back, every time Gussy Sews has made a big, forward-moving change, like hiring another employee or re-organizing the studio, it’s because I had my goals written out.

Having these goals clipped to my Inspiration Board would have been better, but still — writing them down and seeing them nearby is always the first step to success.

Something that’s exciting for me is I can change my Inspiration Board as often as I want. Or as often as I accomplish those goals. And I just love the color — it’s a muted turquoise. It’s beautiful and super inspiring, a big change from my go-to color, pink ;]

Do you have an Inspiration Board in your office or studio? If not, what’s holding you back? If yes, what things do you have hanging?

♥ Come back tomorrow for a saturday craft DIY on how to make your own Inspiration Board!

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36 Comments
Filed Under: blog & handmade advice, inspiration

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Comments

  1. Simple Daisy says

    September 16, 2011 at 6:32 am

    I love it!! And it’s my favorite color:)
    HAppy Friday!

    Reply
  2. leslie zimmerman says

    September 16, 2011 at 6:59 am

    Unfortunately at this precise moment, my “workspace” happens to either be at Target, orrrrr a tiny itty bitty corner of my bedroom where I can fit a tv tray (yay portability?) and an ottoman to sit on. An inspiration board would take up more space than tiny corner, but I think I’m going to make more of an inspiration “journal” and just leave it open on my nightside table.

    I wish I worked from home, hah. Your life seems so glamorous, I love your blog. Annnnnd I’m rambling because I drank too much coffee. Hah.

    Reply
    • leslie zimmerman says

      September 16, 2011 at 7:00 am

      Also; I really do like your inspiration board. I was just too busy rambling to say so <3

      Reply
      • Skye @ Neathering Our Fest says

        September 16, 2011 at 7:40 am

        Can I just say that I TOTALLY feel your pain? My workspace is our dining room table!! :) However – I love your optimism… “yay – portability?” That made me laugh! :) Have a great Friday!

        Reply
        • leslie zimmerman says

          September 16, 2011 at 9:21 am

          I remember when the dining room table was my workspace, but my husband kept telling me to hush my sewing machine because it’s one of those tiny little things that are SUPER loud, which isn’t conducive to living in an apartment with little furniture, because then the noise just echoes and echoes. Eek!

          Annnnnd my optimism goes far, but sometimes not far enough. Blegh.

          You have a great Friday too, darling!

          Reply
  3. joee grant says

    September 16, 2011 at 7:04 am

    I just adore your inspiration board!! I am in the process of revamping my studio (its just about done) and I think I might need to pop over tomorrow and see just how you put it together so I can add one to my space!!!
    Thanks Gussy for always inspiring others!!!

    Reply
  4. Nadir@StitchSense says

    September 16, 2011 at 7:24 am

    I *really* need to do this. I usually have a few things hanging on my wall but never an inspiration board, its a great idea though! We’ll be moving soon & will have a designated a room for my studio that I’m excited to decorate. :-)

    Reply
  5. Tara says

    September 16, 2011 at 7:34 am

    I need an inspiration board! I love it! Unfortunately my to do list is so huge right now.. I need to buckle down and get my to do list under control.

    but LOVE the color too!

    Reply
  6. Skye @ Neathering Our Fest says

    September 16, 2011 at 7:42 am

    I love the inspiration board! It is such a good idea to have all of your great ideas and inspiration in one place that you can SEE daily to remind you why you do what you do! I have lots of magazine pictures in a binder and pretty pictures on pinterest but they aren’t where I can look at the EVERY DAY and be inspired! Maybe I need to make myself an inspiration board! :) Happy Friday Maggie!!

    Reply
  7. aubrey says

    September 16, 2011 at 7:44 am

    so loving the turquoise and orange!

    Reply
  8. Jacky {The Sweetest Petunia} says

    September 16, 2011 at 7:52 am

    Oh, I loove your inspiration board! The wire + clippies look like a great way to hang little lovelies. :)

    Reply
  9. Julie says

    September 16, 2011 at 8:03 am

    It’s SO adorable! I love the color too! Great idea adding the wires. And yay for having a handy hubby. I know it’s going to fill up quick! Enjoy it and keep looking at it from time to time. It’s a great way to get “unstuck.”

    Reply
  10. Chelsey The Paper Mama says

    September 16, 2011 at 8:09 am

    Oh yes, I definitely do. In my studio and a special one in my Pinterest since I do the majority of my work on a computer.

    Reply
  11. Beth says

    September 16, 2011 at 9:14 am

    LOVE the board! And the color is perfect!! :) We have all of our inspiration photos shoved into file folders. HA! :) We might just be working on something like this, this weekend!! :) Thanks for sharing!!! Hope you’re having a great time at TCC!

