My most treasured stencil applied to my kitchen blind.
I, like you, have spent many days in lockdown and although I am stitching and designing every day, I needed something else! How do I know this? I caught myself ironing all my newly washed dusters because they would love lovely on the scullery shelves… Time to break out the stencils again. I have added some simple lavender stems to the newly painted sideboard as just little details. These stencils came from Annie Sloan and are very simple to use.
I remember quite clearly the first time I had a go at stencilling, and it was a complete disaster. I was very pregnant with Lou, who is thirty three as I write, and I had bought a stencil for her nursery. I quickly learnt the golden rule – less is more…
By this I mean not too many stencils and much less paint than you think on the brush. Since that day I have had lots of fun adding the occasional decorative twiddle about the place, but my absolute favourite is the stencil on our current roller blinds in the kitchen.
This stencil is now over 30 years old and was originally cut from the design on a glorious piece of Warner fabric, sadly no longer available. Before we had our current kitchen made for us, this pattern was applied to the fan cover above the Rayburn and I loved it.
Lavender sprigs on the sideboard 
A muffin tin is my colour mixing tip 
