Even though I'm accustomed to designing stencils months ahead of their intended season, even I can't believe that I'm releasing Halloween stencils this month! Where, oh where, has this year gone? It's hard to account for all of the time that's passed since virus lockdowns began in March, but, here we are, just a couple of months away from trick-or-treating season and one of the biggest cookie occasions of the year!
Fortunately, Halloween conjures up all sorts of stencil design ideas for me, and so, this year, I'm bringing you not one, but TWO Halloween Dynamic Duos™ sets - this spooky mantel scene, called Home Spooky Home, being the first. (The second set will release next month.)
As always, my monthly Duos™ release is accompanied by a single stencil designed by my partner Confection Couture Stencils, as well as a reminder of one of my favorite past sets that relates to the same theme. This handy graphic shows all of these things in one spot:
And where might you buy these stencils? That's easy! Just click on these links:
- Home Spooky Home Dynamic Duos™ Background Set (upper left),
- Home Spooky Home Dynamic Duos™ Message and Frame Set (combined with the Duos™ background set; upper right),
- My partner Confection Couture Stencils' Web of Spiders Background Stencil (lower right), and my fave past Halloween set . . .
- Along Came a Spider Dynamic Duos™ Set.
Now, you could purchase my sets just as they come out, one at a time, or you could join my Stencil of the Month Club and get them automatically sent to you each month at great savings - typically 20% off normal retail price. If you opt for the latter, you'll receive a specially curated set of stencils that always includes the month's Duos™ background set and the single stencil designed by my partner. For instance, this month, club members will get . . .
Pretty spook-tacular, eh? For more information or to sign up for my club, click here.
Now, onto my usual exploration of this month's Dynamic Duos™ release, starting first with the background set. Here's what it includes:
Home Spooky Home Dynamic DuosTM Background Set (8 pieces)
And, here are just a couple of designs that can be made with these eight pieces:
Both of the cookies above are about as simple as they get: only the background stencil and one foreground element (the poison bottle) are in use. Below is a closer view of the one with green poison!
I lightly applied alcohol-based Spectrum Flow Black (which is lighter than most water-based black colorings) to create the grey spiderwebs; then I used AmeriMist Super Black for the spiders and fireplace on all of the cookies shown in this post. The slight coloring twists that appear from cookie to cookie are achieved by airbrushing various permutations of AmeriMist Orange, Electric Green, and a custom mix of Violet and Electric Purple (about 1:1) on the various foreground elements.
Now, if you're like me insofar as being a more-is-more person, then, by all means, feel free to apply more foreground elements. On the cookies below, I introduced the crows and more poison bottles in more colors. Many of these elements are also fondant appliqués, which are raised above the surface of the cookie to create added dimension. (See last month's release post for a mini tutorial about how to make fondant appliqués.)
Below are other variations of the slender and chubby plaque cookies (shown above), but with the foreground elements arranged in different ways.
Hopefully, you're beginning to get a sense of the countless designs possible with just this one set - and I've only used the crow and poison bottle from the foreground stencil. I haven't even touched the big spider, jack-o-lanterns, and witch hat! But have no fear - I show them in some of the designs that follow along with messages and frames from the second part of this Duos™ design!
Speaking of that second part, here it is in its six-piece glory . . .
Home Spooky Home Dynamic DuosTM Message and Frame Set (6 pieces)
Below is a sampling of cookies in a dominantly orange-and-black theme, which uses a few of these messages and frames, as well as the jack-o-lanterns from the first set . . .
Now, for a closer look at the cookie with pumpkins . . .
Even closer . . .
Of course, this post wouldn't be complete without zooming in on this set's namesake message, "Home Spooky Home" . . .
Nor would it be complete without changing up the traditional orange-and-black Halloween palette a bit. These sets do equally well with other Halloween colors, like shocking purple and green . . .
The witch hat also looks super cute in purple. To create a layered effect, I airbrushed one hat directly on the cookie and then turned the other into a dimensional fondant appliqué.
In the cookie below, I not only made the poison bottles as fondant appliqués, I also did the same with the mantel, which allowed me to extend it beyond the cookie edges. That unexpected detail adds an extra surprise factor - and who doesn't love a good surprise on Halloween?! 
Now, I could share photo upon photo of cookie variations (as I've done in past releases), but I thought I'd shock and surprise you with another Halloween twist: two videos! If a picture speaks a thousand words, a video must speak a few million - at least. In the first video below, I show how I go about building design variations simply by shuffling around foreground elements . . .
And, in this video, I share an even wider array of spook-tacular designs all set to eerie Halloween music!
With that, I conclude this month's release. I hope you enjoy these designs. Please remember to show me what you conjure up with them! I'd love to see!
- To purchase my Dynamic Duos™ sets, click here.
- To join my Stencil of the Month Club, click here.
- To see my entire stencil line, including my Prettier Plaques™ sets, click here.
- To view my videos that show how to create layered looks with my stencil sets, click here.
If you have any technical questions about these stencils, just email me at sweetlife@juliausher.com or leave a comment below. Please, however, direct all ordering and Club questions to my stencil partner, Confection Couture Stencils, at service@confectioncouturestencils.com. Thank you!
Comments (3)