    Reply
  12. LoveFeast Table says

    September 16, 2011 at 9:25 am

    We’re big Inspiration Board people. Having inspiration board has helped us define our goals for our lives and our business. And, of course it’s artistic so it makes us happy and helps us remember what we hold most important in order to create a beautiful life! Here’s our bit of Inspiration Board inspiration: http://lovefeasttable.com/blog/inspiration-boards/
    Chris Ann & Kristin

    Reply
  13. Roberta says

    September 16, 2011 at 9:34 am

    I see alot of the commentors saying that they just don’t have the space…but really you can make/find room…you just have to be a little more creative in carving it out that’s all. Case in point…my hubby and I live in 687 sq.ft. and I have found room to fit a studio/desk in this space by giving up the dining room table that we NEVER USED. I put up an inspiration wall by painting magentic chalkboard paint onto a wall that goes into the bedroom…a space that everyone viewed as a passage….and was totally disregarded as any space what-so-ever. Here’s my post on my “inspiration wall”…hope this inspires you ;} Fondly, Roberta

    http://con-tain-it.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/04/you-have-to-begin-telling-the-story-of-where-you-are-going-not-where-you-have-been.html

    Reply
  14. Andrea @ Knitty Bitties says

    September 16, 2011 at 9:35 am

    I have an inspiration board at my office desk, but need to add one into my sewing space :). If nothing else, I love to hang cards and notes that inspire my heart :).

    I love your cozy little space … and I spy a little mug rug :). That makes me happy to know I’m kinda sharing in your days!!

    XOXO … hope you’re learning lots at TCC. Let’s chat next week before you head off to Blog Sugar, k?

    Reply
  15. Kimbery C. says

    September 16, 2011 at 9:46 am

    My inspiration board is cluttered. I am going to focus and reorganize it to make it a true inspiration for me. Thank you!

    Reply
  16. Barbara - The Tattooed Housewife says

    September 16, 2011 at 10:06 am

    I need to do something to show my goals and remind me of what I want. Its hard having a husband, toddler, newborn, and puppy in my house! I always seem to gravitate towards trying to make sure they are all happy and forget about myself! I also keep using the excuse that I will start my business and craft area when I finally move to Minnesota. I just better do it when it comes time to! Love your little work space!

    Reply
  17. Joan Wyatt says

    September 16, 2011 at 11:06 am

    Your inspiration wall totally inspires me. What a great solution for decorating a narrow space! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  18. Joan Wyatt says

    September 16, 2011 at 11:08 am

    My comment was directed to Roberta’s chalkboard walll with shelves.

    Reply
  19. Bethany says

    September 16, 2011 at 11:30 am

    I love browsing inspiration boards! Here’s a link that I had bookmarked with some pretty sweet boards: – http://www.snaptheconference.com/inspiration-board-round-up/ .

    Reply
  20. Stephanie Bryant says

    September 16, 2011 at 12:46 pm

    I love your ‘board.’ I just did mine a few months ago and call it a vision board. It was a fun, sometimes hard, process about my future. http://www.sbryant.me/2011/03/25/create-a-vision-board-pt-1/

    Reply
  21. QB says

    September 16, 2011 at 1:07 pm

    Just wanted to tell you that I came across your blog through Key Lime…your stuff is ADORABLE :). Already making a list of what I want :)

    Reply
  22. Earl- Leigh says

    September 16, 2011 at 2:32 pm

    I love your inspiration board! I revamped some shutters i found at Goodwill for 50 cents to make one. Right now I have a few cut outs from an old (talking 80s) Vogue magazine, a few birthday cards and a picture of a cupcake.

    Reply
  23. Mindy Harris says

    September 16, 2011 at 3:39 pm

    thank God you’re doing a DIY on it tomorrow! woop woop! i so need an inspiration board, too!

    Reply
  24. kirstie says

    September 16, 2011 at 7:22 pm

    love that board, maggie! i have a bulletin board over my jewelry bench – if i ‘pretty it up’ do you think that would work?

    Reply
  25. Heather G. says

    September 16, 2011 at 10:10 pm

    Love your inspiration board – so pretty! Mine is just a boring, old cork board but it works.

    Reply
  26. cati burbank says

    September 27, 2011 at 12:01 am

    I LOVE the inspiration board idea…I might need to get something like that up in my craft space…just to give me that extra nudge to get moving on some projects… :)

    Reply
  27. Cortney says

    September 29, 2011 at 10:23 am

    I love this… I would love to use an old window to do the same next to my sewing/crafting table!

