Parkinson's Law ... for crafters.

The generally accepted definition of Parkinson's Law reads as follows:

1. Parkinson's Law:
noun: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

Alternatively, Pakinson's Law as it can be applied to crafty folk could read something like this....

2. Parkinson's Law [for crafters]:
noun: Projects [ie: minibooks, albums, LOs] expand so as to fill the time available for their completion. Therefore, unless you have a set date by which they must be completed [ie: birthday, anniversary, magazine deadline] then, quite frankly, you'll fritter away your time, add something to it every once in a while, talk about how you really ought to make a go of completing it... but, basically, you'll be lucky to actually finish it within this lifetime.

....or words to that effect. Sound familiar?

But, in our defense, it's not just the paper addicts amongst us who find themselves surrounded by UFOs: Un-Finished Objects. [Thanks to 'TinkerTaylor', one of the ladies I crop with, for reminding me of that perfect phrase!].

No, I'm guessing that every hobbyist at some point has more ideas than there are hours in the day - which leads to more 'started' projects then there ever seem to be 'finished' ones. Or so I believe based upon my experiences of sharing my home with one man and a squadron of his non-battle-ready model aeroplanes!

On Sunday afternoon, with our respective projects spread far and wide across the dining room table, one or the other of us expressed some regret / frustration at the backlog of UFOs preying upon our conscience. So I decided to set us both a deadline by which we must finish some of our lingering projects!

Work set = 3 completed projects. Time available = 7 days. Consequence if challenge not successfully met = ....erm, well, I didn't really get that far ....

I did however get as far as completing two out of my three projects by Monday afternoon!! [I think that puts me in the lead!]. I managed to finally complete scrapping each of the items on the '25 Things About Me' list which I began and blogged about here way back in March! Here's proof that I made it to No.25:

[You can see several more of the 25 in this Flickr set].

It's been so long since I wrote my '25 Things' list[8 months n fact] that some of the sentiments involved feel quite distant now particularly the one above. It seems that my shell has grown a bit tougher in the intervening months.

So, if my maths is correct that made UFOs = 2, FOs = 1 .... that is until I forced myself to stay seated at my desk until I finished decorating a mini-book from a love-themed kit which my sister put together for me .... last Christmas!

My sister made the blank book and some of the embellishments.

The rest of the materials came from my stash or were swaps / gifts from my friends Anna , 'FavouriteWorkofArt' and Amanda.

I used the Banana Frog 'Backgrounds' stamps to add a touch of polka-dot detail:

The black and white journalling blocks are from Shabby Chic Crafts.

All that's left to do is for me to handwrite my journaling and you'll just have to take my word for it that it'll get finished. The book is about love and ... well, you read fact No.25 above didn't you? I'm prone to divulging too much as it is .... I think I'll attempt to keep a few personal things to myself!!!

So now the ratio of complete to incomplete is 2:1 and I have 5 full days left. The odds are in my favour! The final project I'd like to complete by Sunday is this mini-book of motivational quotes which I first blogged about here, last November.

Task No.1 will be to give it a title and finish decorating the cover and then I'll move on to completing the insides and ... and there's no time like the present to make a start.

So, I'll be off now .... to shoot down another UFO.

:)