Afternoon! I have a bride who is going with a strong red and white wedding theme, although she likes this imprint idea for one of the tiers of her cake. I have tried looking at the photo and am having difficult determining what teh cake decorator did to achieve this look. Is a mat that has been embossed and then brushed with dust? Was it hand painted? Any suggestions on this technique would

Where is the picture?

 That looks like brush embroidery to me:

 http://www.cakecentral.com/gallery/i/3353904/nautical-lace

check this link from a cake in the gallery.  It looks a bit like your pic.