3. For florist wire, you will want to cut off most of stem. Leave about one inch of stem.

4. Push about 3 inches of wire through stem and right through flower head.

5. Next, you want to bend end of wire into a hook over each rose head and pull it down. This helps to keep head secured to stem.

6. When choosing to use glue, begin by diluting glue in a dab of water.

7. You will take a toothpick and dab a thin coat of glue mixture at base of each petal.

8. Next, you will work glue into base of stems of each flower so that you can attach each petal to base, wait till glue dries completely.

9. Now for sand, slowly and carefully cover flowers with sand in deep open boxes.

10. Make sand in box deep enough to hold flowers upright.

11. Sit each flower in sand filled box and slowly pour sand around base, around sides, and over and under petals. You should pour sand evenly so that you can preserve flowers natural shape.

12. You will want to wait for flowers to dry while facing upright.

13. Put boxes with roses in a dry space that is warm and brightly lit. This will ensure that your roses will maintain their bright color.

14. Let them dry for one to three weeks.

15. If you want more muted colors, you will want to dry them in a more humid area.

16. To remove sand, tip drying Container slightly so that sand can fall off flowers.

17. Remove each flower one by one.

Now you have successfully learned how to dry your roses so that they are ready for you to do whatever you'd like with them. These dried flowers will make great decorations for any room in your house or office, or whatever else you'd like to do.

5. Create a place.

Create a quiet space and time to sit down to work on your collage. Select best time of day and your favorite day of week that works for you. You may want to play some relaxing music in background. You may want to work on it in early morning, at twilight, or even late at night. Pick a special time of day when you feel relaxed and focused, but excited to use your mind and hands to create your vision on paper. A collage is a wonderful way to invest in yourself; a short vacation to visit with your vision!

6. Make it your own.

To make sure you are directly connected to your work of art, include a photograph of yourself on collage or sign your name on it. This “ownership” will remind you that this collage is made by you and for you.

7. Leave some space.

Make sure to leave some space between various items you place on your collage. The space symbolizes space, clarity, and even room for growth that you desire in your life. Certainly it is fine to overlap items, however, don’t cover every inch of your poster board. You don’t want a life that is filled to brim with no space for welcoming in new things.

8. Words are power.

Consider writing phrases, verses, or quotations which hold special meaning to you above, below or beside pictures that you include on your collage. You can search for quotations on internet by simply typing word “quotations” in any search engine.

9. Display your work of art.

Place your collage where you can see it every day. Spend time looking at it and thinking about meaning behind various pictures, words, and colors you have chosen. Your collage isn’t just a dream, whim, or passing thought, but rather it is a living vision that you can access every day.

10. Specialty collages.

There are so many things one can do with a collage. One idea is to create a collage in shape of a life vision wheel. A life vision wheel is a circle, divided into 8 different sections. Each section represents an aspect of your life. It might include: finances, spirituality, career, hobbies/interests, romance, friends and family, health, and physical environment. You can make up number of categories that works for you. You could tape several poster boards together and draw a big circle on them representing each of these areas. Then you could create mini-collages for each section. Or, you can create separate collages, each on its own poster board, for specific areas you want to work on, like your health or wealth. The sky is limit. Have fun with creating collages. They are a wonderful tool to support you in creating vision for life you want to live.

Copyright 2004 by Tara Kachaturoff

Tara Alexandra Kachaturoff is an executive coach, trainer, consultant and professional speaker with over 15 years of corporate experience. She coaches executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs on leadership, business and lifestyle issues and has been featured in radio, print, and television. She is the owner of CoachPoint™, www.virtualleverage.com,and www.relationshipplanning.com.