Our Story

Craftaways has been a lovely team effort, created by us with much thought and we hope you love it!

As a student, Jodie was drawn to the world of art and design but surprisingly didn’t head down that career path. As we all know, life gives us twists and turns and Jodie’s life went in other directions. Work and travelling during her 20’s and then being a single mother to her son in her 30’s and some years after that she was blessed to meet her wonderful partner too. Only six months after meeting Ian, she was diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia in January 2008. Not one to let this hiccup rule her life, she went through the process of treatment with a determined mind to get life back to normal quickly. But as the months went on, she came to realise that her life had altered. Obviously physically, as her body was still healing from the ravages of blood cancer treatment but she discovered her mindset had also changed dramatically. Blood cancer gave her a gift and she now saw life so differently. She now wanted to find things that made her happy and fulfilled.

A couple of years later, she stumbled across papercraft by chance, attending a workshop hosted by a former workmate. Her love of creativity was reborn and indeed started a revolution in her heart. She is delighted that lady is still one of her dearest crafty friends! Over the past 10 years, her creativity has expanded in many directions, sometimes much to Ian’s horror, as yet another workspace is needed! However, the one constant amongst this, is the joy of doing what she loves with like-minded people. The friendships she has formed, the places creativity has taken her to, the myriad of people met has been so very wonderful. And so, back to the idea of the retreat, Ian and Jodie wanted to give this same experience of kinship to others. The idea for Craftaways was born and the Mornington Peninsula was the place to do this. Jodie’s family has lived here since 1855 and their love of the Peninsula has never diminished.

Our hope is that you will love visiting here and spending time at our welcoming retreat. We aim to provide a diverse range of creative workshops for guests to enjoy and participate in, and host groups of friends who love nothing more than a good Craftaway!

Craftaways Creative Retreat is a place for people to gather and immerse themselves in the activity they love.  Whether it be craft, meditation, art, yoga, writing…. just love what you do and try something different, to enrich your life. 

Ian and Jodie