Lilies of Summer

Most importantly...credits...and lots of them!!! First of all, many thanks to you dear Christine @Sweet Prodigy for creating this challenge. And thank you for all the wonderful resources that helped me learn so much about how to make realistic flowers out of fondant/gumpaste/modeling chocolate. I watched countless videos!! This challenge was a push I badly needed to get out of my comfort zone and do something totally different . (Hopefully, I've followed all the rules...)

Julia's @Julia M. Usher incredible botanical series was a huge inspiration to me. This particular cookie design (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra6bJraZgnw) grabbed my interest big time. But, I absolutely LOVE them all...such genius! Thank you dear Julia ❤️.

In the vein of lilies, I found the following video by Wilton (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwYS8gb0s_A) as a guideline for making the royal icing lilies. Mine aren't nearly as well done and I made a LOT of them!! The ones here are the best of the bunch but I have much to learn...

As I was airbrushing the dark blue onto the large placque cookie I was reminded of Noriko's incredible work @mintlemonade (cookie crumbs)! Noriko often uses deep saturation of color for her backgrounds. I've always loved the look and couldn't help but smile as she came to mind. Lastly, when our daughter got married she wanted her primary flowers to be Calla Lilies. I love that flower for its simple elegance.

Calla lilies are probably one of the "easiest" of the gumpaste flowers to make. At least it looked the easiest. HaHa . I had a few bumps along the way but was happy with the result overall.

I guess that's about it in terms of credits and inspiration. LOL. You CAN find inspiration in so many places! 

Here are several pics that are close ups of the center cookie, a side view of the center cookie to see the dimension, the 2 side cookies alone, and one extra cookie where I used up the other calla lily that I thought turned out pretty well.  Whew.

Hugs everyone...❤️❤️❤️

Lovely, Carol. I really like the saturated blue background too, and how it makes that flower arrangement pop!

@Cookies Fantastique posted:

Most importantly...credits...and lots of them!!! First of all, many thanks to you dear Christine @Sweet Prodigy for creating this challenge. And thank you for all the wonderful resources that helped me learn so much about how to make realistic flowers out of fondant/gumpaste/modeling chocolate. I watched countless videos!! This challenge was a push I badly needed to get out of my comfort zone and do something totally different . (Hopefully, I've followed all the rules...)

Julia's @Julia M. Usher incredible botanical series was a huge inspiration to me. This particular cookie design (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra6bJraZgnw) grabbed my interest big time. But, I absolutely LOVE them all...such genius! Thank you dear Julia ❤️.

In the vein of lilies, I found the following video by Wilton (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwYS8gb0s_A) as a guideline for making the royal icing lilies. Mine aren't nearly as well done and I made a LOT of them!! The ones here are the best of the bunch but I have much to learn...

As I was airbrushing the dark blue onto the large placque cookie I was reminded of Noriko's incredible work @mintlemonade (cookie crumbs)! Noriko often uses deep saturation of color for her backgrounds. I've always loved the look and couldn't help but smile as she came to mind. Lastly, when our daughter got married she wanted her primary flowers to be Calla Lilies. I love that flower for its simple elegance.

Calla lilies are probably one of the "easiest" of the gumpaste flowers to make. At least it looked the easiest. HaHa . I had a few bumps along the way but was happy with the result overall.

I guess that's about it in terms of credits and inspiration. LOL. You CAN find inspiration in so many places! 

Here are several pics that are close ups of the center cookie, a side view of the center cookie to see the dimension, the 2 side cookies alone, and one extra cookie where I used up the other calla lily that I thought turned out pretty well.  Whew.

Hugs everyone...❤️❤️❤️

Oh, was I longing to see your work of art, dear Carol! They are so beautiful! Each flower is stunning and I love the transparency of the little ones in wafer with the pearl.The deep blue background just makes it all pop out, but the smaller one with the white is so pretty too. All of your flowers are so well executed, as well as the big leaf at the back. Extraordinary work, my dear friend!♥️

@Julia M. Usher posted:

Lovely, Carol. I really like the saturated blue background too, and how it makes that flower arrangement pop!

