Stencil It : 101 Ideas to Decorate Your Home

Stencil It is a celebration of this endlessly creative craft form, which has been used for centuries to decorate interiors. Helen Morris, founder of The Stencil Library and a recognized authority on the subject, shares her inventiveness, techniques and enthusiasm, presenting some of her favorite ideas for stenciling everything from walls, floors, and furniture, to fabric, paper, and cakes. The book includes 20 new stencil designs, specially-created by Helen and her husband, designer Michael Chippendale.

The Stencil Library, founded in 1988, boasts a catalog of more than 4,000 stencils and an ever-changing showroom in the form of its spectacular headquarters in Northumberland, England. Over the years Helen and Michael have developed a wide range of designs, techniques, and media, successfully stenciling materials such as glass, mirror, concrete, fabric, wood, plaster, paint, and paper.

In Stencil It, Helen demonstrates some of these techniques and illustrates the stunning effects that can be achieved. Using a range of different paints, as well as crayon, metallic leaf, varnish, and plasterwork to create a textured finish, she presents a collection of diverse projects for every surface in your home. In themed chapters -- "Flowers & Foliage," "Figurative," "Birds & Beasts," and "Architectural & Decorative Details" -- there are trailing leaves and falling blossoms, letters to spell out words and stars that can be applied in endless patterns, pretty butterflies and cute dogs, as well as signature decorative details from different periods and countries.

In addition to demonstrating the practical application of the stencils to a wide range of surfaces using different media, Helen illustrates how each stencil can be used in different configurations, sizes, or colorways to create dramatically different looks.

There are 20 specially commissioned stencil templates included with the projects and all the other designs featured are available from The Stencil Library.