Q: Tell us about your family and pets.
I married Tim, my childhood sweetheart, in 1978 - we met when I was 14 and he was 22. Married when I was 21. We now own the farm which he was born and raised on. It is a fantastic place and the absolute best place to bring up our 10 children. It is a fairly isolated and remote part of the Outer Pelorus Sounds which are a beautiful area at the very top of New Zealand's South Island. Our farm is the most north western bay - basically in Cook Strait - which separates the two main islands. Our children range in age from 27 to 4 years. Six girls and 4 boys. All very busy, industrious and creative people. I love to watch each one emerge and discover their own artistic gifts. Jesika 27, is very talented in the cooking department, she caters for her homestay guests and produces exquisite meals. She also sews beautifully and plays piano, flute and sax and is developing a beautiful garden. She is our tourist manager - you can see more about us all here: www.portligar.co.nz.  Sunniva 25, was very talented with words and camera but she has now moved on into the business world and is quite an entrepreneur. Catriona 24, is always creating - building wonderful things from interesting woods, developing gardens, her latest project is a 28' yacht. Brianna 18, is a very talented musician, she pretty much can play any instrument she picks up. She is also a builder. Shoshannah 9, loves to make cards and alter books. She is eternally messy but very arty. Mahalia 6, likes to give it all a go too but lives a tad in Shannie's shadow - something that I have to be very aware of as she gets older. Both girls love to make things and have spent hours creating doll houses from boxes etc. My boy Anson 21, is a shearer.  We had a big woolshed party to commemorate that auspicious event. Sebastian 16, 6'6" of  muscle, he is keen on mechanics and engineering - welding is his latest interest. Nathan 11 going on 30 - a very bright and pedantic young lad, loves to help his Dad on the farm and has usually got something ticking over in his brain department - at the moment it is going on tramps (hikes) about NZ with his father and anyone else who might want to tag along. And last, but definitely not least - Azzan 4, the cutest, cuddliest and extremely tactile wee man.

I personally do not have any pets. However the children all have various animals coming and going, at the moment in the menagerie we have 2 very old cats, 3 gold fish, 4 or 5 pigeons (they are breeding so I cannot keep up with the numbers) 3 chooks - one broody and hopefully hatching eggs soon, 5 budgies, 1 cockatiel , several farm dogs, 3 pigs of various sizes and colours, and a multitude of sheep, goats and cattle on the farm.

Q: Tell us about your childhood, where you grew up, and when your
creativity began.
I grew up on farms around Marlborough, NZ. My father was a farm manager and then when I was 8 my parents bought property in a small town and became more sedentary. My Dad was a shearer and an orchardist so we were always encouraged to work alongside him. We were taught good work ethics - something which I have instilled in my brood. My parents grew all our own veggies and fruits and my mother cooked and sewed our clothes because she had to. Back then it was too expensive to buy clothes. She also played piano and insisted that we learnt too. Mum was from an era where they all embroidered, knitted, crocheted etc. so she taught me all these skills. She never claimed to be artistic though because at school she couldn't draw or paint so was always chosen to be the model!!  My creative skills have grown over the years, from sewing for my own older children because I loved to, to embroidering, knitting, patchwork, quilting, and then on to rubber stamping and now collage and journal making. Looking back I have realized that my style has always been collagey. I never enjoyed following patterns and in all the crafts I have usually made my own designs. My artistic nature was slowly evolving without me realizing it. In fact it is only within the past year that I have become comfortable with calling myself an artist and enjoying breaking out of the confines I had constricted myself with.

Q: To what do you attribute your talents and what inspires you?
All of my talents are God-given and I am inspired by my surroundings and family. I am truly blessed to be able to live in such a beautiful place. I came here to stay in 1978 and I have never wanted to leave - weeeelllll, maybe once, but not really :-)

Q: How did you find PWA?
Bridget sent me a card with these funny wee things on it and I was curious as to what they were so she told me to join up and find out for myself.

Suzanne Glazier, owner of Pennywise Arts is pictured on the left with Raewyn.

Q: When did you begin stamping?
Back in 1999 when I was pregnant with Mahalia. I took some of the children into town to a art and craft school holiday programme. The lady running it was teaching them Pergamano. She was very enthusiastic and offered to come down to our place for a weekend and show me some stuff. Unbeknownst to me she was an avid rampant stamper! That was the beginning of the end - or the beginning!! I actually had seen stamps at an arts weekend in 1996 and had bought a couple and some embossing powder and an ink pad. But had done nothing with them. After that, well, I was hooked. Now I have a huge collection of stamps and art equipment. I was totally obsessed for a while but I have learnt to pace my passion with the rest of my life, balance is very important to me and if I go for days without being in my corner I don't fret too much. But when I do get there I tend to be very prolific.

Q: What is your favourite stamping technique?
I don't actually have any one particular thing. I have fun making backgrounds. I have back ground binges - shaving cream, serviettes, brayering, torn paper, peeling paint, you name it I will experiment. My preferred overall style is collage and it really depends on the mood as to whether I am leaning towards cute or arty or whatever.

Q: Do you have any other hobbies or interests, besides Stamping?
I have home educated all of my children and I am very passionate about that. It has been a major part of my life and I have played a reasonably prominent role in home education circles here in NZ but I now feel rather grandmotherly so I am not so involved. Reading would be my other main interest. I am never too far from a book and I certainly cannot go to sleep without at least reading one or two pages!! I am very involved with several international art groups and we do a lot of round robin type altered books and journals which I am really enjoying - they are really extending me. My patchwork is just on hold, I keep telling myself that one day I will get my machine out and finish the quilts I packed away when the stamping bug bit!

Q: Will you show us some pictures of your stamp/craft room?
I have a corner of our living room. It recently got shifted from one side of the room to the other. Much better now as it makes more living space and yet still gives me plenty of room for all my gear. I prefer not to have a separate room as I like to be amongst the family while I am working. My 23 yr old daughter built my cupboard when we shifted everything. It is so good to have it - am now just waiting for some doors - they may take a while cause she has to suss out the right wood or find some 2nd hand ones that will do the job!! I love being on the north side as I get the afternoon sun pouring in on me at this time of year and in the summer it skips across higher so I won't get too hot.