Let’s Smell the Flowers!

I sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds, and bowers: 
Of April, May, of June, and July flowers. 
I sing of Maypoles, Hock-carts, wassails, wakes, 
Of bridegrooms, brides, and of their bridal cakes. (or cookies!)
~Robert Herrick


I am an admitted lover of autumn, but a close second for me is spring.  I am seeing signs of it everywhere and it makes me happy and twitterpated… and it also makes me want to deep clean every surface in my house.  Spring cleaning fever is real and it is catchy.  
The talented and super creative Hani of Haniela’s has put together a virtual cookie party to celebrate spring and you’re invited.  She has arranged for 19 cookiers to represent different flowers so it will be like walking through a flower garden.  How lovely is that?  Let’s take a Claritin and get started!  
For my flower, I chose lavender.  It is in the mint family and it grows like crazy here!  (I would say it grows like weeds, but that’s just rude).  Locally, there are several beautiful organic lavender farms devoted to this humble crop.  The flower’s fragrance is known for it’s purifying properties that help calm and relax.  
Even the look of the flower is lovely and serene and I wanted to evoke those feelings with my lavender cookies.  My goal was to make it look like I just placed a sweet little sprig right on top of a cookie.  Simple and elegant just like the flower.
Here’s the breakdown:
After I did a simple royal icing flood base on the cookies I only needed to mix two colors.  
For the green I used Wilton’s Juniper Green and a touch of yellow to get that soft sagey green for the stems
For the purple I used Americolor’s Electric Purple and a little Wilton’s violet.  Americolor’s purple has pink undertones and Wilton’s violet has blue undertones and I mixed until I saw the right color.  Using my 1.5 tip I piped the stems and a 1 tip for the buds.
Of course I couldn’t leave it at that and I painted the little blossoms a touch with some slightly diluted purple food coloring at the base to give it a little depth.  
I love how lavender stems have very fine hairs that lend a slight shimmer, so I brushed a little pearl dust on my cookie stems for a subtle sheen.  
I also made a bouquet of lavender tied with ribbon and painted a botanical illustration of a stem of the species that grows here on the rectangular cookie.  I ah, ah… achoo!  I hope that you had a lovely time in my section of the garden and you are feeling calm, spiritually purified, and relaxed.  Please do take a glass of lavender lemonade to sip on while you peruse the rest of the flowers.  Freshly squeezed lemons paired with the very fine lavender grown locally infuse this beverage so I hope you’ll enjoy!  Oh, and don’t forget a couple of cookies. 
 There’s a few things I’ve learned in life: 
always throw salt over your left shoulder, 
keep rosemary by your garden gate, 
plant lavender for good luck,
 and fall in love whenever you can
~Alice Hoffmann

A special thank you goes out to Hani for hosting such a beautiful party!  All of the amazing participants are indexed below and you are in for a real treat.  Such talented ladies!








1. Black Eye Susan by Lisa, The Bearfoot Baker
2. Carnation by Meaghan, The Decorated Cookie
3. Cherry Tree Flower by Pam, Cookie Crazie
4. Daffodil by Georganne, LilaLoa 
5. Daisy by Stephanie, Ellies Bites
6. Dogwood by Marian, Sweetopia
7. Gerbera by Paula, Vanilla Bean Baker
8. Hyacinth by Amber, SweetAmbs
9. Hydrangea by Kim, The Partiologist
10. Iris by Cristin, Cristin’s Cookies 
11. Lavender by Liz, Arty McGoo
12. Lily of The Valley by Hani, Haniela’s
13. Lotus by Marlyn, Montreal Confections
14. Morning Glory by Glory, Glorious Treats
15. Orchid by Ali, Ali Bee’s Bake Shop
16. Pansy Nicole, Life’s A Batch
17. Poppy by Callye,  SweetSugarBelle
18. Sunflower by Bea, Cancun Cookies
19. Tulip by Lorriane, LorrainesCookies

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This Post Has 67 Comments

  3. the crumb canvas April 2, 2012

    I feel in love with yours as soon as I saw it! After tulips lavender are my favorite flower…. now can you pllllleeeeaasse post how to make that pretty pretty lemonade??!!?

  5. Glory April 2, 2012

    Oh I can almost smell their delicious fragrance from here! You did an amazing job with these!! Just perfect in everyway!!

  6. Bea @ CancunCOOKIES April 2, 2012

    Oh, Liz! I love Lavender… the colors, smell… everything Lavender! Your COOKIES are awesome… love how delicate and elegant they are!

  7. Susie April 2, 2012

    Ah! They are gorgeous! So amazing, I am awestruck every time I peek here. But it is still that car that makes me swoon!

  10. Pam April 2, 2012

    Beyond gorgeous. It's hard to pick a favorite…..but I think these are it. 🙂 I love the flower anyway…..but the way you did these cookies. WOW! And that bouquet…..AMAZING. 🙂 ♥♥♥♥

  11. Paula April 2, 2012

    son preciosas!!! me encantan y un paso a paso muy ilustrativo 😉

    Salu2. Paula

  12. Alison April 2, 2012

    so so gorgeous!! My hubs was so thrown and impressed by these…and all I said was, hun, it's arty mcgoo! She's AMAZING!!! nuff said

  15. Paula April 2, 2012

    I can almost smell the wonderful scent of the lavender from your amazing cookies! What a beautifully written post and masterfully decorated cookies.