    Reply
  28. Donna says

    October 18, 2012 at 9:11 pm

    I love your inspiration board. I have one very simular. I found a huge picture frame in a thrift store for 3.00. I took it home and painted pink with raspberry highlights then strug wire across the frame. Then if that wasn’t bright enough I painted clothes pins then added glitter. To keep the glitter from getting on everything I sprayed them with clear acrylic. My board makes me feel happy when ever I walk into my craft room.

    Reply
  29. Joseph says

    March 18, 2014 at 6:25 am

    မ ခ …မ ခ န ႔ က န န ႔က တ တ န ပန ၿပ ဗ ႕… Great minds think alike ဆ တ ဒ ပ ဖစ ရမယ ..ဟ ဟ ဘ န ဘ န တ က …တင ပ .. မရတ က လ ခ င မ တ လ ႔ဆ ၵ လ ပ ဘ ရ .. အခ တ လည သ ဘ ထ အမ န တ သ ပ ၿပ ဘ ရ )မအ မ သ …အ ဒ ဝတ လ က မအ မ သ လည ဖတ ဖ တ ပ လ .. ဟ တ တယ ဗ လ ႔ လ ကန ႔ ထပ တ က ခ င တ လ တစ ယ က အ ၾက င ပ ပ လ ပသ င လ ႔ က န လည မ တ မ နတ … မ,႐ င လ …ဟ တ က … မ င သန ႔ …ဟ တ တယ ဗ ဖ ရမယ ရက က စ တ ႀက က ႐ ပ ဆ ရင က န လည တနဂ က ပ ယ မ .. သ ၾက တ မလ ခ င ဘ … )(က )ဘ န …က န မလည ဖ န ခင ရ ႕ တန ဖ က က န မ နမ သ တ လ ႔ ပင ပ ရမယ က န ပ ပ ဗ .. )SarChitThu (Canada)That’s right! We all want what we don’t have usually. Agree.! :) Btw, thnkas for your visit, too!

    Reply
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    March 18, 2014 at 11:16 pm

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    March 19, 2014 at 2:15 am

    Uhhh. hello! Contact form is in the navigation. Look for coctnat . Anyway, I am not accepting ads on this site. Feel free to coctnat me with what you are promoting and I’ll see if I like it. If I do, I may have a site that you can place the ad on or refer you to one of my client’s sites. ThanksJames

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Trackbacks

  1. {will you welcome 2012 with *NEW* goals, or old goals?} says:
    December 12, 2011 at 6:03 am

    […] goals by making them measurable & assigning a time limit 4. want to take this a step further? make an Inspiration Board to house your […]

    Reply
  2. repurposed » tinavegaphotography.com says:
    February 11, 2012 at 6:11 am

    […] of an inspiration board and have been on the lookout for one ever since reading Maggie’s post HERE.  After briefly tossing around plans of making one, I settled on […]

    Reply

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ABOUT MAGGIE WHITLEY DESIGNS:
Maggie Whitley weaves her writings around joy in motherhood, homemaking, faith, and simple living. She homeschools her children, enjoys a quiet room while reading, and roars with laughter over the challenges & delights of motherhood. Maggie and her husband, along with their four young children, live in metro-Detroit. She has been writing online since 2008.
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maggiewhitley

JOY in motherhood & homemaking 🧺🌿💓✨

maggiewhitley
Reflecting on this today 💓🕊 When I reflect o Reflecting on this today 💓🕊 When I reflect on the moments I’ve felt my mind spinning, my emotions swirly, it’s almost always when I’m not feasting on the word of God. Not that reading scripture is the cure for anxiety —no! Rather, it’s hard to worry when we’re worshipping.
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#womenintheword #wearethehomemakers #scripture #dailyintheword #titus2woman #healthylifestyle #mentalhealth #anxiety #anxietyawareness
Current backyard status: stunning in wonder ❄️ Current backyard status: stunning in wonder ❄️✨
A quiet night: the furnace is running, the tea is A quiet night: the furnace is running, the tea is hot, and the whisper of a page turning. ♨️☕️📖 // We are breaking from school this week, my plan is to read a lot, walk a lot, and rest a lot. How about you?

#mothersofinstagram #tea #winterreading #hygge
I fought every internal comment I could think of a I fought every internal comment I could think of and took my kiddos for a looooong walk today before dinner. ❄️✨ There’s just so much work required to raise children! I’m feeling like a tired lady. But sunshine & fresh air are good companions to keep around. 

We came home and I made “the best dinner ever”. Max specifically announced, “it’s so great you’re launching new meals to the world”. LOL— kids! 🤣👏🏻💓
How about a little Wednesday night introduction? 😘Social media sure has changed over the years and we don’t always SEE who we’re following or remember WHY we’re following certain accounts. 

