Hello! It's once again time for my monthly stencil release, and I've got two sweet sets that I've been teasing you with for a while now! Yes, I'm releasing an adaptation of the bakery-themed Dynamic Duos™ sets that I originally custom-designed for a girl's bat mitzvah back in March! As a reminder, here are some snapshots of the kids' cookies made with those sets at that event:
Some pretty proficient young decorators, eh?! Anywho, when I posted these and some other event photos back in March, I received an overwhelming number of requests to release these sets to the public. And so, after some tweaking of foreground elements and messages and frames, I give you these aptly called "Live Sweetly" sets - and more!
Referencing the picture above, you'll see that this month's release includes three new sets/stencils and one reminder:
- Live Sweetly Dynamic Duos™ Background Set (upper left),
- Live Sweetly Dynamic Duos™ Message and Frame Set (combined with the Duos™ background set; upper right),
- My partner Confection Couture's Bake-Stir-Sprinkle Accent Stencil (lower right), and for that reminder . . .
- Summer Picnic Prettier Plaques™ Set (though this set was first released a couple of years ago, I think its picnic/food theme and color palette tie in nicely with my new Live Sweetly sets
).
And what do Stencil of the Month Club members get this month?! Glad you asked! You'll get both my Live Sweetly Dynamic Duos™ Background Set and Confection Couture's Bake-Stir-Sprinkle Accent Stencil. 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 picture, this is what Club members will get:
Pretty tasty, huh? (Sorry, I can't resist the food metaphors this month! 
)
Now, onto what's in the background set. It's extra loaded! I know, I know, I say this almost every time I release a new set, but my background sets truly do keep getting bigger and bigger (better too)! In addition to having five (versus the usual two or three) foreground elements (i.e., cupcakes, mixing bowl with rolling pin, cherry-topped mini cake, plate of macarons, and sugar and flour bins), it's got an entire extra stencil (the first Swiss dot "background").
Live Sweetly Dynamic DuosTM Background Set (9 pieces)
I usually apply the dot background as an overlay as the very last step, but I'll talk more about this process at the end of this post. First, a glimpse of some of the many design possibilities provided by just the background set . . .
Note that the basket on the green plate is actually open at the top, allowing a few "croissants" and "macarons" to fit (barely) inside. I made it by stenciling just the basket element of the background stencil onto a thin sheet of fondant. I then cut around the basket, shaped the cut fondant piece into an arc, and let it dry until firm. The sugar canister is also dimensional, but made an entirely different way. In that case, I sprayed the canister onto paper to create a piping template. I then covered that template with acetate, and piped over the canister with white royal icing to create a transfer. Once that transfer was dry, I airbrushed it using the canister on the foreground stencil. Hopefully, the above cookie gives you a taste (oops - another food metaphor ) of how many different ways these stencils can be used.
Here's a closer view . . .
As for how I made the cute little macarons and croissants (and the challah, French bread, rolling pins, pies, and tarts . . .) that add ever more detail and dimension, hang tight! I'll be releasing a video in July where I demo all of those embellishments, and another one that shows exactly how I used these sets to create these cookies!
Here's another variation with both canisters stenciled directly onto the cookie, and a little "egg" atop a mound of "flour" . . .
The "egg yolk" is a teeny royal icing transfer, and the "egg white" is piping gel, which remains shiny for quite a long time. The "flour" is powdered sugar that was "glued" onto the cookie with thick white royal icing.
Yet another variation with a directly stenciled macaron pedestal-platter . . .
And some more sneak peeks of the teeny royal icing embellishments that I'll cover in my upcoming video . . .
Now, let's see how the messages and frames look with all of the background and foreground elements! But first, an overview of what's in that set . . .
Live Sweetly Dynamic DuosTM Message and Frame Set (7 pieces)
As always, you can airbrush-stencil the messages and frames directly onto cookies, as shown below . . .
Or you can make fun, dimensional fondant plaques with them, much as I made the shaped basket at the start of the post (except that I kept the plaques flat)!
And another with a fondant plaque . . .
Now, let's get back to that dot overlay, the extra stencil in the background set. I think it lends nice textural interest to the background of the cookie, especially when airbrushed in a relatively light color. Here's an example of what I mean . . .
Since my foreground elements are all very saturated, it's much easier to apply the relatively pale dots after everything else has been stenciled onto the cookie (as opposed to laying the dot stencil earlier and masking off areas to allow room for things like the cupcakes and message/frame shown above). I simply set the dot stencil atop the cookie and carefully sprayed, avoiding any areas that were already airbrushed. And, if I had oversprayed and gotten pink on any of the darker elements, it wouldn't have been the end of the world. In fact, you probably wouldn't even see it!
And here's a closer view of this cookie, which uses at least one element on every stencil in both sets! It was a tight fit, but I am pleased with the result!
And that's all she wrote, as they say! I've covered several ways to use this month's sets, but if you have any questions, never hesitate to ask.
Before I sign off 'til next month, here's my usual recap of key links:
- 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.
Again, 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!
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