Hello friends! I thought before posting Etsy Take Five Tuesday today that I'd introduce you to our students from our blogging workshop this weekend. Each of these wonderful ladies came to my home in Hannover, Germany to learn from Steffi Luxat and I about blogging and how to take a more creative, journalistic approach to your blog.

We had such a wonderful time, we shopped together, ate together, took photos, learned, enjoyed the Christmas market... It was so lovely that I want to host another in the Spring! Those are our 16 Blogging Your Way Studio students above and of course, you can see how seriously they took their studies!!!!

We had fun doing this shoot... I took out my collection of vintage hats passed down to me by my grandmother (she was a dancer in Chicago in the late 30s) and let the students play with them for a photo session, which wasn't my idea by the way. It was a rather thrown together photo shoot because we didn't plan to do one but Rincy, a darling student visiting from Ireland, really wanted to do one and so we did and ended up having a blast!

This is Gudy and her class partner, Louisa holding a bag from one of our sponsors, Alphabet Bags. This was not a class about blogging by the rules, it was a class about blogging from the heart!

This is Susanne getting a haircut by Nic. These ladies were so sweet and I especially love how Nic always had the best advice when we were having our open conversion sessions in class.

This is Inga and her class partner, Holly. Inga has the cutest blog, you have to check it out - I love the clean layout. Holly is a columnist for Houzz and has her own blog that she's currently revamping for a big shiny new roll out.

This is Louise and her "blog team" for the weekend, Brigitte and Sabrina. They raided my china cabinet for cups to pretend they are classy bloggers taking tea. I think though that they had vodka in their cups! :)

This is Orit, who came all the way from Tel Aviv as a birthday present for herself and had on the best bright clothes each time I saw her - so cool! Her blog partner in crime was Dani who was just the sweetest lady - she gave me a gorgeous bag when she left filled with American baking things which was extremely thoughtful. I loved how Dani added washi tape to her hat, cute, right?

This is Jana with her blog partner Rincy. Rincy just sparkles and glows and transmits so much positive energy and light, as a pediatrician her "kids" must love her. Jana is a comedian - she's so full of life - these two were the perfect blog partners.

This is Magda and her partner for the weekend, Elisa. They are pretending to be very dainty and quiet but both ladies have loads of ideas and opinions and are filled with fire when it comes to turning their blogs into pro blogs. Go, girls, go!

Sabine was so cute and her blog partner, Geraldine from London, was equally darling. They grabbed the trees from my windows and decided to be a very wacky Dutch portrait. Geraldine is also a medical doctor - having two doctors in my blogging class made me feel very good all weekend in case anyone passed out from inspiration overload!

Please visit all of the blogs linked in this post to visit our students because these ladies were just fantastic. And you know what? There wasn't a single "drama queen" in the group - everyone got along so well and were just so thoughtful, generous and sweet. I find this in most blogger classes and meet ups though, bloggers are the best people in the world to gather together - at least the design, craft, wedding, lifestyle, food and mommy blogs - not sure what the dynamics are at blog events for other groups like gossip bloggers and fashion blogs, but I always love going to and hosting events for bloggers because I know that everyone will get along and bond.

Here we are as a group freezing outside in Hannover at the Christmas Market. :)

I will forever hold these ladies dear to my heart and look back at this weekend as one big beautiful highlight of my career. Thank you SO much to my dear partner-in-crime, Steffi Luxat, too. We had so much fun together and put a lot of thought and planning into this weekend so for us, we're just thrilled it all worked out so beautifully! Steffi, you're the best. xo

(photos: @thorstenbecker)