Around the World in 365 Days: A Year of Global DIYs for Paint and Pattern Blogzine

I took a DIY trip to almost every continent in 2014! Not Antarctica yet – there’s not much home decor influence there. Unless you have an ice hotel. So how did this “travel” happen? Every month I made globally-inspired DIY projects for Paint and Pattern blogzine. So after a year, there’s a whole collection of ideas.

Some projects were shared here, but not all. These projects might give you ideas for DIY gifts to make for the holidays (for family, friends OR yourself!), so here are links to all of them. Because these were written for Paint and Pattern, they all involve paint and stencils. Click the photos below to get how-to steps and helpful tips …

French Country Tea Towels

With Chalk Paint™ by Annie Sloan and a French motif stencil, you can turn blank tea towels into decorative towels:

FLeur De Lis Coasters

Get some 4×4 tiles from a tile or home improvement store, add a stencil or two with paint and you have a personalized coaster gift that’s perfect for coffee, tea or wine lovers:

Behind scenes story: For a photo prop (and convenient wine drinking excuse) for the photo above, I went to the wine shop in search of a bottle. But it couldn’t be any ol’ bottle. So I examined all bottles carefully. After awhile an employee offered to help. I said I was “looking for a bottle with French words and a pretty label.” He backed away slowly. Like maybe the wine stupidity could be contagious. I wanted to say, wait wait, I am not simple, I DO know about wine! But that day, I grabbed a bottle that had just the right blue on a not-trendy label.

Otomi Tote Bag

With stencils and paint, you can turn a blank tote bag from the craft store into a colorful Otomi patterned bag:

Obi Table Runner

Inspired by the long rectangular fabric obi that are worn as a sort of belt with kimono, I used Japanese medallion stencils to make a table runner:

Florentine Tray Side Table

With a big candlestick, wood disks, a stencil, gold leaf and paint, I made a little side table. It’s way easier than you think! Check out how to do it:

Moroccan Medallion Tabletop

After years of living with a plain glass tabletop, I transformed it with a rich gold and black Moroccan medallion:

Old Faded Wall Stencil

I used Indian stencils with a white and light Scandinavian feel, and made them look faded and old. See the technique to do this:

TURKISH MEDALLION ANTIQUE MIRROR

You can make an “antique” mirror with an inexpensive picture frame and glass, Krylon Looking Glass spray paint and stencils. Find out how to do it:

African Tribal Pattern Lamp

This is one of my very favorite DIY projects ever! A dramatic lamp made with stencils and paint:

Chinese Style Stenciled Box

Here’s a DIY that looks like a souvenir you might have picked up in Shanghai. But you didn’t because you can paint this Chinese style box and install the special Chinese style hardware right in your home:

ETched Glass Bottles

For the first time ever I etched glass,to make Fourth of July themed lemonade bottles:

American Country Chicken Tracks Door Mat

You can paint any ol’ flat door mat from a store to give it your own personal touch. I gave chicken tracks to my door mat:

Indian Jali-Inspired Wall Art

With scrapbook paper, paint and stencils, you can make wall art layered with patterns:

Italian Terra Cotta Wall Art

I was inspired by Tuscan terra cotta garden pots from Impruneta, Italy to make this wall art with raised stencil effect:

Sari-Inspired Door

Here I painted and stenciled a door with Royal Design Studio’s shimmery Stencil Cremes, which look like silk. I used stencil patterns arranged to look like a sari:

Indian-Moroccan Closet Nook

This was an epic project, still in progress! There are more teal color pillows to make, a lantern from Marrakech to hang. I turned an unused guest room closet into an Indian-Moroccan nook for reading, napping, or even working if you can bring yourself to work in this space. It was easy with paint and stencils:

Indian Stenciled Silk Fabric

Not only are the walls and the front of the nook painted, so is the silk bench cushion:

Craft Caddy

Finally, to help cart around all the supplies for these projects, I hacked some Ikea items to make a craft caddy:

Whew! It was a productive year. Believe it or not, I’m still full of ideas for things to make in the future!