What is a mood board and how to make one!

You have definitely seen those lovely peg boards people have in front of their work desks where they have goofy pictures of their loved ones, magazine cuttings of a favourite holiday destination, pic with their dog, cat or turtle etc…you get the idea. That is a exactly what a mood board is, tailor-made to fit a theme (pun intended) 🙂

A mood board could be a generic one or specifically built to gather ideas for a particular project. And then, it can be made using physical or digital tools.

Here is one from my quilter friend, Prajakta. As you can see, she loves organizing her quilting notions and that acts as a source of motivation for her.

Thus a mood board acts as a source of motivation and is also used to concertize our ideas on a particular project, say in making an all solids quilt, a collection of subtle tones for a pastel quilt in the making or something completely different like planning your next trip to Japan.

A personal example was when we were deciding on renovating our flat. The family loved Scandinavian designs so we built boards in Pinterest with Scandinavian décor pics. But then, we also loved a New York café look. Am glad how both the boards grew and finally helped us choose one that was better suited to our lifestyle, ceiling height and whether conditions. It was also the one we liked more. Without the visual aids and the comparison that mood boards allowed us, we would have never discovered our true likes and requirements. So the point is, mood boards help us take decisions when we are undecided on which choice to lean into.

How to make a Mood board

If its a physical mood board, you click pictures of things you like and then print them and add to a soft board, wall or peg board. It doesn’t have to be all done at once. The idea evolves slowly. Add a picture from a magazine or a cutting from a newspaper, fabric scrap for colour related mood boards. It can be as different or as restrictive as you want it to be. Let your creativity just flow and enjoy the process of it coming into shape.

I feel, the best way to create a digital mood board is via Pinterest. You can see the board below, here. I made a mood board to put together some solids quilts, bright coloured bags and motivational quotes. A few other boards that I have made over time are on quilts, bags etc. I love the fact that the app is its free and it allows the maker the flexibility to Pin your own work and that of others to create a collection best suited to your need. It is also easily accessible across devices- laptop, tab and phone. Say I make a ‘quilt board’ and then wanted to specifically make one on HST or flying geese, Pinterest gives you the flexibility to retag pics into a different board. Also, it makes sharing and collaborations so much easier. You will love it once you start using it!

One could also make a digital collage using any of the free apps available. There are a lot of free collage making apps on the Google Playstore and Apple store. You could use Canva or PicMonkey, Fotor etc. depending on which one who like best. Get your hands dirty with a few, the only way to know which one suits your needs the best. I have used LiveCollage to make a collection of pastel quilts below. I collected the pics from the net by taking screenshots, then opened the app and chose a 12 picture grid, post which I clicked on the +Plus sign and added the pictures. Viola! super easy! super fast! Although this idea is faster, it doesn’t give me as much flexibility for sharing it with others, as I need to modify this and share again if I need an edit. After the collage was done, I took a screenshot as downloading this particular template was not free. The template used above to show my room décor, however was free. So the apps can have sections that are free, and others as paid. Do check before you use them.

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This is a non sponsored post and based on my own views on apps used for creating mood boards.