Unfinished Projects

Honestly, I don’t know how other bloggers do it.  I know a few people who post on their blog every single day, but I don’t know how.  I can’t keep up.  I started off this year doing so well.  I was even a few weeks ahead of myself at one point, but here we are in September, and I can’t even manage to get out one post a week.  I have this problem with everything I do.  I start out with a great routine and the best of intentions, and then somewhere along the way, something chaotic happens that sends me into a tailspin.  My routine gets scrambled like yesterday’s eggs, and there is no putting this Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Take for instance, my 365 project.  I kept up with my daily art journal project faithfully through mid-May, but a weekend retreat with the girls side-tracked me and I skipped one day, foolishly thinking I would catch back up the next day.  Did I do it? No, but I am happy to report that I did start working on it again, eventually, and even though I am behind, I still get every bit as much joy from the process as I ever did.

So why did I start working on my project again?  Because even if it is behind, I will eventually finish it, and what a great sense of accomplishment I will have when it is finally done!  I just can’t give up on something I’ve started.  There is something in me that demands that I finish it, otherwise I’ll be riddled with guilt over the time and money I’ve wasted.  And that’s exactly what an unfinished project is – a waste of time and money. 

So go on, get out there and dig up those old projects you started but never finished.  Let’s make September the “Unfinished Projects Month” and see how many projects we can get done.  To make it a little more challenging, and maybe a little more enticing, I will offer a prize to the person who completes the most projects!  Here are the rules:

• Complete as many projects as you can between now and September 30.  Contest ends 12:00 AM CDT, October 1, 2013.
• Items can be any arts or crafts project, but must be something started or purchased but never finished.  Examples of projects might be scrapbook page kits, crocheted afghans, mini albums, quilts, paintings, etc.
• Items must be distinctly different projects; multiples of the same item will be counted as one project.  For example, if you crocheted 3 scarves from the same pattern, they count as one project.  However, if you crochet 3 scarves from 3 different kits, they count as 3 separate projects.
• Take a picture or pictures of your projects and upload them to our Flickr Project Gallery at http://www.flickr.com/groups/cn365/ before 12:00 AM CDT, October 1, 2013.
• Post on the Crafty Neighbor Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/craftyneighbor and tell us how many unfinished projects you finished.
• Check this blog on Tuesday, October 8 for an announcement of the winner (I need time to check out all those projects!).
• Between now and then, I will dig out some cool prize that I know you want and I’ll post it here.  So stay tuned, and start working on those projects!  Good luck!

The prompt for this journal entry was "Once in a lifetime".  I couldn't resist stripping down the famous Talking Heads song to a few significant lines.  In case you wondered, this is the page that I previewed on July 23 in my "Getting Stuck" article.  I layered on some gesso before using my stencils and Dylusions ink spray.