Hello friends, it is Leslie here with my latest Color Me Pretty series. This time around I got really inspired by navy, straw, salmon, a little lemon, a little wood and denim.

These colors work well together in clothing and I found myself tearing out images from the early summer catalogs of J.Crew, Madewell and Noa Noa to include in my mood boards.

Don’t you think clothing catalogs can be a treasure trove for ideas about color and texture? We have seen how fashion can inspire interior design projects but it can also inspire much smaller projects, like how you wrap a present or combine papers for your next collage.

With navy it seems to be all about stripes, in fashion, on my Japanese bowls, striped ribbon from New York. I just had to paint some for you, as I like how watercolor can make stripes look even fresher, if that is possible!

Once I started doodling with the navy paint I had a hard time stopping and after the stripes I ended up writing with my paint brush, painting patterns on envelopes and decorating plain paper fans. I can imagine that a few hand painted fans on a wall would be really pretty. Painting fans is also a fun project with kids as my daughter and her friend loved painting their own too. I picked up the plain uncoated paper fans in LA's Chinatown for a dollar or so each. The paper was pretty thick and a good surface for the watercolor paint.

Some of my stripe patterns got cut into squares and made into stapled quilts for my corkboard. I saw pieces of paper stapled together like this at an Anthropologie store near my home. I thought it was a great idea to show you as you could make something similar for your walls or for a card with little bits of paper or with photographs.

Finally, I wanted to show you how these colors even inspire my desk. I love looking at ever changing little boxes and rolls of tapes. The wooden dispensers from Uguisu are a constant, as is the beautiful card-file from lovelydesign and the artwork. I framed a series of small prints by Catherine Campbell of My Folk Lover together to form a grid so that I could view all of them all of the time.

I hope you found something today that may inspire a creative project for you. Please enjoy the rest of August and I will see you back here next month. - Leslie

- - - - - Psst: If you'd like to see more lovely inspirations from Leslie and her Color Me Pretty column, please refer to this page to view gorgeous color palettes to inspire you today!

- - - - -

Like what you see? If you'd like to learn how to create your own moodboards and learn how to style your own photos for your blog, Leslie is co-teaching Blogging Your Way, an online self-paced class along with me next month for 4 weeks where you will learn all of this and more. To enroll (hurry space is limited!), you may click here. Class is for all levels and you DO NOT need a blog to participate in this class  but it would be helpful if you started one during the class so you can start applying your newfound education! :)

(images: leslie shewring)