last Christmas {Advent blogalong day 7}

Today, I’ve been playing catch up with my advent album. A blend of December Daily and Art Journal Advent, I’ve had my Little Golden Book sitting on my shelves waiting for weeks. It seems like a good idea at the time, but having completed four days so far, now I’m not so sure. My feelings on the pages range from “that’s passable” to “meh” to “ugh I hate it”.

Half my problem is it’s a major departure from my usual style. I’m a long way out of my comfort zone, and it’s requiring a bit more thought and planning to turn a book page into an album page that feels like me. The other half of the problem? Last years journal. I loved and adored it. Handmade book, self-printed papers, tight colour scheme, limited supplies, narrow style variations. It was one of those projects that just worked. To follow it was always going to be a hard ask.

As much as I loved it, I never actually shared my 2021 December Daily/Art Journal Advent book when it was finished. I’d even photographed it and filmed a flip through, but never got any further than that! A year late, this is my 2021 book:

Please excuse the covered up photos – one of the trickiest parts of sharing online with a project like this, is the faces. It’s a personal memory keeping project. I include not only photos of my children, who don’t necessarily want to be plastered all over my socials, but there are often photos of other peoples children, who most definitely do not belong on my socials. There’s photos with identifiable landmarks. There’s journaling that’s a little bit private. It’s a balance, because equally it’s one of my major projects for the month that I was to share. Odd little labels and coverings is the compromise.

It’s a book full of tip ins and other interactive elements. Flips and tabs and concertinas and pull outs. It was fun to make, and fun to look at. Just looking at the video to edit and upload was enjoyable. It was a fun season, and the project reflects that.

Then comes Advent 2022. I’m feeling a li’l grinchy, I will confess. For me, it’s one of the least festive, festive seasons since becoming a parent. Then coming into the album that requires a little bit of work, and I’m not sure I’m feeling it. Equally though, I don’t want to give up too soon. A bad mood does not mean it’s a bad project. This afternoon, I’m walking away from the journal to reassess exactly what the problem is.

I have come up with a handful of tweaks, that I think will help me like it more. I have another four days worth of photos printed, so tomorrow I will hook in with those changes in mind, and then see how I feel about it. Its a real balance – I don’t want to push on with a project I don’t enjoy and can’t wait to see the back of, just to say I didn’t quit. Equally, I don’t want to quit too early, when I was so excited by it, and there is a possibility it could be saved. When these next four photos are done, that’s over a quarter of the album. That seems like a good point to make a decision.

I’d love to know what you do when you aren’t feeling it with a project – how soon is too soon to give up?