One of the biggest issues I have with studying is that I sometimes use it as a way of procrastinating implementing any of what I'm studying, because in the moment I also have the sense of "Well, I understand this really well now, so I probably don't need to code it right away; I'll remember it when I get back to coding." and then I end up forgetting even some of the conceptual understanding I had when I was reading.
Main take away is like you said, practice everyday, but particularly while going through a tutorial, and especially while going through a book.
Concerning projects I'd say don't bother actually working on a project, but keep the project in the back of your mind while you're practicing implementing smaller concepts. Consider where that concept might fit into the bigger project if it could fit and whether it's the optimal solution or not, but only just consider it, as the main goal should be practicing the concept at hand.