Ready to Tell a Story

I kicked off phase 2's Ready Travelling Notebooks Project by sharing with readers and writers the importance of doing something you truly enjoy and have passion for.

I wanted to fill my two lined pages with some words of advice. I understand the huge value of what creative projects bring to the world – they brighten communities, makes us happy and improves well-being, and in supporting those individuals (you) who craves for enjoyment in their work it's really important 

I believe in the value of meaningful ideas, doing things and working on projects that really makes us happy and be proud of. Often in life it's what we participate in and do that makes work/a design job itself worthwhile – doing things I can be 'really' proud of and saying "I've been part of that..." really matters in what I do – and my pages of words aims to highlight this.

Enjoying something you have huge enthusiasm for is addictive! My pages talk about my food-inspired brand, Missie Cindz – the food enthusiast, a platform for sharing my love of food. In the beginning I was just taking photographs of what I was eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner and sharing this with followers (I still do this by the way, I'm a food stalker!) and then I found an opportunity where I was able to use my design skills and expertise to collaborate on projects to help strengthen the bond between consumer and food producer to build brighter and awesome communities.

Through a series of engaging events, such as Missie's PudInn Clubs and whimsical stationery I've created lasting memories and new experiences to people who I would've never met if it wasn't for Missie Cindz – Get your passion (mission) out there and see how it encourages action in yourself, your community and your followers/fans.

Phase 2's Ready notebook was posted over the Easter weekend to my Travelling Notebooks partner Sinem (twitter @sonabanjo). Look out for the book heading your way Sinem! – we're all looking forward to seeing and reading your pages too :)

There's some awesome bloggers, tweeters and photographers who have signed up to the project so do look out for page updates on this blog. The project's doing exactly what we set out to do – to bring new people together, and to create an excitement about writing and receiving post.

Have you seen the written pages for Phase 2's Snap travelling notebook? you can find out what shared here.

Kicking off Phase 2 Snap Travelling Notebook

Kicking off phase 2's Snap Travelling Notebooks Project with a playful community page game – I hope readers and Snap writers enjoy it.

We are a little bit behind schedule with departure for phase 2 of the Project with the three whimsical books but they do say, good things are worth waiting for...

I wanted to fill my two pages with things that were close to me – and that's my home city Sheffield, community and food. I knew I would be experiencing a lot of changes and new challenges in the next coming months, and whenever I think of home (the Northern charm) it makes me smile and think of all things sweet (pudding). I hope you can see from my photos, I decided to doodle up a foodie page game to reflect my personality and the things I enjoy and are important. You really do have to have a good read through the page to really appreciate what I have shared.

The pages aim to be inspirational and fun, and I really enjoyed filling in my two pages. It made a change to doing digital graphics and online illustrations, and I found it creatively challenging to think of something playful and interesting to share.

Phase 2's Snap notebook was posted over the Easter weekend to my Travelling Notebooks partner Clare (twitter @Clarek56). Look out for the book heading your way Clare! – we're all looking forward to seeing and reading your pages :)

There's some awesome bloggers, tweeters and photographers who have signed up to the project so do look out for page updates on this blog. The project's doing exactly what we set out to do – to bring new people together, and to create an excitement about writing and receiving post.

Remember: Don't forget to say engage with your Travelling Notebook (TN) partner. As we’d like this to be a community project it would be lovely if you could get engaged with your TN partner. We emailed everyone their partner's contact details but if you're unsure and need a recap feel free to get in touch via email us. We encourage people who have signed up to the project to check out their partner's twitter feed – we have set up a TN twitter list so you can find your notebook partner there; find out their blog, their Instagram or Flickr page. Maybe mention the person you sent it to when you blog, tweet or post your pictures.

Notebook Recipes Choccy Orange Cake

Notebook RECIPES made it's way to Megan of Pink O Clock over in Sarasota, Florida, who shares with us her love for baking and all things sweet. Megan tells us that she chose to share a chocolate orange pound cake recipe in her Travelling Notebook pages as it was one of her favourites thanks to the bright flavour of the citrus, the dark-chocolate flavour of the chips and the dense-but-light texture of the cake. 

Plus, she made it one night whilst really missing her boyfriend so the cake always made Megan think of him and has a special place in her heart.

We really love Megan's version of the chocolate orange loaf cake, just wished we could've flown over to Sarasota for a slice! – Did you do any baking over the weekend? How did the last cake that you made for the first time turn out? – Missie Cindz

{Photos by Megan, Sarasota}

Creative Recipe Swapping with Chantal

Mmmmmmm, just how creative was Chantal with her Recipes Travelling Notebook? Sharing with us a traditional flapjack recipe, and from the ingredients list and instructions it looks like one of the quickest, easiest and importantly cheap British recipes to make too. 

We share the same love for the traditional flapjack too, Chantel. Simply delicious.

