Circle Journals

Today I succeeded in my quest for some daily creative time (unlike yesterday and despite ongoing tooth ache). I am participating in my second ever Circle Journal even though this one is already nearly at its conclusion. I have one more Circle Journal to receive and complete and then I am due to get mine back.

For the uninitiated... a Circle Journal is a scrapbook created by a circle of friends or colleagues. Each person in the circle creates their own journal, establishes a theme, determines any instructions or requirements then completes the first page or pages. The journals are then passed to the next person in the circle to follow the instructions the journal creater has established and complete additional pages. This continues until each journal has been passed to each participant in the circle and the one you originally created is returned back to you completed with every person in the circle having added to your journal, just as you have added to every other person's journal.

The completed journals are usually incredible examples of a variety of different techniques and styles and interpretations that hopefully inspire the other participants along the way.

Anyway... today I completed the two pages and sign in tag for the second to last journal for the Circle Journal I am currently participating in. This particular journal required more than my artistic creativity, it also required my culinary creativity... somewhat of a BIG ASK. 

The theme was "Sweet Treats" and we had to provide a copy of a favourite recipe of ours as well as a picture of the complete recipe. Sounds simple enough I hear some of you say... obviously you are not as domestically challenged as what I am.

I probably need to set the scene a little, but first a little bit more about my lack of cooking ability...

• I have managed to ruin boiled savaloys
• I can not for the life of me follow a recipe - I have to change something, it happens involunaterally no matter how hard I try to follow the recipe EXACTLY
• I am the proud owner of the "I Hate To Cook Cookbook" by Peg Bracken
• I haven't killed anyone YET

The other part of setting the scene is that I had to do this baking business at Scrap Camp, surrounded by some of the most amazing cooks I know. These ladies at true kitchen geniuses and all around domestic goddesses and I truely feel like a complete and utter novice in their presence. (I humbly bow at their feet and gratefully accept any baking that they care to share with me).


So I took my ingredients all pre-measured except the milk which I borrowed from the camp fridge. I followed the instructions (with some sly supervision from one of the aforementioned "Experts" hopefully unbeknown to her) and remembered to take photos of the whole process to prove they weren't store bought after all that.


Into the oven they went, one last photo before the finished result and then it was just a matter of waiting patiently. 


Just to prove that they weren't a TOTAL FLOP, here is the pages I completed for the circle journal album, complete with photographic evidence which would hold up in court that I can on occassion book something mildly edible - just that was it for the year so don't expect seconds.