  16. The Partiologist April 2, 2012

    What a beautiful bouquet of lavender flowers! I knew these would be out of this world gorgeous and they are WAY OUT OF THIS WORLD gorgeous!

  19. Marian (Sweetopia) April 3, 2012

    Beeeauuuutiful!! I can't stop gazing at the lovely little lavendar buds and you're crazy talented 'Lavandula' illustration – love every single one of your cookies!

  20. Jan J. April 3, 2012

    More gorgeousness! I love lavendar and have never seen lavendar cookies! These are just beautiful.

  22. The BearFoot Baker April 3, 2012

    Let's take a Claritin and get started! LOL!! You are so funny and so extremely talented!! These are seriously amazing!! Love!!!

  23. Anonymous April 3, 2012

    I love your lavender flowers! Thanks for sharing the instructions! I can't wait to try making them!

  24. Anita April 3, 2012

    :::Sniff Sniff:::
    Oh wait. You mean that's not real lavender? I'm sooo embarrassed!
    Girlfriend, those are stunning, awesome, amazing, I LOVE the touch of purple at the base…always taking it up another notch you Cookie Diva!

  25. Nicole (Life's a Batch) April 3, 2012

    Arty, these are so sweet & delicate. I'm astounded once again by your incredible painting, but even the decorated cookies are just too, too impressive. You achieved your goal, I'd say, for it really DOES look like a sprig of lavender lying gently on a cookie. Ahhhh-mazing!

  26. Haniela April 3, 2012

    oh Liz,these are like a fresh air, so so…so perfectly lavender-ish….that's probably not a word but you know what I mean.
    I'd love to have these framed in my kitchen, I just love them.
    We have 2 lavender farms in the area and you captured the true feeling of these so beautiful, the only thing that is missing is the fragrance.
    Thank you Liz for being so generous, I enjoy seeing your artistic approach to cookie decorating, good luck with everything you do.

  27. Kiera @s SweetKiera April 3, 2012

    Insanely gorgeous!! I'm astonished. This cookie caught my eye instantly from Haniela's blog post and I found the link and still can't believe my eyes. My first time here but I think it's safe to say I officially idolize you now. 🙂

  29. Chris Renolds April 3, 2012

    The detail on this is pristine and the use of lavender in the cookies and the lemonade is beyond creative. Can I ask how long it took for the finished product?

  31. IFeelCook April 3, 2012

    WOW, your cookies are always amazing!!! I love them. These lavender cookies are gorgeous 🙂

  35. Cristin (Pinkie) April 5, 2012

    Wow! Like everything else you do Liz, these are OVER THE TOP incredible. As soon as it opened on my computer I said "oh wow". Considering it's 2am, you're going to get me in trouble 😉 The cookies are gorgeous and amazing. You did a beautiful job. That lavender lemonade is gorgeous and inviting. When my son was little, he used to love to cup his hands around lavender and then smell his hands with the beautiful smell. Maybe that was Jasmine. I don't remember and I don't know my flowers well enough, but yours are GORGEOUS! 🙂

  37. Eve April 14, 2012

    I'm a big fan of Lavender, and i have my blog named after it too!! I saw your picture at DCWV blog, when they talked about Lavender paper stack, which I fell in love with at the store! Your cookie decorations are absolutely Awesome!! 🙂

  39. LauraLee April 16, 2012

    I echo all the sentiments above! Just lovely! Thanks for sharing. Do you have a recipe to share for the cookie itself???

  40. Jolene April 19, 2012

    I have a recipe for a light lavender shortbread cookie that could accent the designs of this lovely cookie! 🙂 Too bad I can't ever find dried lavender in my area so I'll never get to make them. 🙁 I LOVE lavender too.

  44. erin April 29, 2012

    These are absolutely gorgeous! Instant memories of my time in France and the boutonniere my husband wore on our wedding day. Thank you for sharing your artwork.

  46. Schach June 19, 2012

    Eytremely beautiful. I love lavender and these cookies look fantastic. they're too gorgeous to eat!

  51. molly August 13, 2012

    looks great!! love. but now, what kind of cookie is it? sugar?

  52. marla August 13, 2012

    You are so talented! These cookies are beautiful 🙂 Perfect for a wedding or shower.

  56. Shannon Dale May 19, 2013

    so beautiful!! how do you get the icing consistency just right that it's not to thick and which tip do you use? thanks, i'm a total newbie but lavender is one of my faves and i would love to make this cookie!

  59. jhonson avram January 7, 2014

    What ever the occasion we at Lovely Flowers And Gifts can supply a range of high quality art flower bouquets of fresh flower arrangements , dried flower bouquets for occasionssuch as Christmas, birthdays, Mother's Day, weddings.

  60. jyoti soni February 20, 2014

    Vielen Dank für wertvolle Informationen. Nizza Post. Ich war sehr erfreut, diesen Beitrag. Das ganze Blog ist sehr schön fand einige gute Sachen und gute Informationen hier Danke .. Besuchen Sie auch meine Seite schach online spielen

  61. Bakingmomof4 April 2, 2014

    These are so beautiful, would love to know if you used a specific cookie cutter for the bouquets or hand cut them yourself.

  64. Lisa April 29, 2015

    I look at this post weekly, for decorating inspiration. I will attempt your design later this week! Simple and beautiful.

  65. cdncatlover May 31, 2015

    These are just gorgeous! Do you have a recipe for cookies with real lavender in them, I think lavender is an edible flower, is it not?

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