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Blago 2014

One of the things that I love most about blogging is the community of like-minded fellow bloggers that I have met over the years. I have blogger friends all over the world who write about everything from design to food to fashion to sewing. These creative souls have become an important part of my life and a support network that inspires and encourages me to no end.

So you can imagine how ecstatic I was when a few of them arrived in Italy a few weeks ago to attend a little face-to-face event called Blago that I organised.

I came up with the Blago concept after attending The Hive Blogging Conference last year and realising that I really loved spending time with all these creative and amazing women that I have been friends with online for years. It’s great having these online friendships but even greater when you can take it into “real life”.

So a few days after arriving home from The Hive I sent out the first Blago pitch to some of my favourite blogger pals. Luckily I received really positive and enthusiastic responses from all of them immediately. My idea was for us all to meet up here in Italy to spend a few days visiting Milan Design as well as the lovely lake region that I live it.

And because I’m a big nerd I named the event Blago which is a mix of the words lago (lake in Italian) and blog. I figured if you’re going to organise an event with fellow bloggers you’ve got to come up with a catchy title (and hashtag too – check out #blago2014 on Instagram!).

And of course being a blogger also meant I needed to come up with a cool official invite to the event. Luckily, I LOVE that kind of stuff. Like seriously love it.

After a lot of contemplating and looking through my stash of craft and sewing supplies I decided to make a linen envelope (the leather version failed miserably). I used a really pretty Max Mara linen with map print for the outside and a gold linen for the inside. I even added a little tag which I always find makes a hand sewn item look a tad more professional.

Inside the fabric envelope I included an invite with the official Blago logo (designed by the talented Judith who was an attendee) and a little bag of my favourite Italian candies.

I’m a lover of anything to do with snail mail so I was so excited to get these into the mail and to their destinations (which actually took longer than expected due to the fact the local post office accidentally sent half of them back to me).

I’ll be back soon with more details about the actual event (which turned out to be a big success). And yes, I am already mentally preparing the next Blago get-together (and it’s going to be a good one!).

Tags: blago, blago 2014, blog, bloggers, photography

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Categories Creative, Inspiring Souls, italia, photography, Sewing, Uncategorized

The Hive 2014

26 Mar

**UPDATE** the person who will receive my ticket for The Hive Blogging Conference is Anastasia from the blog Stilzitat. Hope you have a great time and make sure to take lots of IG photos so that I can follow along!

For the past few years I’ve had the pleasure of attending The Hive Blogging Conference in Berlin (see my posts here and here). It’s a yearly event, held in May, that brings some of Europe’s most successful and creative bloggers together to learn, network and just have an amazing time together. On top of these week-ends being inspiring and creative, it was also my one week-end alone (sans kids and husband) in a big city. So I can’t even explain to you how beneficial it was on so many levels for me personally.

I loved spending those week-ends listening to and learning from some of the most influential creatives in Europe and, most of all, meeting like-minded people. Some of the ladies I met at The Hive have become good friends and who I keep in contact with, collaborate with and even meet up with in person.

hivemermaid

This year The Hive decided to change things up a bit and host the event in the city famous for it’s gorgeous and modern design aesthetic, Copenhagen. After seeing photos of the beautiful venue, the list of talented speakers (Gudy from Eclectic Trends, Anne from Anne’s Kitchen and Allan from Bungalow Five to name a few) and the events and courses that are offered I think it’s going to turn out to be a pretty amazing week-end.

Back in the fall the conference’s founder and organiser Yvonne asked me to be The Hive trend-blogger for Italy. I loved sending off those monthly reports on what’s hot and what’s not in the Italian blogging world. And I have to admit that I learned a lot and discovered so many amazing Italian blogs, bloggers and creatives in the process.

Unfortunately this year I won’t be able to attend The Hive and I’m absolutely crushed. I have my mother coming overseas from Canada to help me celebrate the fact that I’ll be turning….drum roll please…..40. Yep, trying to keep my head high and my thoughts positive on that one. I know it’s going to be a great new phase in my life (right?!).

So because I love The Hive and because I am entering my 40s I’d really love to give away my ticket (which I received in return for my trend-blogging work) to the 2 day conference that will take place the 17th and 18th of May (airfare, accommodation and other travel expenses are obviously not included!). All you have to do is comment below and let me know why you’d like to attend. Is it the networking, the workshops, the talks or the parties that attract you the most? For me personally I’ll miss the opportunity to meet and chat with some favourite bloggers and participate in the calligraphy workshop run by the talented Betty Soldi.

Follow The Hive’s Facebook page to learn more about what’s happening in the coming months.

I’ll announce who will receive The Hive conference ticket next Wednesday on April 2nd (comments will close on Tuesday evening at 9pm Italy time!).

