This week we are treating you to a visit to Edinburgh, Scotland to meet Madeleine Clark of Maddy Moo Design.We are sure you will enjoy getting to know her as you feast your eyes on her pretty paintings, crafty cards and terrific toys. You will also discover her accessories and bags. Quite a talent and we think you will agree! Madeleine gets her inspiration from the Edinburgh parks, amazing architecture and fantastic people.Please enjoy the interview, leave Madeleine a comment, and then use the Share Tools so others can read it, too. Please spread the Zibbet Love!
I live and work in Edinburgh, Scotland. I’ve always wanted to do something creative with my life; painting, crafting, sewing, photos and writing are all passions (not all ones that I’m very skilled at!) That’s why I’m so happy to have a forum to share my work and passion with so many other like-minded people.I’m quite newly married (2 very happy years) and still coming to terms with trying to be a good wife! Luckily I also love cooking and baking, which helps cover up my other faults!I wish I could work only as a crafter and artist, but luckily I have a job in the arts – working in a box office at a theatre in Edinburgh to keep me going (and to fund all the bits and pieces I have to buy for my crafting). It gives me a great opportunity to watch lots of amazing productions and get lots of inspiration.
I love animals and nature so this obviously comes in to my work a great deal. In the theatre I see a lot of dance, and beautiful stage designs and scenery and I think some of this has seeped into my work. I love colour, most of what I do is very bold and vibrant. I try to keep it alive and bright– but also quite simple.I’ve also been learning so much from other Zibbiters, and have been very inspired by all the beautiful work on display. Every time I look at other people’s work I realize there is a new skill to learn!I look up to everyone who is brave enough to put themselves on the line for their creativity. As well as great artists, everyone who creates something with real love opens themselves up to the people they show it to – and everyone on this site does this on a daily basis. It is very inspiring. 
More personally I look up to my sister enormously. She is a wonderfully creative person and she has been really supportive of me trying to pursue my dreams, as well as creating my website for me. I hope I can make her proud, and help her as much in the future!I love animals, and have 2 very beautiful cats I’m a bit fanatical about! One day I would love to move to the country and run an animal sanctuary (with a workshop attached for my crafts of course!)What has struck me most about Zibbet is how very friendly and welcoming it is. I recently joined the ‘Zibbet community’, and received a lovely warm welcome from everyone. All the members on Zibbet are so eager to help other Zibbiters, and give lots of great advice and assistance. 
One of the other great things about Zibbet is how good it is at keeping everyone informed of changes and how good it is at updating, and the interest they take in members’ ideas for changes.Most of Zibbet is fantastic, and as it’s constantly updating most of what needs to be done is done as soon as I think of it! However it would be nice to have a tool for seeing what items have been added to wish lists by other people (anonymously) to see what is most popular – the item stats are very useful but don’t always give an accurate picture.I will readily admit that promotion is one of the things I struggle with the most. I give out a lot of business cards and make sure I put my website and details on all of my work, but I struggle with putting myself forward. I’ve found most of my sales early on came purely from word of mouth but I am making a concerted effort to make more use of all the online tools available, and here again other Zibbeters give great advice. I am now on Twitter, and I’ve just been told about Pinterest which I just started to use, in the meantime I do a lot of promotion through Facebook and I find Craft Fairs a really helpful way of making yourself known.
I would definitely recommend that all Zibbiters join Zibbet Community, as well as being a great way to meet other Zibbeters it is also a fabulous resource. There are so many great people willing to share their experiences and expertise, and it’s great for getting some feedback on your items. Also make sure you put up as many photos and tags of all your items as possible!Happy with my husband and cats, and still crafting and painting! My dream would be to be able to support myself with my crafting (and of course to run my sanctuary!)Tags: Featured Zibbeters, Maddy Moo Design
