Holiday Snow Globe Kit

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in my Kitchen Club! This month’s release, simply called my Holiday Snow Globe kit, shakes up the traditional snow globe cookie (pun fully intended) with some very festive designs! This winter wonderland-themed stencil-and-cutter kit contains all of the tools needed to make layered snow globe cookies that, even when laying flat, leap off the plate with surprising dimensionality. With stencils for gingerbread houses (three styles), reindeer, and a veritable forest of trees, this kit allows you to create countless snow globe vignettes, each one as charming as the next.

Kit Contents

As always, this release comes in various permutations to suit your time and budget. The basic kit bundle (shown below) includes one snow globe cutter and the background stencil sets in my previously released Reindeer Wrap and Gingerbread Village Dynamic Duos™ stencil sets.

By contrast, the deluxe kit bundle includes two more cutters and an extra message/frame stencil set to lend even more variety to your holiday cookies.

As always, both kits are also offered with or without my instructional video, which comes with a 35-page handout (!) loaded to the hilt with inspiration images, recipes, links to sources, and technique tips that often extend beyond the video. Here’s a glimpse of that handout’s cover . . .

And here’s a sneak peek video that provides a good overview of what you’ll learn if you purchase the full-length tutorial. In short, I cover about 13 techniques, which are universal in nature, meaning they can be applied not just to these snow globe designs, but to just about any cookie!

But that’s not all! There’s another unexpected highlight to this release. Though both kit variations contain one or more tall snow globe cutter(s), the cutters are also available in a shorter set of three (see below). And, of course, you can buy the stencils and cutters separately, which is especially great if you purchased the kit stencils when they were first released. How’s that for flexibility?!

So that’s what you get in my kit, but you may be wondering what exactly you can make with it, which is a nice segue into this next section . . .

Design Possibilities

As noted in my last release post, one of the key features of my kits is the interchangeability of their stencil elements, which allows you to create countless designs with a relatively small number of tools. Here, I show just a few options, but I think they’ll convince you of the range of possibilities.

Let me start first with cookies that can be made with the basic kit, that is, without the message/frame stencil set in the deluxe kit. Pictured below is the cookie I actually made live in the instructional video. It makes use of tree stencils in both the Reindeer Wrap and Gingerbread Village background stencil sets, and a house stencil and overlay from the latter set.

This cookie is very similar to the one above except that the house is missing its chimney smoke and facing the other direction. It’s also sans modeling chocolate bow at its base. So, overall, it’s a little quicker to decorate.

In this variation, I create a distinctly more woodsy vibe just by changing the icing color from green to brown and using a reindeer instead of a house stencil element . . .

In this last variation, the “All is Calm” message is made with the message/frame set in the deluxe kit. What a nice sentiment to set on someone’s dessert plate! I could also envision turning these cookies into full-fledged place cards. Just leave the frames without stenciled messages, and then handwrite or pipe guests’ names inside the frames instead.

These cookies also combine to make wonderful winter platter displays, especially when presented on a bed of granulated sugar . . .

And why not stand the cookies on end, and turn a simple platter into a spectacular 3-D centerpiece?! What fun to have so many cookie design and presentation possibilities!

Here’s a slightly closer view so you can better appreciate the details . . .

You may have noticed that I relied heavily on one of my signature decorating techniques  – fondant appliqués – to embellish these cookies. That’s because these small bits lend themselves extremely well to layering, resulting in wonderfully dimensional vignettes. Of course, you could decorate the snow globes in so many other ways. An all-icing approach with layered royal icing transfers would be enchanting as well.

Okay, okay, I realize that I just dumped a flurry of information on you (pun intended, once again ), so I’ll stop while I’m still ahead to let you digest it all. Of course, if you have any questions about anything, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below or to email me at sweetlife@juliausher.com.

If, on the other hand, you’re ready to try your hand at this cute Christmas project, I’ve provided all of the key purchase links below along with more info about the benefits of joining my Kitchen Club. Enjoy!

Club Membership and Benefits

Just like my stencil designs, my club is designed to give you lots of flexibility. You can buy my kits on occasion, or you can opt into my club to get great savings on my kits and other products on my partner’s site as long as you continue purchasing kits. Here’s how it works:

1. To opt into Julia’s Kitchen Club and become an active member, simply purchase any kit bundle offered at the time of each release. (Releases will come five times per year.) Purchasing a kit enrolls you in the club’s active member list and gives you all of the associated membership benefits listed directly below.
2. As an active club member, you will automatically be notified of upcoming kit releases and be able to pre-order future kits at an exclusive discount prior to anyone else! If you decide to pass on a kit selection, you will still have a chance to buy future kits and rejoin the club, but you will not get the pre-order option or the exclusive pre-order discount until you rejoin.
3. Active club members will also receive a 15% discount on any stencil or cookie cutter on Confection Couture Stencils’ site, not just my products.
4. You will remain an active club member until you pass on a kit offering. At the time of each release, it’s your choice as to whether you would like to stay active or opt out.

As mentioned earlier, you can also unbundle the kits if you only want a subset of the items in them. For instance, the stencils and cutters can be bought separately on my partner’s site, and the instructional video can also be bought under the “VIDEO TUTORIALS” section of this site.

Where to Sign Up and Shop

• JOIN MY CLUB FOR SAVINGS ON ALL KITS
• PURCHASE DELUXE HOLIDAY SNOW GLOBE KIT (without instructional video; a video option is here too)
• PURCHASE BASIC HOLIDAY SNOW GLOBE KIT (without instructional video; a video option is here too)
• PURCHASE TALL SNOW GLOBE CUTTERS
• PURCHASE SHORT SNOW GLOBE CUTTERS
• PURCHASE INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO ONLY (for both Holiday Snow Globe deluxe and basic kits)

Please note that my partner Confection Couture Stencils handles all order fulfillment for my stencils, cutters, and kits, so all such questions should be directed to them at service@confectioncouturestencils.com.

Wishing you a very merry season of cookie decorating!