I hope this inspires all our enthusiastic Travelling Notebookers involved in the project to be as creative as they want with their pages, fill it in however you please – your chance to make time for more creative-ness. Often we can feel like our days are filled with work and not enough play or 'me time'. Well, I hope your participation in the project allows you to have those moments of connecting with our roots, building and sharing new experiences too – Missie Cindz :) 

{Photos by Chantal, twitter: @chantalLovesVin)

Delving into WreckThisGirls Mailbox

Please meet Fab, or better known as WreckThisGirl (twitter @WreckThisGirl), a 22 years old, freelance illustrator and snail mail enthusiast from the South of Italy.

I've been following Fab for almost two months on Instagram from being immediately attracted by her passion and enthusiasm for writing letters (yes, old school snail mail). Fab clearly demonstrates a fascination for old school correspondences and foreign culture – if you're on Instagram, please do check out her amazing photographs; you're bound to be inspired --->> statigr.am/wreckthisgirl

We're really pleased to have Fab signed up to Phase Two of the Travelling Notebook's Project which kicks off this month, and I managed to liaise with Fab via emails and twitter to find out more about where all this passion for creative writing came from. Here goes....

Fab informs me that being really shy, she's always preferred putting her thoughts on paper rather than expressing herself verbally, and started penpaling with people around the world 10 years ago. In the beginning Fab says she only a couple of penpals – "when I found out it was a possible to make genuine friends from around the world through writing and exchanging letters, it immediately became the perfect hobby for me!" – she tells us.

"Then I began started looking for more people who shared the same interests in writing and messages through post, and found new friends from joining Tumblr in 2011."

Fab gets in touch and corresponds with creative-types; individuals who shares a common interest as herself, this not only helps her to build new friendships but to also engage and swap creative projects and ideas with one another too.

Fab tells us that some of her most memorable creative writing projects from the past years have been "Wreck This Journal pages swap" (a creative journal by Keri Smith that inspired herself as an artist and for her online alias; WreckThisGirl) in which her partner and Fab would decorate a page of their journal and send it to each other. The "Traveling Notebook Project" (a different project to ours here) was also another project Fab felt connected with – the project involved sending a blank notebook to 6 different creatives around Europe and then each were given 5 pages to express themselves however they liked (the final project's pages can be seen here <<--- it's amazing guys!). Lastly, another project Fab has enjoyed cooking up is her own recent writing project, the "Secret Penpal Scavenger Hunt", which is, in Fab's own words "a secret round robin to challenge yourself in finding/crafting 5 objects from a secret list and hopefully find a new penpal"

It clearly seems Fab never stops too! (and I though I was a workaholic!?) – when she isn't freelancing, she also designs whimsical letter sets which she shares on her own colourful blog every Friday, or will sell these via an exclusive monthly printables newsletter service. 

Baking up sweet Italian happiness....
As you can imagine, all this creative writing and having a full-time freelancing career surely Fab chillaxes too, right? Some of Fab's simple pleasures involves a cup of tea and warm slice of apple pie to keep herself refueled, and enjoys dabbling in a bit of Italian cooking and baking! and if she's feeling particularly creative (or if her sweet tooth gets a lil out of control), will also bake fruit tarts and biscotti.

If Fab's not in the mood for baking, she can literally go anywhere in Italy to enjoy a good pizza. She informs us that a good 60% of the restaurants here (in Fab's home city) will have pizza on their food menu, food-wise Italians are really attached to their roots, and it's only lately that they are starting to make their appearance in more ethnic restaurants, especially Japanese. Italians are really family oriented when it comes to food she says, and often prefer to have an old school home cooked meal rather than going out to eat, which is usually preferred for only dates or special occasions. 

Food Glorious Food....
In addition to all this global writing, I managed to ask Fab what were some of her favourite Italian foods from her home country of Italy. She tells us that if you're curious about Italian food, some recipes we should absolutely take the time to find out and appreciate if we're in town are; for savoury types "pasta carbonara" – spaghetti with an egg and bacon sauce, "pasta cacio e pepe" made with a typical cheese and (loads of) pepper, and "polenta" – a dish made out of yellow cornmeal often dressed with sausages and tomato sauce. Fab also shares with us that if we're in the mood for something sweet (that's definitely me, then!), then we should try "babà", "sfogliatella" or "cannoli" all which are desserts typically from Fab's region and Southern Italy.

A big thank you to Fab for being part of our first Travelling Notebooks Star! we are huge fans of your work, so thank very much for taking time out of your super busy schedule to speak to us! – Missie Cindz :)

{Photos by Fab as shared on her Instagram page}

----------------------------

What is a 'Travelling Notebooks Star' I hear you ask?
These are interviews where we try to catch up with some of the real unsung talented writers, doodlers or chefs and bakers worldwide which we believe do things that are worth sharing. Each of them have also signed up to the Travelling Notebooks Project so if you haven't seen their pages featured yet, you will do somewhere along the project.