I didn’t even know that my Skylar’s Lace stencil from Royal Design Studio was being used in Better Homes and Gardens Do it Yourself magazine, but fortunately a kind customer alerted me! After striking out at several different stores, I finally came across the Spring 2011 issue at my local Barnes and Noble this past weekend.

This is perfect timing because I wanted to spend a few posts sharing some other floor projects, new “carpet” designs, and other assorted info related to painting and decorating floors. The article, aptly entitled “Eye Candy”, features this fabulous lace pattern done in a bold turquoise and white color combo. As the article points out, you can stencil all KINDS of floors, whether they be wood, concrete, primed vinyl, or canvas floorcloths. This version was done using a gloss finish blue with the white paint added with a stencil roller. Easy peasy!

There was actually a great DIY project done recently by fab artist and photographer Ashley Ann of Under the Sycamore that was INSPIRED by the original Skylar’s Lace stencil project that we completed in Marrakech. She details out the process for painting and stenciling on a plywood subfloor. Even though she was inspired by my floor , she didn’t use the stencil. . I actually love the stencil that she created herself, though, and of course it looks fabulous in gray and white!

Skylar’s lace continues to get a lot of attention (around the world!) and it will also be featured soon in some more magazines, YEAH! To celebrate all this Skylar’s Lace LUV we are doing a Facebook Fan Flash Sale for 24 hours only offering this very popular, intricate design at a very sweet price. Ready, set, and GO here to find out more!

I am super excited that the upcoming Design Bloggers Conference will be held in Los Angeles (Feb28-March1)! It’s a quick drive up the coast from San Diego, which makes it affordable and POSSIBLE for me to go. I’m really looking forward to hearing and learning from the design blogging pros, networking, and socializing with some blogging friends!

They offered registered attendess a chance to guest post on their blog, and so I sent off a little bit about little old  me, and WOW  there I am!! Anyone else going??!

WooHoo!! Royal Design Studio is sponsoring a stencil giveaway over on the lovely Made by Girl Blog!

Head on over there and get all the details and follow the directions for the chance to win a FREE stencil of YOUR choice, valued up to $50. The drawing will be held February 18, so leave your entry comment SOON! Jen has featured some of our latest stencil designs, such as…..

Our new Large Marrakech Trellis stencil,

our modern, graphic Endless Circle Lattice stencil,

and our new Uzbek Suzani allover stencil. You may recognize this last design, as it was first done here on my first painting adventure to Marrakesh at Peacock Pavilions. For that project, we used very large Modello masking stencils. My friend Debbie Hayes later used the same design in an elegant brown and gold bathroom shown here. This new mylar stencil is a bit scaled down from that but it’s still quite a grand size and makes a fabulous bold statement, I think!

Besides running the very popular Made by Girl blog, Jen also has an online Made by Girl store where she sells her original (and very clever) artwork on posters, canvases, and cards.

I particularly love the typography posters where she highlights letters to spell names and sayings. I would just like to say thank you to Jen for hooking us, and YOU, up with this fun giveaway. Good luck everyone!!!

Besides my old friend Kermit, the color green reminds me of fresh cut Summer grass, the new buds of Spring (it WILL come eventually), verdant forests, and fresh beginnings.

The color green is also featured as an interior design trend on this recent post from The Colour Lovers blog! Perfect timing, then, to share these new allover stencil designs imagined in inspiring shades of nature’s favorite color: green!

This Moroccan-inspired stencil is called Chez Sheik-3071. It is available in two sizes (large shown here) and makes quite a statement on a “bed wall”, don’t you think?

The allover Chain Link Stencil-3086 is super clean and contemporary. It keeps you “going around in circles” the best possible way! We’ve been busy creating a whole flurry of new stencil patterns over at Royal Design Studio. I’d love to know what you think about these new patterns! There are lots more in the works….

Now, you probably have guessed that I’m not a “huge” fan of wallpaper, but these designs, colors, and images from Claire Coles Design are just TOO sweet and unique not to share!

Claire takes hand-sourced vintage wallpapers, embellishes them with silk and leather embroidery, and layers them on the surface to create one-of-a-kind installations. LOVE!! Makes me want to grab a pair of scissors! How about you???

Have you heard of Papaya? 

If you haven’t, you’ve surely seen their colorful array of products including cards, giclee prints, journals, totes, etc. Their style, which layers whimsical imagery, global cultural influences, decorative pattern, and inspiring typography is QUITE recognizable and memorable. Creative abandon, indeed!

