I just created a post over at Just A Trace’s blog, showing the how-to of my latest stencil adventure. Check it out!
Stencil In Action!
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Tag Archives: Patterns
Mother’s Day
Recently, a stencil customer told me a sweet story. She purchased a wall stencil from me, hoping to add some flair to her small apartment. Her parents came to visit soon thereafter, and while they were in town, they helped her stencil a wall in her living room. The time together, working on a project, was a welcome bonding time for the three, who haven’t been able to spend time alone together in quite awhile. After the wall was finished, her mom offered to use the stencil to create coordinating pillows! Now, when she looks at the wall, she not only enjoys the color it added to her apartment, she has a weekend of memories too. I love it!
My mother and I have always had a special bond over doing “stuff” together. It’s how we communicate, how we spend time together, how we have grown closer over the years. The things we have painted, sewn, constructed, sawed, hammered, and glued have bonded us with sweet memories. She’s taught me so much, and I credit her with my tendency to dig in and try new things. I love you, Mom.
In honor of my mom, and in honor of families creating memories through doing “stuff” together, I am offering 25% the purchase of any stencil, now through Mother’s Day (May 8). Click here to go to the store, and use coupon code LUVMOM2011.
Grab your loved ones and do stuff! As always, I’d love to hear about it when you’re finished. I can’t wait to see what you do.
Stencil In Action
Look at what Jackie did! Using the Pop Dangle stencil, she stenciled a pattern on this wall in her home. I love the alternating colors she used, and I really like the black picture frames against that patterned background. Great work!
Do you have a stencil success story? Email me!
New Year, New Things
Happy New Year! Seems like the first few days of 2011 have been really eventful already (some good, some really quite bad). I am really excited about starting afresh and seeing what this year will bring to us all.
Most of you know, I am due to POP any minute now, so I had expected the first two or three months of 2011 to be on the slow side… However, the wall stencils have been so well-received, I’ve been working! Seems Little One is happy where he is, so I am shipping, ordering, designing my fingers off (and couldn’t be happier). But if I disappear for a week or so, you know what happened. I’ll be back as soon as I can.
I enjoyed decorating my son’s room, and have yet another cornice to photograph and show soon (would you believe I actually sewed something?). There are a couple finishing touches to be done in the room, but as soon as they are complete, expect photos!
A new client this week said she was going to stencil her wall, and then use the same stencil on some pillows. LOVE IT! I hope she sends pics.
Another new friend said she would be using a small stencil to decorate a cake. A cake! I hope she sends pics. And a slice. Have to make sure the stencil worked, in person, of course. 
This year, I expect the DIY world to have an even stronger boost than it did last year. The latest buzz I’m hearing is that, with the economy slowly on the upswing, decorating your own home is a more than welcome way to create the environment you want and save those precious pennies. There are so many great products out there that will give your home the polish of professional[-looking] decor without the hefty price tag. Or without looking like a craft fair from 1992 (remember those?).
With that in mind, might I suggest stenciling something? 
Also, check out Design Hole’s recent post on stenciling walls. Choose your own paint, your own pattern, your own theme, your own technique, and GO! And if you mess up, paint it, and try again. Very economical, and un-scary for the DIY decorator.
SALE Extended! Happy Holidays to YOU!
I’ve changed my mind. I get to do that, you know. I’ve decided to extend the Grand Opening Sale thru December. Why? Because I like you. And because I know many of you are still trying to decide which stencil you want AND that the holidays are a terrible time to rush that process. So let’s just take it a month further, shall we? Enjoy!
In case you’ve forgotten or missed it the first time, here’s the deal:
GRAND OPENING SALE!
How would you like a 40% rebate on your most recent stencil order?
I thought you might be interested.
Here’s how it works:
Buy a stencil and use it somewhere. Apply for the rebate using the form link below. Tell me about yourself, the stencil you used, and where you used it. Upload a picture (or five) of your work. I’ll send back 40% of your purchase price. No kidding. That’s pretty much it.
Not bad, eh?
A few terms and conditions:
- Pictures must be at least 800×600 (bigger is better), and taken with a digital camera, not a cell phone camera.
- At least one picture must include the whole project, not just a portion of it. You can upload up to five pictures, so feel free to send different angles and portions of your project, so long as at least one picture is the whole thing.
- By taking advantage of this offer, you agree to let me use your name (first name and last initial only), your location (state only) and your review for promotional purposes. If you have a website, I would be more than happy to link back to you.
- One rebate per household/business.
- Rebates come back to you via PayPal, no exceptions.
- This offer applies only to stencils purchased until December 31, 2010. Photo(s) and information must be submitted before February 28, 2011.
- Rebate will be given only upon approval of submitted photos and information. I reserve the right to refuse this rebate based on unacceptable, unusable, or incomplete images and/or information.
- Email confirmation of rebate will be initiated within 10 days of receipt of acceptable photo(s) and information.
- Custom stencil orders will receive a 15% rebate.
- Does not apply to wholesale orders.
