I know I did a midway recap of Blogworthy from before – but due to insistent demand*, here’s a full look of what went down during my very first creative blogging workshop!

(*Seriously, I was peppered with so many e-mails & tweets pleading for Batch 2 – I could only wish I had even a third of the amount of invites for dates. #yunoh #choslang)

Blogworthy was held at co.lab xchange** in Kapitolyo, Pasig — and as evidenced by the rainbow bonanza above, this venue was absolutely perfect for the vibe I was going for in my workshop. The place was bright, colorful, and spacious, and my intern Rina and I had a blast channeling our inner Neil Buchanan’s with all the DIY decor.

(**co.lab is actually my office in real life: If you’re a freelancer/startup entrepreneur, you might want to rent a desk and share this office with us!)

our partners and collaborators

The support I got was both surprising and overwhelming: and I have nothing but infinite thanks and warm, fuzzy feelings for all the local entrepreneurs who so generously shared their love & products with us!

These are just SOME of the goodies found in each participant’s kit:

• A hand-painted pencil case from H.E.A.R.T. by Abbey Sy (who is also my newest collaborator here on the blog!)
• A customized treasure box from Karton Paper Gallery
• A specially-designed idea notebook from Bluebooks Ateneo (I died from cuteness)
• An acrylic necklace from Personalized Accessories (I am such a fan of her mirror necklaces!)
• An endless supply of sweets, like these mini-cupcakes from Little Miss Cakeaholic
• PLUS! They each got to bring home TWO (!!!) LinkNotes from FILED! Which are like, notebooks, only 15x cooler. (Speaking of FILED – make sure to check out this collab I had with them – one of my all-time favorite blog posts!)

Creative sustenance & energy came in the form of lots and lots of sugar! My students gorged on:

• Three days’ worth of cake pops from Pop Shop (she even made special neon tribal cake pops which she felt ”fit my personality” — so spot on!)
• Day 3′s Edible Fuel came in the form of adorable cupcakes of all sizes, and the most incredible layered brownies from Little Miss Cakeaholic (I could eat a basketful of those little brownies! TO DIE FOR.)
• Looking at the cuteness of these “blogger cupcakes” from Patricia Cupcakes — makes everything in the world feel so right. Everybody thought that the meticulously-made, edible cameras & notebooks were too cute to devour! (But… I ate it anyway. Sweets > anything)

The wonder women slash super entrepreneurs behind the brands Suelas, Punchdrunk Panda, Kape Maria, and Vesti bags also came by to entertain/brainwash/interact with my students! There were quiz bees, coffee-making sessions, and fashion styling challenges! (I have overachieving girlfriends, obviously.)

We also had an Awards Night/graduation rites on Day 3 and some of the prizes included the ones pictured above:

• A spunky magsket (magazine basket), a damask storage box, and lots of gift certificates from Karton Paper Gallery
• Quirks Novelties Store gave out these insanely adorable items, such as a camper chalkboard, a pixelized wall clock, cord detangler, and travel scratch map –  WHAT LUCKY DUCKS!

Each student also got to bring home a Polaroid photo of themselves, courtesy of Polaroid Philippines and Lil Whims Store. If you remember, we gave away a Polaroid Instax to one tremendously lucky reader! You can visit Polaroid PH’s physical store at The Collective on Malugay Street, Makati: lots of Instax products, film and accessories!

highlights + my favorite moments

I loved every minute of the entire workshop — but I think I had the most fun during the photoshoot (where I served as stylist/art director) and the individual consultation, because I really got to witness everyone come out of their shell and become more confident about themselves and their ideas.

(It was different for each: Some burst their shells open and came exploding right out of it, while some needed more coaxing before they crawled out — and both are completely okay! :) I’m more of the latter myself.)

I also really enjoyed the Q&A part where the students were able to ask me questions about my blogging habits, styles, experiences, inspirations and philosophies. It made me realize a lot of things about myself, too! And I guess I was happy because my students truly got to see the ~real Arriane~ behind this blog — no frills, no BS. :)

My main motivation for starting Blogworthy was because I wanted to push people to NOT fall into the mediocrity traps of blogging (especially now, what with all the bloggers just copy-pasting press releases).

I provided them with guidance in personal branding – so they know how to differentiate and position themselves in the crowded blogosphere; armed them with basic skills in Photoshop and creative writing – but just enough to spark their ideas and curiosity, and never to dictate a certain kind of cookie-cutter style on anyone; and lastly, planted little nuggets of ideas of how they can grow original, unique content during our one-on-one chats/consultations.

Here’s a video of what happened during the 3 days of our first run of our blogging workshop!

Video filmed and edited by Jeruel Pingol – highly recommended videographer! One of my favorite collaborators: needed very little direction, lots of initiative, and a very fast worker! :) He’s also done numerous fashion motion editorials for Status Magazine.

Let’s end with a testimonial

Here is a testimonial from Desiree of FearlessPrincess.com, which I felt encapsulated what I really wanted to put across during the entire 3 weeks:

“Attending Wanderrgirl’s Blogworthy Workshop was one of the most remarkable and rewarding experiences I’ve gone through. Those three Fridays were jam-packed with activities which have inspired and empowered me to think creatively, to be more confident in expressing myself, to find unique ways to communicate one’s message through blogging.

But perhaps what I have cherished the most in Blogworthy were the brief moments spent with talented, passionate people — people who share similar interests as mine and possess open-minded views of the world. I love how Blogworthy at the same time was able to promote some Filipino entrepreneurs by taking this chance to showcase the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of Filipinos.“

The next Blogworthy class will be on May 2013 – check out the details and the sign-up sheet over here. :)