PCC with Stacey, a.k.a Ms. Perfectionism Overthinks a 52-week Project.

Disclaimer:

After reading over my opening comments, I'm thinking that I could scare some people off. Please remember - my dysfunction is not your dysfunction. You can enjoy this process without getting bogged down with needing to know how it's going to end. (And I think I can, too. It's just going to take some...something.)

On to PCC with me:

Before you get the wrong idea, I am not looking for a "perfect" project. But I tend to lean toward the perfectionist failing of needing to know exactly how the thing is going to go (or I can't move - the indecision can almost paralyze me)...and I don't really welcome the spontaneity of changing my design, papers, or approach halfway through the project just because in JULY I figure out what I really want the project to look like! I need consistency, and I kind of need it to be guaranteed.

I've done a lot of mental pacing because of this project!Back and forth, around and around...trying to visualize what I really want my finished project to look like next January when I complete December's entry. I thought I had it figured out, but then I started actually working on it. Uh-oh.

Some of my "for-sure" plans are:

1. Weekly entries, so there should be 52. (Well, 52... PLUS 12 monthly title pages?)

2. 8X8 format.

3. Every week will have a lovely literary quote. (The first quote is from Jane Austen.)

4. Color scheme will center around the Life Documented kit from the CC Store.

5. It will be flat. No buttons, gems (well, maybe just a few), or layered chipboard. If I were doing a monthly-entry album, I'd be lumping and bumping it up like usual, but with 52-plus pages, I need to keep it flat, I think.

6. Um, that's all I can settle on...

The "variables" are:

1. One page per week? Or a two-page layout per week? (8X8 is small!) Will my book hold that much? Sometimes one page, sometimes two?

2. Consistent design throughout (like a sketch)? Or do I want to vary the design depending on the type of week it was? This mostly affects whether I do one photo, a photo strip, collage of photos, etc.

3. I'd like to give each week a word - you know, like a word that sort of "sums up" the week...but I wonder if I can come up with 52 unique words when many of my weeks might be mostly just comprised of me running around like a chicken with my head cut off. (I am picturing myself running out of synonyms for the word "chaos.")

4. Do I want to focus on the entire family or is it to be just a personal story?

5. What papers will I add in?

These are some of the questions that have been keeping me awake at night. (Not really keeping me awake...other things keep me awake, like the cat meowing and me coughing because I'm not quite over the cough that arrived with the flu last week. So the project isn't truly keeping me awake, but I do think about it a lot.) Since I am ready to begin (okay, not really ready - just required because it's "time to get started") - without having my questions answered (!) - here's what I'm going to do for January (and most likely February)...

Resolutions to my issues:

1. One page per week, at least for now (the indecision here still makes me cringe internally, but I am pretending not to care).

2. Alternating between photo strips and single-photo pages - mostly due to the amount of photos available.

3. Word for the Week - yes, I think I can do this 52 times.

4. It will be a record of the entire family, but the observations and focus will be strictly from my point of view. So...it will be a sort of personal journal that is a reflection of our home and family. (I think I have this sorted out in my head.)

5. The papers. Okay, I am going to go with this: Obviously, the Life Documented kit. Adding in papers from the Crate Paper Restoration collection (I bought bookoos of it when the CC Store got it in!). I'll spread the Restoration papers out to use thoughout the entire book and add in others (like some of the Echo Park Life is Good papers) that I like as Jamie orders new stuff though the year. I think this will give me the consistency that I seem to require.

My January entry, so far:

 Yep, that's it! One page. The flu has really slowed my life down to a crawl...the virus itself was awful, and recovery is slow and slower. All I can say is that I am looking forward to starting a brand new month. GOOD-BYE, February!

Check back because the rest of my January entry is "in progress," and I will add the rest of the January pages this weekend. Here's a peek of Week 2's entry:

Have a great weekend!

 

Comments

[Adele]

I love what you've worked out, and it's shaping up to be a fabulous project!

[Linda]

fabulous story behind the project and great start!

[Carol (ScrapMomOf2)]

I think it looks GREAT!! How do you create that photostrip? I really have to get PhotoShop!! I don't have photo editing software! :(

[Marielle]

Stacey,if you wrote a book I would read it in a day,you crack me up !!! I love that you sometimes write as I imagine you speak...(like me totally random at times) ,love it !!! Your page is beautiful !!!