Ready to go? Fill out the form here.
Libby Unwin Designs Featured in Better Homes & Gardens DIY Magazine!
I was shocked and honored when Alluminare contacted me and told me my patterns were featured in Better Homes And Gardens’ quarterly publication, Do It Yourself.
I am so incredibly humbled and grateful for the coverage and want to thank the editors and Better Homes And Gardens for including my patterns along with the amazing designs from Khristian Howell. I love the way they used the patterns!
You can find all the looks featured in Better Homes And Gardens at Alluminare.com
(I’d also like to point out that they used wall stencils to decorate this room!)
And The Winner Is…
Billy Hobbs of Rogers, Arkansas! Billy won the Alluminare Design Challenge on Home Workshop! Congratulations, Billy!
Here is his winning pattern:
And this is how Christopher Lowell described it:
Depending on color choice, this could easily go from organic to pop art. Its range is calm and sensual or upbeat and highly graphic depending on chosen contrasts. I like its non-gender specific attitude. Its flow and movement give it a contained animation. Its soft, pod-in-water-like suggestion could integrate well into both global-organic modern, traditional and pop or young and hip spaces.
Billy will now be inducted into the league of World Class Designers on Alluminare.com. He also won a $300 gift certificate toward any of Alluminare’s fabulous products.
The runners-up were: Renata Rubim, Maria Cheek and Nicky Martin. Congratulations to all!
In light of recent developments, this post has changed to congratulate a new winner. I stand by Homeworkshop.com’s decision to adjust the outcome.
Alluminare Design Challenge
I am pleased, honored, thrilled, and completely beside myself with excitement at having been invited to be a judge in the Alluminare Design Challenge on Homeworkshop.com. 475 delicious patterns were submitted from around the world, and the one and only Mr. Christopher Lowell has narrowed them down to ten finalists. Keep an eye on Homeworkshop.com — within the next week, voting will begin and another designer will be inducted to the World Class Designers of Alluminare.com! Good luck to all!
New Pattern: Venice
While traveling through Venice last month, I was struck by the Islamic influence on the city’s architecture. Such lovely peaks and curves, so unique to that culture.
Today, I made a pattern from the doodles I did on the train from Venice to Florence. Introducing “Venice.”
Talk to me if you’d like to use this pattern somewhere.
Offline Mondays
I don’t know about you, but my weekends are often just an extension of my work week. While I might not be working, per se, there are tasks that assume their place on Saturday and Sunday, leaving very little room for anything else. Having a home means keeping up with said home, and that includes laundry, mopping, dishes, grocery shopping, etc. These tasks have to be done through rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
I decided about a month ago to declare Mondays “Offline Mondays”. I know an independent artist who works in a cafe/pub on Friday afternoons, and another who is completely offline on Fridays. Now that I’ve tried it, I am convinced this is the way I must do things. Here’s why I love it:
- When I’m online, I often have about 5 tabs in Firefox open, Illustrator and Photoshop running, and a handful of chat windows asking for replies. Being the obsessive consummate multitasker, I actually enjoy this environment. Tons to do, flying a mile-a-minute through windows and screens and programs, making it all happen. Offline Mondays, sans computer, I am able to let my brain stop and breathe, and after about 11:00 on Monday morning, ideas I’ve been packing into the back of my mind begin to gingerly emerge. Baby ideas that aren’t strong enough to demand attention while I’m multitasking. It’s quite exciting, actually. I wouldn’t get to that part of my brain if I didn’t stop and let it happen.
- I usually work on the weekend. Often I am timing loads of laundry with chunks of time for project management or creating patterns. Again, being a multitasker, I enjoy the challenge of a long to-do list and seemingly not enough time to finish it. I’m just not convinced it’s the best way for me to do things every day of the week.
- I. Need. To. Draw. And I need my eyes for this. I need my hands. Being online requires both my eyes and my hands, so I don’t have a lot of focused creative time while I’m online. My creativity and drawing have soared since the advent of Offline Mondays.
- My brain is so addicted to multitasking that if it’s not doing fifty-seven things at once, it starts to invent things to take up all that extra thinking room. When I step away from the computer, all that extra thinking room is available for new ideas, new plans, thinking through past half-ideas, and making coherent thoughts into plans. It’s like running through a field of flowers I’ve never seen. I wake up Tuesday full of plans, hope, resolve, and usually a handful of sketches. That takes focused time, time that is hard to come by at my desk.
- Yesterday, I planted blueberries and grapes in my garden. On a weekday. When everyone else was working. But while I was planting, I was able to mull over a couple business ideas I’ve been ping-ponging around lately, and actually have a more cohesive plan. And I’ll have fresh fruit in a few weeks to boot!
Of course my crackberry is on the ottoman in front of me, and if someone needs something, I’m right there. But generally, Monday is the day the whole world is putting their head back on straight after a relaxing weekend, so I rarely have emergency calls.
Try it! Just once. Give yourself, your creativity, your brain some time to itself. I think you’ll be surprised at what the break will do for you.