Julia's December Stencil Release - Forget Me Not!

Ooh, what a perfectly divine confluence of events! Here I am in the midst of one of my favorite cookie seasons of the year, writing about my other favorite cookie time - Valentine's Day! Yes, this month, I'm releasing sets inspired by vintage Valentines - in particular, the lush, lacy, layered lovelies (say that three times fast! ) that hark from the Victorian era. Anything layered is great source material for my stencil sets, since they too get their luxurious depth and dimension from layering.  

Inspiration aside, here's a photo overview of my December release:

• Forget Me Not Dynamic Duos^TM Background Set (upper left),
• Forget Me Not Dynamic Duos^TM Message and Frame Set (combined with the Duos^TM background set; upper right),
• My partner Confection Couture's Victorian Valentines Cupid Accent Stencil (lower right), and
• Chrysanthemum Dynamic Duos^TM Set (my first Duos^TM release from a year ago).

And, remember, there are many other already-released Valentine's Day stencils, designed by me and Confection Couture Stencils, all on Confection Couture Stencils' site. Just click here to see them. 

Now . . . if you're in my Stencil of the Month Club, this month you'll get both my Forget Me Not Dynamic Duos^TM Background Set and Confection Couture's Victorian Valentines Cupid Accent Stencil. (Isn't he just adorable?!). This specially curated bundle is worth $22.99, but Club members get it for only $14.99! Plus, as long as you stay a member, you also get 15% off anything else on the Confection Couture site! In a single snapshot, here's what this month's Club offering looks like:

If you're not a Club member and want to be - or if you would like to gift a Club membership to a friend for Christmas (there's still time before the big day to shop! ) - simply sign up here!

Now, as always, let's start with an overview of the background set and its contents.

Forget Me Not Dynamic Duos^TM Background Set (6 pieces)

I should preface what you're about to see by saying that I will be releasing a video in a few weeks that shows exactly how I made many of these cookies - and not just by applying the stencils directly to the cookie icing! Here, I've applied them to four different things - the cookie icing itself (as usual), wafer paper, royal icing transfers, and fondant appliqués.

In the first example below, I made the large ruffle by airbrushing the central lace element on the background stencil onto wafer paper. I then cut it out and gathered it into pleats after softening it with a mist of water. Additionally, I airbrushed the roses in the foreground floral bouquets onto wafer paper using AmeriMist Deep Pink and Maroon. Next, I trimmed them into various sized pieces, and then "glued" those pieces together to create dimensional flowers, which you see tucked among the royal icing roses along the edge of the ruffle.

In the next example, I airbrushed the small floral bouquet on the foreground stencil onto thin sheets of fondant, trimmed out a couple of them, and allowed them to dry overnight. I then attached them to the cookie along with royal icing roses and some of the wafer paper roses just described.

Both of the above examples used the background stencil directly on the cookie icing, but they look pretty darn different, right?! In the first heart, I simply airbrushed with AmeriMist Bronze coloring directly onto pink icing. Whereas in the second case, I did the same thing except on white icing and then additionally dusted various parts of the pattern with three colors - pink, dusty blue, and yellow!

And, here's yet another variation . . . for the blue cookie at the bottom, I made a fondant appliqué using the large floral bouquet on the foreground stencil, and then accented it with a few tiny piped roses.

As you can see, the design possibilities are mind-boggling, and I haven't even used the complementary message and frame set yet . . . which brings me to its contents . . .

Forget Me Not Dynamic Duos^TM Message and Frame Set (7 pieces)

It's another four-message (and frame) wonder, so you can imagine the permutations that are possible! Below, I show "be mine" in use, along with a couple of different frames. You can, of course, do something rather simple, like this first example:

Here, I airbrushed both floral elements on the foreground stencil directly onto the cookie icing, and them turned "be mine" and the round frame into a fondant appliqué. I like how the slight elevation of the appliqué puts increased emphasis on the message!

Now . . . if you're a more-is-more person like me, you can go all out, adding layer upon layer, as I did here:

This cookie uses both message and floral fondant appliqués, as well as two new elements not yet seen in this post - airbrushed wafer paper hearts (the blue ones) and a dimensional royal icing heart transfer (in pink)! The latter heart transfer uses the small heart in the background set, whereas the "be mine" heart transfer in the background (upper right) uses the larger heart frame in the message and frame set.

And that completes this month's release post! There are so many ways to go with these Forget Me Not sets . . . but one this is certain: whichever design path you choose, your Valentine cookie is sure to make your sweetheart swoon!  

P.S. Don't forget to stay tuned for the instructional video for these sets, coming in a few weeks.

• To purchase my Dynamic Duos^TM sets, click here.
• To join my Stencil of the Month Club, click here.
• To see my entire stencil line, including my Prettier Plaques^TM 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, please don't hesitate to email me at sweetlife@juliausher.com or to 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!