Project
‘Lazing on a Sunday Crafternoon’ was a personal passion project that brought together my love of art, craft, design, and family connection. Co-created with my young daughter and published by Allen & Unwin, the book presents 52 simple, handmade projects – one for each week of the year – designed to help families rediscover the joy of simple creativity and the value of making time to make things.

Distributed internationally by Murdoch Books, including through the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Design Store in New York, the book celebrates creative curiosity and domestic making as acts of mindfulness and connection. Projects from peg dolls and hand-sewn toys to nature crafts and paper-based play, were developed and tested in our own home with our friends and neighbours, making it both accessible and truly personal.

For me, this project was also a way to ‘practice what I preach’: to demonstrate that creativity isn’t just for professional artists or designers. The process of creating, photographing, and writing the book deepened my research into how everyday creative engagement supports wellbeing, particularly for children and families.

The book was warmly received. As Children’s Books Daily wrote:
“This book took me back to my 80s childhood when The Women’s Weekly Craft Book was my most treasured possession… I was slightly beside myself with joy to find some similar but far more stylish craft projects in Lazing on a Sunday Crafternoon. There are 52 super simple projects to complete… that’s a whole year of Sunday crafternoons!”

Lazing on a Sunday Crafternoon remains one of the projects I’m most proud of.

Continuing Practice

Since the book’s publication, Lazing on a Sunday Crafternoon has continued to inspire a series of community-based workshops designed to strengthen local connection, wellbeing, and creative participation. These have included Sunday Crafternoon sessions in Harden-Murrumburrah and Christmas Crafternoon workshops across Hilltops Libraries, each inviting families and individuals to take time out for slow, shared, hands-on creativity.

In 2026, I will briefly revisit this practice through a new series of children’s community Sunday Crafternoons, developed and co-facilitated with my now-grown daughter.