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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!).