Hello. I want to start on one of the projects. I am anxious to get my feet wet. I feel that I learn better by doing than by reading. I already set up codepen and stared at the tribute page requirements and got a little bit nervous. Most of it looked very unfamiliar.
Do you recommend attempting the project before the challenges? I haven’t completed all of the CSS challenges, but I’m getting a little antsy to start. (I have completed the HTML challenges).
OR Do you feel that completing all of the challenges gave you most of what you needed to know to successfully complete the challenges. I love FreeCodeCamp, but I’m starting to wonder if the challenges are enough. I am perfectly willing to google, but I’m just wondering how much googling will I need to do?
OR Do I just need to calm down. 
Thanks so much!
Happy Coding today.
Do them in the order of the curriculum. You will have been exposed to more ideas about layout and styling, so when you get to the projects, you will be more sure of yourself. Also, you don’t have to wait until the projects to get your hands dirty. When you learn some HTML/CSS in the challenge waypoints, google “w3 <your concept here>”. w3 schools covers all the possible values for a given attribute, and there is a “try it” button on every page that lets you see it in action, often letting you code it, break it, fix it, and do the “doing” that is an integral part of learning to code.
[EDIT: Accidentally submitted after first sentence.]
I’ve been dabbling in this for two years. Whenever I read all the user stories in one go I still feel a bit dizzy.
I’ve found myself better positioned if at the moment of starting them I kind of write the basic <html>, <head>, <body> bits. I then go through the user stories one by one and actively ignore the rest of them.
This way, user stories are useful because they present “atomistic” challenges and I can grow the page without worrying about the big picture.
Look, no matter how much we or you talk and discuss this, you won’t get going until you get started.
You have literally no way of screwing this up, so get started, one step a time. Start on the paper (plan the design) if you feel it’ll make you more comfortable to have something to work with when it’s time to write code.
As far as challenges go, you’ll see if any lacks in knowledge are compromising your ability to create the project. If they do, you can come back and do more challenges before you attempt the project again.
The tribute page is a perfect “get your feet wet” kind of project.
You might have to do a little research to complete that project but don’t let that deter you.
If you find the first project (or CodePen) intimidating there is nothing stopping you from doing a few warm-up projects on your own. Maybe try some little study snippets that will end up in the tribute page like how to center a pic, or how you might style that required <a>
Regarding the tribute page specifically you can pass 8 of the 10 requirements with HTML only. Most simply involve including a specified HTML tag with the required id. You’ll need a little CSS to get the image centered and to resize responsively.
Once you have fulfilled the user stories then take some time to play with the styling to your satisfaction.
Learning by doing is good because someday you’ll get paid for doing, not reading. 
One step at a time.
#1 passes 8 of 10 requirements, #2 passes all
I didn’t really do a tribute to Bugs Bunny
Go through the curriculum in order, it was done this way for a reason. Don’t try to rush things, take your time with each lesson and if you don’t understand something well enough you can alway take a look at other resources as well.
Don’t worry if you think you are not retaining the information, this is totally normal and happens to everyone. When you get to the point where you have to build a project, you probably already had forgotten most of the things that you saw in past lessons, this is also fine. However, if you took your time with each lesson you will probably remember that there was one lesson in particular that was about centering a div. So what do you do? You go back to the lesson and see how it’s done, or just google it, then apply it to your project.
So basically what I’m trying to say is, don’t rush things, take your time with each lesson and don’t worry if you forget a lot of things or if things don’t make much sense, all of this will change once you start building things, this is in fact the best way you can learn, building.
Build a lot of things, don’t be afraid to start a new project.