Celebrating All the Half-Finished Projects

And a bittersweet stroll through Joann’s before it closes for good.

Welcome (or welcome back!) to Multifaceted. I’m Jess Barker, here exploring what it means to find direction and fulfillment in a multi-passionate creative life. ✨

Paper collage on digital ground

Starting off with a cake collage – ‘cause it’s my birthday!

With a weekend of travel bookended with birthday fun, and more events on the horizon, I haven’t had as much time or brainpower to spend on creative projects this month.

But there’s always energy for shopping, lol! On the way to pick up a (real, chocolate) cake and bubbly at the grocery store, I popped into the Joann Fabrics next door for one last time.

If you’re not familiar with Joann’s, it’s a big craft store here in the US. From art supplies and fabric by the yard to tie dye kits, cake decorating supplies, paints, and pipe cleaners... they have it all.

Creatively curious folks like me can get lost for hours just wandering the aisles, imagining the possibilities – trying not to hoard too much colorful, sparkly newness when we only really came in for thread.

Joann’s is where I’ve gone since childhood to buy stuff for sewing projects and school crafts. It’s where I went as a teenager to kick off DIYs and boredom-busting hobbies. It’s where I bought my daughter’s first set of finger paints.

Now, the company is going out of business and closing all 800 stores.

💔 💔 💔

Needless to say, walking past those horrid yellow “EVERYTHING MUST GO” signs to do a little aisle-wandering was a bittersweet birthday treat.

Whether we like it or not, birthdays prompt us to reflect on the year past and the year ahead, and on how we spend the time we’re given.

So often, we stress about the things we haven’t accomplished: The projects we haven’t started or finished yet. The optimal routines we haven’t settled into yet. The instant-hit art that’ll make us rich and famous one day, once we figure out what that is.

As I perused what was left of the scrapbook paper, felt, rubber stamps, and googly eyes, I thought about all the supplies I might buy one day. I thought about needing this or that for the sewing projects I’ve paused for now, the collage ideas I haven’t explored, and the kiddie crafts I’ve yet to dream up with my daughter.

I also thought about my writing – the book chapters I haven’t started, the bylines I haven’t earned, the newsletter readers I haven’t yet reached.

Those yet-unfulfilled dreams and to-dos would usually stir up self-reproach.

But instead, in that moment, I felt gratitude.

There’s so much I haven’t done yet, but I’m grateful for all those unfinished ideas. For all the possibilities. For the process and privilege of creating. For the opportunities, each and every day, to wake up and commit to doing something creative, be it big or small.

If I reached all of my creative dreams today, there’d be nothing to look forward to tomorrow. So, this week, I’m sending some love to all those half-started and half-finished ideas in my stash.

I’m not scolding them with a “Why aren’t you done yet?” Instead, I’m saying, “Hey, thanks for being here. I’m looking forward to meeting again and seeing where you’ll take me.”

I’m setting aside guilt and choosing gratitude.

So, if you would, join me for a little birthday toast (I did pick up bubbly, after all):

To a creative past full of meaning,
a creative future full of possibilities,
and a creative present full of gratitude.

Cheers! 🥂