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Julia's October 2020 Stencil Release - To All A Good Night!

 

Wow - where did 2020 go? As much as I don't like how time flies faster with each passing year, I must say I'm eager to celebrate the conclusion of 2020. And what better way to usher it out than with a merry holiday party (or two or three!) loaded with special Christmas cookies?!

To help you hasten 2020's departure and stock your cookie larder for the season, I've got just the stencil release for you this month. Called "To All A Good Night", it's a cozy fireplace mantel scene that can be decked with stockings, gifts, evergreen garland, and even a darling reindeer statuette - all the trimmings to make Santa feel extra welcome when he descends the chimney this year!

Here's what the release looks like in a nutshell:

New OCTOBER 2020 Stencils

And where can one find all of these festive stencils? Glad you asked! Just click on these links:

Also, heads up! My partner and I recently started to once again sell the background stencils in my sets separately from all the other stuff. (My partner unbundled my sets when I first launched, but then stopped doing so for a while . . .) Anywho, if you're feeling at all intimidated by the full sets, then a solo background stencil might be just the thing to ease you into my layered designs. All of my background stencils can be found here, and the background stencil corresponding to this particular release (aka Holiday Parlor Background Stencil) can be found here. Use of that stencil alone will create a look something like what you see immediately below. (I over-piped the ornaments, and added a gold dragée atop the tree and some pixie dust on it, but, otherwise, what you see is the background stencil largely unadulterated!)

BACKGrOUND ALONE MORE CONTEXT SEQUENCE1

You could leave this cookie as is, or add your own sweet embellishments to the fireplace, mantel, or wall. In fact, in a bit, I'll be adding some do-dads made with this month's Duos™ sets. But first . . .

Don't forget my Stencil of the Month Club! If you love my stencils, then why not get them automatically sent to you each month at great savings? YES, 20% savings is what my club can do for you! Each month at that terrific low price, 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:

SOM FINAL CORRECTED IMAGEBORDER TRUE FINAL

Pretty neat, eh? To learn more about the club or to sign up, just click here.

This month, I've decided to preface my usual in-depth discussion of the background and message and frame sets with a video showing several of the design variations possible with these two sets. If, after viewing the video below, you still have any questions about how I did things or what's possible, then, by all means, read my detailed explanations below. Now, for that video! (Be sure to listen to the end for a message from a surprise visitor!)

Still got an appetite for more info about how these sets work? Then, let's proceed to the details of this month's background set! First, a look at what it contains . . .

To All A Good Night Dynamic DuosTM Background Set (10 pieces)
Background REdo BORDER

With these ten pieces, you can make myriad designs - literally so many that no two need look alike. To show you what I mean, let's start by layering a single foreground element (the evergreen garland) onto the cookie shown above made with just the background stencil . . .

BACKGROUND ALONE WITH GARLAND SEQUENCE 2 MORE CONTEXT

Too plain? I thought so, so I pushed the garland lower on the mantel and added a set of gifts perched on top . . .

BACKGROUND ALONE WITH GARLAND AND GIFTS SEQUENCE 4

Wondering how it's so easy for me to move around design elements?! Simple - with the exception of the tree and mantel, the other two elements are pre-shaped fondant appliqués - i.e., thinly rolled and airbrushed pieces of fondant that are then painstakingly trimmed and air-dried until rigid. Until I commit appliqués to a cookie with royal icing "glue", they can be shuffled around indefinitely to help settle on the best possible layout. While appliqués can be a little time-consuming to make, I absolutely love the flexibility that they bring to the design process, not to mention their added dimensionality! (Pssst! I still thought the above layout was a bit too spare, so I shuffled some more using messages and frames in the other set, as you'll see in a bit.)

But first, here's another design with the two stockings and reindeer airbrushed and stenciled directly on the cookie . . .

Deer on Mantel No Mess SQ NICE

However, I felt the void to the right of the mantel needed some filling, so in came more fondant appliqués. First, another green garland to break up the browns in the mantel . . .

deer stockings lower garland sequence no mess nice VErt

Or maybe the garland would look better hanging off the crown molding up top? . . .

Deer with garland no mess NICE SERIES

Or what about some green gift packages instead!

Deer with Stock and gift sq no mess sequence

Oh, so many options; so hard to decide! On a side note, this stencil set is particularly amenable to over-piping. Note how I added dimension to the trees by piping over the baubles with royal icing. More interest was also added to the stockings and gifts by piping teeny defining dots on top. I could even see piping a delicate garland on the tree, but I drew the line at mini gold stars (from Wilton) and iridescent pixie dust. In the right light, the tree truly sparkles!

I imagine you know how much I love that Corner Plaque cutter used on all of the cookies to this point! (After all, I do use it A LOT.) Let there be no love lost, but these sets are especially suited to taller cookie shapes, such as the one below, that really show off the full extent of the Christmas tree!

Fireplace gifts more context nice sq no mess

Note that the mantel on the above cookie is also a fondant appliqué, as I wanted to give it extra height. It also allows an added garland appliqué to truly hang off of it. See how the garland is seemingly suspended in air here . . .

TREE GIFTS GARLAND SQ FOR QUAD CORRECTED

And, before we leave this section, just a quick zoom-in on the tree so you can see how I used the stencil as a guideline for over-piping the ornaments. Once dry, the ornaments were also given additional sheen with a sheer painting of corn syrup commingled with pixie dust!

WHITE TREE DETAIL NICE

As you probably know by now, I'm a more-is-more person. It should then come as no surprise that I think the designs get exponentially more interesting as one starts to layer in messages and frames from the second complementary set. So let's segue into that very set!

