Book Camps have become a highlight of my creative calendar. From the humble beginnings of Camp Book NZ what an adventure we've been on!! There is Book Camp Online, Book Camp NZ and Book Camp Australia! Our theme for Book Camps this year (and Book Camp Australia 2024) is: Vintage Funfair You always know you're at book camp when you see this sign! And then this one!! https://video.wixstatic.com/video/f3b053_0560a48f415f4c31a59ad52882f40ae3/1080p/mp4/file.mp4 I bring a LOT of materials and equipment... I'm ever so grateful for all the help I have to set up for Book Camp. As you can see, it do ..read more

Last year, I was invited to take part in a wild idea by bookbinder, poet, printmaker, & life alchemist, Kiala Givehand. She'd had the thought to bring the New Year in with a group of guest artists and students via a zoom classroom over a 23 hour period! It was a bold idea but you know what, Kiala pulled it off superbly! It was so good, she's decided to do it again this year. And, I'm so excited to have been asked back as a guest artist. So what exactly does it entail? STARTS: 10AM Central Time December 31st 2022 ENDS: 9AM Central Time January 1st 2023. Every 30 minutes or so there will b ..read more

WARNING: This blog contains much fan girl gushing. I make no apologies for it! Years ago, my friend Ailie Snow, gifted me a copy of The World of Richard Stine by Richard Stine. Ailie was a massive fan. It wasn't hard to see why, when she showed me his book. We'd ooh and arr and laugh over the musings of Richard Stine and enjoy the cleverness of his drawings. I've often got his book out over the years and looked at it for inspiration. I have to say his work has been instrumental in my own journey as an artist who also loves wordplay. So imagine my surprise and delight to suddenly discover I'd ..read more

We were so busy and got stuck in I forgot to take photos from the start! But we effectively created a kit set to put together, based on the measurements I'd made of where I wanted it to go. We cut the wood to length, planned biscuited together. her. er. r. . The first thing I realised was, unless I created a proper packing table I'd just end up running out of space. I knew exactly who to turn to for help: my woodworking teacher, affectionately known as Mr G. We were so busy and got stuck in I forgot to take photos from the start! But we effectively created a kit set to put together, based on ..read more

Here's the backstory. In January 2022, I was invited by Wendy Solganik (known on Instagram as Willa Wanders) to be a Fodder School 2 teacher. Now, if you know about fodder school, then I know you'll know just how thrilled I was to be asked. I have worked so hard for 20+ years to reach this point in my creative career where I'm handpicked to join in with such an outstanding group of teachers. It's a big deal. Julie Hamilton @juliehamiltoncreative Drew Brecher @drewsteinbrecher Dori Patrick @patrickdori Ricki Midbrod @ricki_ticki_tavy Karen Elaine @karenelainecreative Lucie Duclos @lucieduclos ..read more

I can't believe I never thought to create a blog based on colour! Or one colour, to be more precise. It's actually quite lovely to see a collection together like this. Welcome to the blue collection. Enjoy! My favourite combination, dyed blue paper and a number stamp I love to dye paper Gosh, I've lost count of how many notebooks I've made over the years Come on in number 9, your time is up! A peek inside a blue book I don't think I'll ever get tired of working with this colour Dyed calico never looked so good White linen thread against the blue, yum. A commissioned book which you can ..read more

I recently found out that Featherston, a small town situated in South Wairapara, was holding a Book festival. As my sister Jo, recently relocated to the area, it seemed rude not to visit and soak up the booky atmosphere! It turns out, Featherston is a Booktown: home to an annual festival celebrating everything to do with books, writers and reading. The festival includes writing workshops, poetry readings, talks by authors and illustrators, theatre performances and a book fair featuring stalls with rare and second hand books. I was prepared to do an 8 hour drive to get to this part of New Zea ..read more

I was asked recently to create a book for a bach, a beach house in New Zealand pronounced as 'batch'. In the South Island they're known as cribs. It was ages since I'd created a commissioned book for a client. I won't pretend it was easy to sink back into the mindset of a commissioned book. When I first began Book Art Studios a huge portion of my time was taken up with commissioned work. In more recent years it's been teaching. Once I gave myself the time to create freely, it was a treat to fall back into it. The bach is in the Kaipara Harbour which is a large enclosed harbour estuary complex ..read more

A few years ago, I was visiting a friends house who at the time had a handful of young children milling about. The house was chaotic, warm, welcoming and the: HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner hanging over the fireplace gave it a celebratory feeling. I asked who was celebrating a birthday. "Oh, no one." he replied, "But it will be at some point, so we just leave it up all the time!" This made me laugh so much and I thought of that interaction when I decided to celebrate my birthday all March long. To be fair, it's also my daughters birthday month and Book Art Studios (who turned sweet 16 this year). Here ..read more

As the garage is used as my art studio, my poor pergola ended up being 'that place' to dump a range of stuff. In the end, I couldn't bear it any longer and set about doing a makeover with a sort of Mexican theme in mind! I actually took this after I started clearing it out. It was a LOT worse, with overgrown roses bursting through the trellis (not in a good way!). I had to put this photo next, as the transformation really is remarkable. It was the chalk paint from Madder & Rouge that made this makeover fun to do. And look at the beautiful light sifting through! Finally I found a place ..read more