Thank you so very much Julia! This was lots of fun ❤️❤️

@Heather Bruce Sosa posted:

Oh, was I longing to see your work of art, dear Carol! They are so beautiful! Each flower is stunning and I love the transparency of the little ones in wafer with the pearl.The deep blue background just makes it all pop out, but the smaller one with the white is so pretty too. All of your flowers are so well executed, as well as the big leaf at the back. Extraordinary work, my dear friend!♥️

Oh you are always so incredibly sweet dear Heather @Heather Bruce Sosa!! Thank you for the kind words and your constant encouragement . Wafer paper is not my favorite medium for making flowers which is why I rarely use it. But it worked well for this particular arrangement, I thought. Thanks again...stay safe and well ❤️❤️

Oh Carol, what a Splendor!! The harmonizing cookies, the colors and the pretty details are simply great and elegant my dear cookie friend!! Great, great job dear Carol!! I also really like the individual pictures! @Cookies Fantastique ❤️😘

Beautiful lilies and beautiful choice of colors 

Beautiful Carol!  It's a work of art with so many lovely details.  And your colors are gorgeous. That saturated blue is stunning.  Very well done! ❤️

@Icingsugarkeks posted:

Oh Carol, what a Splendor!! The harmonizing cookies, the colors and the pretty details are simply great and elegant my dear cookie friend!! Great, great job dear Carol!! I also really like the individual pictures! @Cookies Fantastique ❤️😘

Oh what a sweet comment Gabi @Icingsugarkeks!! Thank you so very much my friend. These were fun to make...quite a challenge as I'm not as familiar with working in gumpaste/fondant/modeling chocolate to this extent. Lots and lots of mistakes here but what a great learning process. I hope you are well my dear. Congrats on your spotlight for the adorable mouse cookie you made. I loved it as did many, many others. ❤️❤️❤️ Hugs...

@sylviawilson posted:

Beautiful lilies and beautiful choice of colors 

Thank you so very much dear sylvia @sylviawilson! It most kind of you to comment . These were fun to make...very challenging and so outside my typical decorating style. I hope you are well my dear ❤️❤️

@LisaF posted:

Beautiful Carol!  It's a work of art with so many lovely details.  And your colors are gorgeous. That saturated blue is stunning.  Very well done! ❤️

Thanks so very much Lisa @LisaF! You always say the kindest things . This was lots of fun but extemely challenging for me (guess that's why it's called a "challenge"). I hope you are well my dear friend ❤️❤️❤️

Very beautifully done.  The blue background is eye catching.

@Zeena posted:

Very beautifully done.  The blue background is eye catching.

Thank  you so much @Zeena! It's very sweet of you to comment and I appreciate your kind words ❤❤❤

Carol, what a gorgeous set of flowers!!!  😍😍😍

Wow...amazing work!

Stunning!!! ❤️

Blue background is very striking!  What brand of airbrush color did you use?  Was it water or alcohol based?

@Cookies Fantastique posted:

Oh what a sweet comment Gabi @Icingsugarkeks!! Thank you so very much my friend. These were fun to make...quite a challenge as I'm not as familiar with working in gumpaste/fondant/modeling chocolate to this extent. Lots and lots of mistakes here but what a great learning process. I hope you are well my dear. Congrats on your spotlight for the adorable mouse cookie you made. I loved it as did many, many others. ❤️❤️❤️ Hugs...

Oh dear Carol, your comment is even sweeter !!! Thank you very much my love !!

@Ryoko ~Cookie Ave. posted:

Carol, what a gorgeous set of flowers!!!  😍😍😍

Thank you so much Ryoko. You're always more than kind ❤️❤️

@Judit Tarsoly posted:

Wow...amazing work!