To All A Good Night Dynamic DuosTM Message and Frame Set (8 pieces)Message ContentsBORDER

It's got eight pieces, three of which are individual masks for each of the letters in "JOY".

Let's start with the basics of adding a message to one of the cookies at the very top of this post. "Deck the Halls" fills that righthand void rather nicely, I think!

BACKGROUND ALONE WITH GARLAND GIFT AND DECK MESS SEQUENCE 5 ALL MORE CONTEXT

But, hey, so does "NOEL"!

BACKGROUND ALONE WITH GARLANDGIFT AND NOEL MESS SEQUENCE 6

But wait! I think I like this re-shuffling of the same three foreground elements even better!

BACKGROUND GARLAND GIF BOTTOM SQ SEQUENCE 8

"NOEL" looks equally nice on this stocking-studded and deer-topped mantel . . .

Deer with Swag with Green NOEL SEQUENCE 1

And let's not forget how great these elements look on taller cookie shapes . . .

DUO WITH MESSSMALL

In the examples on the Corner Plaque-cut cookies (before this last image), all of the messages were separate fondant appliqués. But in the side-by-side image above and the close-ups of those cookies (below), all of the message and frames were airbrushed and stenciled directly on the cookies. In so doing, these elements recede into the background a bit more, allowing the garland and layered gift box elements to take center stage.

IMG_2740DECK THE HALLS GIFTS BOTTOM FOR DUO VERTNOEL SQUARE MORE CONTEXT BRIGHTER

Just to underscore this same point, consider the image below. The message/frame on the left is a fondant appliqué and the garland is airbrushed/stenciled directly on the cookie, whereas, in the righthand image, exactly the opposite is the case. Just by elevating the appliqué on the former cookie, the message/frame becomes a more prominent focal point.

Dueling

And, last but not least, my favorite cookie of the bunch! The letters "J", "O", and "Y" could surely have been airbrushed and stenciled directly on the cookie, but, by making them as separate fondant appliqués and "stringing" them on an extruded fondant cord, I brought more movement and dimension to the cookie.

JOY SWAG TRANSFER PLATE NICEBRIGHTER

Here's a closer look . . .

IMG_2818JOY DETAILBRIGHTER

And with the following "recap" image and summary of key links, I bid you "all a good night" until next month's release! Happy stenciling!

IMG_2857FULL CLOSERLOGO

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.

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!

Attachments

Images (26)
  • Julia's October 2020 Stencil Release - To All A Good Night!: Cookies and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencils Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Julia's October 2020 Stencil Release in a Nutshell!: Cookies and Photos by Julia M Usher; Stencils Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Background Stencil on Its Own!: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Julia's October 2020 Stencil of the Month Club Offering: Stencils Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils; Graphic Design by Confection Couture Stencils
  • To All A Good Night Background Set Contents: Stencils Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils; Graphic Design by Confection Couture Stencils
  • Background Stencil with Fondant Evergreen Garland: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Background Stencil with Two Foreground Elements: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Background Stencil with Directly-Airbrushed Reindeer and Stockings: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Additional Fondant Appliqué Lends Dimension: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Additional Fondant Appliqué in Another Spot!: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Gifts Instead of Garland!: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Background Set Looking Great on Tall Cookie: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Additional Fondant Appliqué Adorns Mantel: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Christmas Tree Close-up: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • To All A Good Night Message and Frame Set Contents: Stencils Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils; Graphic Design by Confection Couture Stencils
  • "Deck the Halls" Message as Fondant Appliqué: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • "NOEL" Fondant Appliqué Instead!: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Reshuffled Fondant Elements!: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • "NOEL" Hanging over Another Mantel!: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Taller Cookies with Messages: Cookies and Photos by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Cookie Close-up: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Another Cookie Close-up with "NOEL" Message: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Dueling "Deck the Halls" Cookies!: Cookies and Photos by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • My Favorite with "JOY" Message: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • "JOY" Message Details: Cookie and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils
  • Cookie Recap - Wishing All A Good Night!: Cookies and Photo by Julia M Usher; Stencil Designed by Julia M Usher with Confection Couture Stencils

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Comments (10)

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Oh, what a beautiful set!!!! Live Christmas and all it implies! This is a gorgeous set, dear Julia!👏👏👏♥️

Thanks so much, Heather!

I have been wanting to try one of your sets for several months but have been a little intimidated. This set has pushed me past that and I’m going to give it a try. I was hoping you could say where the cutter that isn’t linked is from. I have several 4” plaque cutters but I’m afraid they won’t be wide enough.  I have the stencils and the corner plaque in my cart and ready to go. I absolutely love this set.

I have been wanting to try one of your sets for several months but have been a little intimidated. This set has pushed me past that and I’m going to give it a try. I was hoping you could say where the cutter that isn’t linked is from. I have several 4” plaque cutters but I’m afraid they won’t be wide enough.  I have the stencils and the corner plaque in my cart and ready to go. I absolutely love this set.

Go for it - even if you don't have my exact cutters, the stencils work on almost any shape (it's fun to capture just a portion of the image on some cookies, as this lends some interest and variety to a set.) The long plaque came from a site on Etsy that I believe is in Ukraine; here's the link: https://www.etsy.com/listing/2...ter?ref=yr_purchases

Have fun!

@Kanch J posted:

Absolutely gorgeous set. ❤💚

Thanks - they are so easy to do too. Quite a relief from the hours spent on some of my 3-D projects (which I am working on now).

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