Book Camp 2025

Oh my heart, book camp has been and gone and what a phenomenonal experience it has been. I came home with my sides aching from laughter and memories I'll treasure forever.

It's hard to write about such a unique experience so I'm not going to try. I'll just pop some photographs here with a brief explanation!

The campers surprised me with these gorgeous aprons!

My wonderful Camp Mother, Cath, made bags for them to all go into!

Which promptly got turned into hats!

That was the first night...

The large room we create in was soon filled with creative chaos.

I loved seeing projects emerge.

NZ Robyn holding up my very first attempt to do free stitching!

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the campers get stuck into creating!

Everyone heads off in their own direction.

Throughout book camp, hand carved stamps of exclamation marks mysteriously appeared on my table!

Don't be fooled by everyone sitting still, there was almost always someone laughing!

Everyone brings a tonne of supplies.

The theme was World of Books.

Master sheets in the making.

Stuff!

Books - beautiful books!

Lucie's gorgeous stencils that she designed.

My sister Jo gave a gel plate demonstration. These are just some of the items she used.

I always take visitors to New Zealand out to our local iconic beach: PIHA.

The grounds at our retreat centre (Bella Rahka) are lush! It's like living in a forest for a few days.

This year instead of bringing fairy lights to light up the walkway at night, I brought my lanterns.

We were very lucky with the weather. It was just right, not too hot or raining!

I was given the most extraordinary gift by the campers. I chat about it on Instagram. It really is amazing!!!

Every day our chef Victoria from Vevo Eatery dropped off the most scrumptious food.

And then, before we knew it, it was the last day and we were all sharing our work.

It was so diverse!

And unique!

Everyone created whatever they wanted to create.

Such a vast range of styles.

So many ideas!

What a fabulous collection!

It was a treat for the eyes!

Katy made a suitcase to put her books into.

Some of the projects were very personal and had great sentimental value.

What a playful collection.

And then it was over. And I got back home and could enjoy a glass of wine with my sister! Note the wonderful handmade 60! created especially to celebrate my birthday by Camp Mother.

I once wrote in my journal, "The adventures haven't stopped, they've just changed direction."

I learnt so much about myself through the wonderful experience that was book camp. I will always be hugely grateful to every single camper who came along and contributed to each camp.