Tags: blog, bloggers, blogging conference, conference, creative, The Hive

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Categories Creative, giveaway

Hiving Fun 2013

27 May

So I’m just back from a whirlwind week-end at The Hive Blogging Conference in Berlin and I’m feeling so inspired and full of new creative energy. You should have seen me enthusiastically scribbling new ideas and projects in my notebook on the plane back to Italy last night (even if this morning I can only understand 1\2 of what I wrote).

Like last year, the highlight of this event was meeting old and new blogger friends in person. It really does make a huge difference to spend time with these amazing ladies face-to-face. It has me thinking that we really do have to organise more real-person time together (I have a plan brewing in my head friends).

The conference was held at the uber-cool Betahaus again this year. The food was amazing and the multiple fridges full of the best beverages around was a highlight for just about everyone there (and the sound of accidentally kicked over bottles will always remind me of The Hive). I even loved the very colourful 4 story climb up the stairs to the conference rooms. Made me feel a little less guilty after eating one (or more) of the delicious cupcakes offered.I have to mention how great the decorations were this year. The lovely Lauren from Folies du Bonheur made what must have been 4 kilometres of these orange and pink paper garlands. They were hanging up the four flights of stairs, from the ceiling and on the walls. It brought so much joy to the venue.

Another great feature this year was the business card map. Everyone got to pin their card (or my case magnet) on the beige linen map. Obviously Germany was pretty well represented but it was also so nice to see and read the cards from everyone visiting from all around Europe. I don’t think I ever saw the map without someone hanging out and admiring the various cards.

And of course there were the talks and workshops. I heard so many stories about various blogger’s journeys within the blog world and the common denominator in all of them was the advice to blog about what you’re passionate about. I still love Jenni Fuch’s (from Museum Diary ) quote ”If you don’t feel it, don’t blog it”. Whether is was Katja from Travelettes, Tina from Traveling Mama or Kat from Zero The One, these women all had amazing (and different) stories, experiences and knowledge that they so generously shared with us all. A huge thanks to every single one of them. (image above is a peek into Kat’s fascinating video workshop).

The conference founders Peggy and Yvonne did an extraordinary job at organising everything from the speakers to the catering to even babysitting for little blogger-babies. I was seriously amazed at how calm and collected they remained throughout the entire week-end. I can’t wait to hear more about their new The Hive Conference in Copenhagen. (my post about last year’s The Hive is here).

Now off to sew something up with the pretty fabric that was given to us by supercraftlab!

Tags: Berlin, blog, blogging, photography, The Hive Blogging Conference

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Categories misc.

A Kid’s Life: Holland

1 Nov

Time for another interview from my A Kid’s Life series. Over the past months I’ve absolutely loved doing these interviews and learning about what families from around the world are up to on a daily basis.

Today’s family lives in Holland but is by no means the “average Dutch family”. Both parents are from Colombia and have lived all over the world over the last 20 years. Giova (the Mama) told me that she has adopted traditions and customs from all these different cultures and integrated them into their daily life. I can relate to that!

Giova is one of the writers behind the charming blog One Bunting Away (the other is her sister who lives on the other side of the ocean). She’s a creative soul and sweet as can be. The sisters write about their lives and what they find beautiful and inspiring.

Giova is the also the proud mama of two boys of very different ages. As you’ll see from her photos that there is nothing cuter than a big brother holding his little baby brother’s hand. Heart melting really.

Now let’s hear a little about their daily life….

What country do you live in?

We live in Holland, but we are not Dutch.

Are you and your husband the same nationality?

Yes, we were both born in Colombia. We left 20 years ago.

Do you both work? Or does someone stay at home?

We both work from home

How many languages are spoken in your house? What one(s)?

Spanish is what we speak between us, but we all speak English, even the little one has started.

How many kids do you have? What are their ages?

Two. One is 11, and the other is 2

Continue reading →

Tags: A Kid's Life, blog, daily traditions and routing, family, Holland, photography

Comments 11 Comments
Categories A Kid's Life

Zero the One

23 May

A few months ago I stumbled across some absolutely stunning photos of the streets of Torino on the blog Poppytalk (see post here). After clicking away I found the blog and the artist behind these amazing shots. The blog is called Zero the One and the artist Kat. I was immediatly smitten with all her work and became an instant admirer.

Zero the One is an inspiring, original and captivating blog where you can browse through photos, videos, thoughts, tutorials, recipes and so much more. Kat isn’t your run-of-the-mill blogger but more of an artist who blogs (big difference). And she does such a good job at it. Kat is a cheerful, enthusiastic and extremely generous soul and it definitely shines through all her work. And to top off her many attributes she has a board on Pinterest called “Yummlings”. I love that so much.

Kat can transform any photo into something absolutely enchanting. And to make it even better she generously posts photoshop tutorials that are so well explained and easy to follow. Check out this one about adding pink splash to your photos. I tried it and it worked out beautifully (this says a lot coming from a non photoshop user).