Introduction

I love to start projects. One look through the storage areas in my house will tell you that. I have boxes of fabric, stacks of pretty papers, bins of beads, and baskets full of what-not.

My problem is, I’m not so good at finishing the projects. Those baskets and bins add up to dozens of half-filled scrapbooks, knitting projects eternally “on the needles” and lots of potentially cute decorations that never get a chance to collect dust on the shelves like they ought.

The materials take up a lot of space in my house, and even more importantly, they represent a lot of wasted time and money. My New Year’s Resolution for 2008 is to take these projects one by one and finish them.

The only rule I’m setting is that I cannot buy any new projects. I can purchase things I need to finish existing projects, but I’m considering it part of the challenge to figure out ways to do without. So if I don’t have matching buttons for eyes, I’ll learn to satin-stitch them on. I don’t need all the gadgets and findings they sell at the scrapbooking stores, even though they’re pretty darn neat. I can manage without them.

At this point, I’m not going to catalog the projects I have. I know me. I could make several days’ work out of that and tire of the whole operation before I even begin. I’ll post about each project as I go, including what I learned – both craft-wise and self-wise – while finishing it.