I had the pleasure of meeting Debbie Travis this week at a preview of the new line of Christmas ornaments she has designed for Canadian Tire (more on those later – it’s a bit hot to think about Christmas right now.)

While talking about trends, and the revival of interest in some of the faux paint techniques she so famously introduced to North America in the 90s, she noted the rise of the “MIY” movement – that is, Make It Yourself. Apparently that’s the new buzzword all over the U.K., and refers to folks who wants to exercise their creativity by hand-crafting decor items or applying one-of-a-kind paint treatments to a wall.

For once, I’m in pace with the trend – I’m currently planning to use a six-foot stencil of a redwood cedar on a wall of my cottage in Benjamin Moore’s gorgeous Canyon Red (see post below!)  I’ll share pics of this project later - I think it’s going to be a fun way to add visual interest without spending a bomb on original art.

If you want some inspiration for make it yourself projects, check out Curbly,  an online community where members share design ideas and advice. They have a great little book out, called Mid-Century Modern, that has some clever, easy-to-execute ideas.