It sounded like fun at first blush, but at about 24 hours in I was questioning the whole thing. In case you don’t know what my latest project has been, it’s the “Dollar Tree Junk Journal” Challenge hosted by Jessica at The Paper Terrace . I know I can be honest with you here because most of you have been with me for a long time, so you may or may not be surprised by my impulsiveness.

This is how it went down…

I got a notification on YouTube from one of my favorite creators, Kathleen at Be Again Books , and she was sharing a journal she had made for this challenge. Seriously, I dropped everything and ran to my Dollar Tree. It took me over an hour to find my supplies…who spends more than 15 minutes at the Dollar Tree!? …a clear warning sign completely missed by your’s truly!

It gets better…not really.

I get all my stuff home and it just lays there staring at me…I stare back, there seems to be a stand off. Luckily there is a $20 maximum you can spend, so that guilt is eased a bit. So I dive straight in with less than high hopes, much less confidence…and a lot of cheap supplies (come on, it’s the dollar store!).

Late to the party!

Not only have I purchased a bunch of crazy a#% supplies, the challenge is already a week in! Any sane person would have done their homework. Not me! I’m grabbing my car keys and running out the front door while Kathleen’s video is still playing in the background!

So I dig in…again.

Luckily, I decided to share a video of my purchases with somewhat of a plan going forward. I say luckily because I got so frustrated that I almost quit. I thought “I’m going to delete the video, donate my dollar store finds, and move on”…I had a plan! But, when I went to delete the video, I saw followers and comments and likes…oh my!

Okay, I’ll admit I’m a pushover (on too many levels to cover here).

A changing perspective.

Through the frustration of trying to work with such a limited selection of supplies, I had lost the real reason I had started this project in the first place, to be a part of something along with other creators. Sure, this challenge lived up to it’s definition, but I wasn’t working alone. Everybody was having their ups and downs with it, but they kept going. Most of us jumping from one channel to the next getting tips, ideas, and inspiration, and leaving ‘likes’ and comments along the way. In other words, the best thing about this whole project is the community, the journal was secondary.

Lesson learned, but next time I’m doing my homework!

(go to my channel if you want to see my progress, the link is in the sidebar)

As always,

Thank you for the visit,

Talk to you soon,

~Patty