So, hello! As you can gather, my name is Maggie ;) 

I started writing online (almost 13 years ago) to share the handmade products I was sewing. My shop was called Gussy Sews. ✂️👛I love the community that has grown from sewing & sharing online.

Let’s FFW to today: Zack and I live in Michigan and have four young children (2 boys & 2 girls). I slowly left the handmade industry and walked right into homemaking, homeschooling, and encouraging women through writing. 💕📝

Motherhood has been very hard on me. (And not just because of how close in age our four children are.) It’s been hard for me because I fought for years to accept that *it’s supposed to be hard*. 

I mean, how do you effectively teach another person to know and love the Lord? Bc that’s how I think of motherhood: a calling to nurture others by studying the One who nurtures me. So I gotta make the first move: study the Bible and seek Him first. As my friend Autumn reminded me, vulnerability births transformation. 

(I’ve had to be really vulnerable!)

So, yes motherhood has fully transformed me. But even more so, Christ has fully transformed me. My list of “all that He’s done for me” is off to a beautifully long start.

Something else I want you to know about me: I stalled for years before acknowledging I have anxiety and depression. It’s hard to talk about this because of course this isn’t forever “my hardship”, but rather because acknowledging this means to heal I have to work through some really difficult things. ✨

But my friend Jesus walks alongside me. He’s already done a mighty work in my heart, including helping me process my anger in healthier ways. I’ve also adopted a heart for sisterhood, mothering, and Titus 2 mentorship.

Sometimes our greatest losses are our greatest gains? That’s what I’m clinging to!

How about you? Tell me something about yourself so I can get to know you on a deeper heart level. 🖤🖤
How do you play in the winter? // We had a really How do you play in the winter? // We had a really great time visiting family in northern Michigan. On my blog I share a few ways we played outside, plus I describe a memorable childhood game ❄️☃️. Did you play it as a kiddo?
We had gotten a bit lazy with our rhythms: screens We had gotten a bit lazy with our rhythms: screens in the morning (HGTV), playtime before lessons, and not enough quiet time after lunch. This made for a really, ummm, unenjoyable learning experience. 

But today! Today we reset the rhythm, and we have had a much happier home & time learning together. 👏🏻
Visit my stories for a quick message from ME — t Visit my stories for a quick message from ME — think outside the box in terms of how you view the definition of “motherhood” 💓😘 (also: look at my little friend, she’s sooooo snuggly)
It’s another cold, winter day. ❄️Today I hop It’s another cold, winter day. ❄️Today I hope to bundle up for another family nature walk, knowing the fresh air sweeps out any & all frustration, inviting inspiration inside. ✨That’s something we all need more of.
seriously LOL: I’ve found the secret to calming seriously LOL: I’ve found the secret to calming the Laundry Beast (as a family of 6). Who wants the inside scoop? ✔️🧺👏🏻
Another batch of “fun mail” is headed out tomo Another batch of “fun mail” is headed out tomorrow :) small celebrations like this are very life giving! PS. thinking of starting a zoom book club — I need more sisterhood in my life. 👏🏻📖
The house is quiet. The heat is on. The pages are The house is quiet. The heat is on. The pages are turning. The tea is calm. 🖤☕️🧺📖
Breakfast with Buzz! If only you could see his ful Breakfast with Buzz! If only you could see his full costume and laser blaster and of course the Buzz action figure he flys around 🌟💚💙💨someone has discovered a superhero crush! #joyinmotherhood #slowmornings #surprisedbymotherhood // Landon @ 2.5yo
Today on my blog I have a list of books I hope to Today on my blog I have a list of books I hope to read this year. Plus my reading goal for the year. And a few practicals ways I fit in reading as a mama of four young children & homeschooling them. Basically, all the good stuff ☺️💓📖 #maggiewhitleydotcom #readersofinstagram #read #readmorebooks
It was the perfect opportunity to rearrange the fu It was the perfect opportunity to rearrange the furniture as we took the tree down Tuesday midday. Def one of my fav things to do.🎄👋🏻 We made it through our first week back to school since mid-December! It was rough to begin but ended with high fives. ⭐️✏️This morning I zoomed with a mama friend and I’m impressed with the many topics we covered. Sisterhood is sooooo necessary! ☕️👩🏽‍🤝‍👩🏼

Just a few cheery memories from my week! How about you?
Book reading! One of my best “Maggie” activiti Book reading! One of my best “Maggie” activities. I finished my last book moments before 2020 ended, which brought my started list to a close. Small joys add up to big joys ;)

What are you reading this year? Currently?

How many books are you planning to read? What’s your goal?

I’ll share what’s on my list for 2021 soon as I received some nice titles at Christmas. 📖✨🤍
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