It wasn’t until I added “publisher” to my existing careers of style consultant and artist that I knew what having a full schedule was truly like. The business demands and deadlines have been constant and the first thing to disappear along with my “leisure” time was my ability to squeeze in anything creative. But a life without interacting with color is a life without oxygen. How could I squeeze in a little something to fill my lungs and spirit? I often make collages, but even messing with a glue stick seemed too time consuming when I had only minutes instead of hours.

Inspiration came to me in, of all places, Staples Office Supply. I was about to buy some extremely expensive software and my chest and throat were constricting with anxiety. I wandered over to a cool display of multicolored paper clips and push pins and threw a few into my cart. Gee, suddenly I was feeling better! I added a big foamcore board; the type you can easily stick a pushpin into. Could using pushpins possibly be quicker than glue? Even if it wasn’t, a new approach is often enough to get me started.

I rushed home with my booty but had to deal with the software first. Later, I realized I had thirty minutes before I needed to think about dinner, so I gathered up my new supplies. I had already ripped out a few images from catalogs that had caught my eye, but most of my fashion magazines were still in their protective mailing wrappers. Greedily I tore them open and looked for a pleasing image I could quickly rip out. I wielded scissors and pinned up images. The half hour evaporated but I felt excited and couldn’t wait to find the next small window of time so I could get back to my project.

The “Envision” chapter of Growing More Beautiful gives all the details about creating a collage. And now you know a shortcut for the assembly method I suggest!