52 Projects is an eclectic collection of offbeat, exploratory, artistic projects: memory inducing and life-affirming writing exercises; photographic assignments that capture the essence of fleeting moments and times that you wish could last forever; exploration of the arts — from the culinary to the literary; gift from the heart ideas; mail art that seals in and delivers the true treasure of friendship; video and tape recording schemes that secure for the future an unedited and unfiltered understanding of the past; ideas to document and preserve the little details that make up the life you are living; archeological digs through the cluttered drawers and dusty boxes; and adventures that take you to places that you have never been before, even though they’re right in front of you.

Beyond a camera and film, pen and paper, and a tape recorder, the only other materials required are intangible: memory, creative energy and imagination. Skill level and age are irrelevant, and the cost of making the projects ranges from very inexpensive to nothing at all. The complexity of the projects is determined by how far you want to take them. The projects can take an hour or a lifetime.

The projects provide a way to take stock of something that has happened in the past. To creatively explore the things that matter to you most in order to figure out where to take your life next. To turn the run-of-the-mill ordinary into something to celebrate and further enrich your life.

52 Projects is full of “homemade” gift ideas — gifts from the heart. A collection of rainy day activities. Projects for the creatively blocked. Or the opposite — projects for people who are always on the lookout for a new project to start. A source for scrapbook hobbyists. Ideas to affordably decorate a living space. A cure for the doldrums, and an escape from lethargy. A full-proof system to cut down on television consumption. A compass to get back to places that you’ve been before, both physically and mentally. A map to the lost scrolls of your long ago past. Ways to make your special someone feel special. An engine to lift spirits. It is all of these things and more.

In the end, though, 52 projects is about what you make it. Remember, the idea of 52 Projects isn’t necessarily for you to recreate these projects exactly. Following something to the letter is never that much fun. The hope is that these projects will initiate the impulse to introspect, to create, and to share, and the main idea is for you to be inspired to do projects of your own creation. 52 Projects serves as a starting off point, the spark that ignites the idea, a reminder of the thing that you’ve been wanting to do.