New Adventures – The Chocolate Notebook

This year I was fortunate to be asked to join the team of The Chocolate Notebook, a notebook/calendar/agenda/journal.  I had a first edition of The Chocolate Notebook and used it throughout 2020.  I was surprised and excited when Anelisa Lauri and Lauren Heineck, the minds behind the creation of The Chocolate Notebook, invited me to join the team to add to its creative side. 

Now, I will admit, that I really thought about if this was the right opportunity for me.  I most certainly am an artist.  But an illustrator?  I didn’t think so.  So after debating, I did join the team, and had a fabulous time bringing my spin to The Chocolate Notebook.  As an artist I tend to see things differently.  I certainly don’t think within the box or colour inside the lines.  

After several conversations with Lauren and Anelisa and taking into consideration feedback from people who had the first edition of The Chocolate Notebook, we decided to make some changes.  Some little, some big.

As a team we had many, many calls to talk about every little thing within The Chocolate Notebook.  We have thought through each word, each inch, each graphic, and each way you would use it.

I can’t begin to express how wonderful Anelisa and Lauren are to work with.  We all bring different strengths which makes for a wonderful balance.  We are a great team and I hope you will find that energy between the pages of your notebook, be it meeting new friends, working with old friends, or forming new partnerships.  Teamwork is amazing, and we encourage all #womeninchocolate to explore working together on projects you may not have seen coming.  At the beginning of 2020 I didn’t see this in my future at all, and really it captivated my attention for a good portion of 2020 and will be a part of my 2021 as I use the calendar daily to document my chocolate journey, wherever it leads.

It was very important to us that The Chocolate Notebook be a resource and useful item for all chocolate lovers – for people who work with chocolate, who are learning about chocolate, who enjoy chocolate, really anyone who eats chocolate – you will find The Chocolate Notebook useful and enjoyable.  We thought about how it could serve whoever used it, if you are noting roasting times and temperatures, if you are taking tasting notes, if you need to schedule Zoom calls, seminars, or tastings.  A place to put everything together in one spot, to document your chocolate journey, something we wish we had done more of as we each dove into exploring chocolate. There is a place for everything. Plus some bonus info thrown in there too.

This agenda is purposefully undated, so you can begin the year when it is right for you.  You can start and take a break if you need.  You can use it as a calendar or a colouring book.  You can follow along the process of cacao through the images in the lower right corners of the sections that are scattered throughout the book. These images tie into the themes of the sections as we invite you to reflect on your own chocolate journey as you venture through it.

We’ve added prompts along the journey through the year to get you thinking about chocolate in many ways.  Lauren wrote these so well, and they are sprinkled throughout the year. Encouraging you to sink deeper into your personal chocolate journey, to document it as you go.

I am so excited to have put my mark on every page in The Chocolate Notebook, upping the chocolate content in it, creating a template for you to travel throughout the year, creating a ton of graphics (over 50 different graphics), and sprinkling them throughout the book. 

I have spent so many years working on a tiny scale, in jewellery and art, in dental, that for me the little details matter, and they matter a lot! This edition of The Chocolate Notebook has a lot of little details that we added just for you. As a team we talked over each section title, each graphic, each word to be sure we all loved it and that you would too.

I learnt so much while working on this project.  Not being an illustrator, it was a big learning curve.  Not in the drawing so much, though that is not my strongest area of creativity.  I am used to working three dimensionally, with my hands, piecing metal together, carving wax to create jewellery, it is very different from creating black and white graphics (which are limiting in some ways, but also allow for some fun to be had too). I learnt about drawing by hand and digitally, laying out a book for print, and making everything fit.

It truly is an atypical planner: a journal, a journey, and a fun space to put all your chocolate notes together.  We hope you will love it as much as we do.

If you are in Canada you can purchase a copy of The Chocolate Notebook through my site www.canadianchocoholic.ca and if you are outside of Canada you can go here to get your copy.