Oh thank you so very much dear Judit @Judit Tarsoly!! It's most kind of you to comment ❤️❤️

@lulubakes posted:

Stunning!!! ❤️

Thank you very much @lulubakes!! I hope you are well ❤️❤️

@E. Sherwood posted:

Blue background is very striking!  What brand of airbrush color did you use?  Was it water or alcohol based?

I'm so glad you like the blue background . The base color was the ivory shade of the 2 side cookies. I decided to use a deep blue for contrast once I placed my flowers on the cookie and saw that it needed more "pop" . 

I used Americolor Sky Blue with Royal Blue lightly sprayed over the center and only Royal Blue sprayed heavily on the edges and sides. Americolor is water based @E. Sherwood . It's so very kind of you to comment. Thank you ❤️❤️

Just splendid.❤️

These are absolutely beautiful!! And thank you for mentioning me! I love your color scheme💛

I'm glad you made good use of the resources that were included in the challenge. Your flowers are arranged beautifully and everything is so polished. Your flowers look stunning against the dark background (which is a perfect color), but they are equally elegant against the white background as well. All-around, a very impressive entry.

@Jean Adams posted:

Just splendid.❤️

Thank you so very much Jean @Jean Adams!! How thoughtful of you to take the time to look and comment . I hope you are well ❤️❤️

@mintlemonade (cookie crumbs) posted:

These are absolutely beautiful!! And thank you for mentioning me! I love your color scheme💛

Ah Noriko...how sweet of you to take a look and comment. Thank you so very much @mintlemonade (cookie crumbs)! Yes, you have been an inspiration to me many times. I love your clean style of decorating. Your saturated background colors have always drawn me to your work. It's harder to hide mistakes when working with lighter colors on top of a deeply saturated background color. HaHa. I just couldn't resist using the deep blue color as a background for my white calla lilies . I hope you are doing well ❤️❤️

@Sweet Prodigy posted:

I'm glad you made good use of the resources that were included in the challenge. Your flowers are arranged beautifully and everything is so polished. Your flowers look stunning against the dark background (which is a perfect color), but they are equally elegant against the white background as well. All-around, a very impressive entry.

Christine, @Sweet Prodigy, you are most kind with your comment!! Thank you so much. I was really excited to stretch my creative juices, though a bit intimidated working with media like gumpaste/fondant/modeling chocolate. I don't use these often and felt clumsy. Lots and lots of flowers hit the trashcan. LOL. Some of the videos I watched made it look easy to create some pretty complicated flowers (didn't try those!). I can only imagine the amount of time so many artists have spent learning and perfecting their craft. Amazing!!

This was really a lot of fun and I'm so grateful to have had the time to participate this time. Thank you for all the encouragement you give to everyone here . Hearing those words helps to motivate me more than you may know.

Hugs....❤️❤️❤️

Oh beautiful work dear Carol,I love all of them and can see wafer paper,chocolate and fondant flowers which one is from what exactly made also very well,you did great job❤️ 

@Petra Florean posted:

Oh beautiful work dear Carol,I love all of them and can see wafer paper,chocolate and fondant flowers which one is from what exactly made also very well,you did great job❤️ 

Thank you so very much dear Petra @Petra Florean! As always, you are beyond kind . It was a really fun challenge for sure ❤️❤️ Hugs...

Fantastic work as always, dear Carol. @Cookies Fantastique. Great colour and flower combination. Love all of them. 💜💙💚💛🤍💖

@Kanch J posted:

Fantastic work as always, dear Carol. @Cookies Fantastique. Great colour and flower combination. Love all of them. 💜💙💚💛🤍💖

Thank you so much dear @Kanch J !! I really appreciate your kind words ❤️❤️ Hugs...

Very beautiful Carol!!! 🌸🌸🌸

The flowers are beautiful, and the presentation really makes them 'pop', that dark blue color is fabulous.  I really like the different background shapes.  Visually all very wonderful.  Great job!  

Absolutely fabulous!

so lovely set, dear Carol

Beautiful cookies and beautiful colors (blue actually is my fav), for an elegant outcome

Neat and perfect