lovelysweetwilliam interview

I'm down under with my latest creative interview and it’s a bit of a sister partnership so a big G’Day and welcome to Shelley Gardner, in New Zealand and Paula Mills, in Australia. Both sisters share a passion for all things creative, make, draw, sew, collect lots of lovely sweet things and drink endless cups of tea!!!

I just want to thank both ladies for taking the time in their very busy schedule to answer my questions and allow me to include images of their work. So, here they are:-

How would your friends describe you in five words!!

Funny, quirky, prayerful, eclectic, creative

What's your daily routine when creating

Make sure the kids are well taken care of! Music, phone off the hook, no urgent appointments and a lovely cup of tea. Once time and space is set up, Paula will doodle with her black ink pen and Shelley will pull out all her fabric and get excited about a new project.

What's been your greatest achievement

Shelley: Building a new house second time in a row!

Paula: Moving to Melbourne and establishing an illustration career.

Tidy or messy worker  -  messy!

What's your plan for 2011

Extending our range of products to include wrapping paper, cards and other paper goods. We also have discovered some lovely new craft markets and we want to be more involved with those. Shelley hopes to join Paula in Melbourne for a sister's crafty, creative week!

Did you ever consider other types of jobs

Shelley works as an educator at the Museum of Wellington, City and Sea

Where would you love to be right now and why

We would love to be with each other and our brother, Myles. He lives in Ireland so we would be there and be celebrating his birthday with him and having an Irish jig together.

What's your own favourite piece of work

Shelley: The Motherhood Dolls - based on the Madonna and baby icon. Carefully combined different fabrics, some vintage, some new and appliqued together to make this heart shaped doll. She is then embellished with wool, sequins, beads, pom-poms and embroidery.   Paula: Any new artwork I am currently creating!

Any advice for Ziggy? The grass is not always greener on the other side!

Thank you Paula and Shelley - I’m hoping to be in Australia in the near future so I'll have to pop in and treat Paula to a cuppa (sorry Shelley - you too if you are there LOL!) and a wee piece of cake as appreciation for answering all my questions.


Lovely Sweet William links: -
http://lovelysweetwilliam.blogspot.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/lovelysweetwilliam
http://www.madeit.com.au/sweetwilliam