You might note that I feel a strong creative kinship with the ladies of this company if you notice HOW PERFECT this imagery looks on THIS blog, LOL!

So, you can imagine my delight that they chose to use Royal Design Studio stencils from my Moroccan stencil collection in their current trade show booth.

I love how the graphic black and white pattern “grounds” the space, provides continuity, and provides the perfect compliment to their colorful product mix!

Note the shift from black on white to white on black to help distinguish the different product lines. Brilliant!

You can keep track of the goings on of this talented team of ladies, led by Anahata Katkin, at the Papaya Blog. The yare currently in the process of designing and decorating their new flagship shop in Ashland, Oregon  (a Lux Boho Boutique), where another one of the Moroccan stencil patterns will be used on a 23′ high ceiling. I’m DYING to see that and only wish that Ashland was closer to San Diego.

P.S. Coincindently, I just saw some Papaya art feature on my friend Angela’s new blog. Check out THIS lovely and inspiring post!

I am in the process of planning yet another (my fourth!) Moroccan painting adventure to Peacock Pavilions in late October, 2011, so thought to revisit the results of our last trip where we focused on a VERY fun fabric stenciling project: turning an ordinary canvas tent into a special space for dining, dreaming, and entertaining.

The inspiration for the series of Moroccan stencils based on class Fez-style embroidery that I developed for this project came from this lovely book. The graphic patterns seemed to just beg to be translated into stencils! So, I created a whole series of designs that could be mixed and matched and layers in different ways, depending on the needs of the project. We didn’t get a chance to see the tent “all dressed up” while we were there, but could imagine all the possibilities that can arise from a basic black and white color color palette. You can see how Maryam has been able to style and decorate the tent in multiple, beautiful ways and various color schemes.

Such as the beautiful Moroccan blue colors this post….

…my favorite pink accent color in this post…

 …and your basic, elegant black in this post . So chis! Note the stenciled paper placemats! What a fun idea!!

All stencils are from our Moroccan stencil collection at Royal Design Studio.

Stay tuned for my next post, where I will show you this same series of stencil patterns used to create an amazing backdrop for a most deliciously colorful product display….

 We’ve been getting lots of  lovely links and mentions. It’s just SO cool and SO appreciated! I am a little late in getting this posted, as usual, but what the hey!!

Two weeks ago Regina at Fauxology ran a wonderful weeklong series on Groin Ceiling Decoration. She was so sweet to devote one whole day to how Modello Designs decorative masking stencils have been used in amazing groin projects, and I was happy to share the talents of our customers!

Emily at Good with Style did a post on Moroccan stencils and organic poofs and created this lovely montage of the stencil project that we did for a dining tent in Marrakech last May.

Savvy Housekeeping shared how inexpensive it can be to get the look of Moroccan tile in a bathroom with stencils from our Moroccan Collection.

Soul Pretty has Morocco on her mind as well, and just purchased one of our stencils to decorate the wall behind her bed. Looking forward to seeing that! Meanwhile, she has a delightful Etsy shop as well!

Danielle at Style Files is “loving” the idea of stenciling stair risers with Moroccan patterns, as we did on another Marrakech painting adventure to Peacock Pavilions. Lots of people seem to be loving this lately. I think we started something!!

Darling Kelly at Back to Domestics mused that stencils are SO more creative and economical than wallpaper. I couldn’t agree more!

And, it’s a Fauxology bookend! One of our very bestest customer couples at Modello Designs, Anna and Scott Sadler, were featured last week on Fauxology along with some great shots of amazing interior projects that they had done with……you guessed it! Modello patterns! Thanks to all for the mentions AND the backlinks!!

I was recently contacted by a long lost customer of Royal Design Studio stencils who is now in the real estate biz. Seems that one of HER customers had a stack of stencils in their home and were looking to find them a new home. Would I like to make an offer. Ummmmm, YEAH!

I have no idea what they are “worth”, but they were worth something to me, so I am now the proud owner of a series of vintage brass stencils (apparently found in an old lighting factory in Michigan). The patterns are really unique, and some will work their way in to new stencil designs from Royal Design Studio. My main thought, though, is to transform them into some special wall art. I am open to suggestions…..

What do your favorite colors say about you?

Me? My ”go to” colors are black and shades of blue (bluebell, pool, and night). Do your favorite colors reflect YOUR personality?

Click here to access a large, readable version from the Paper Source blog.