Cupcake Bouquet (Tutorial)

My daughter's 14th birthday is this weekend. The theme has sort of evolved into Cupcakes. Giant Wilton cupcake pan, cupcake paper plates and wrapping paper, and one giant stuffed plush cupcake (from Gramma). I thought it would be cute to make a bouquet of flowers that looked like cupcakes. Here's how I did it.

The supplies: 6 silk carnations, 6 2.5 in. Styrofoam balls, cupcake liners, and glitter glue. The Mylar film, ribbon and cylinder box are for the vase.

Cut the ends off the balls so you get sort of a small cookie-shaped piece.

 Foam "cookie"

Roll the edge of the "cookie" on a hard surface to flatten it, and to make sure it fits in the cupcake liner.

Remove the flower from the stem, poke the stem into the center of the Styrofoam. Try to keep the stem perpendicular.

Push it all the way through so you get a nice, clear hole.

Put hot glue in a circle in the bottom of the cupcake liner. DO NOT get it in the center - you need to poke the stem through that.

Using a knife, remove a cone-shaped piece from the center of the Styrofoam, around the hole. This will accommodate the bottom of the carnation, making it sit deeper in the cup. (If you're using flowers other than carnations, that have a flatter base, you might be able to skip this part.)

Poke the stem through the hole, top down, out the bottom of the cup. This will mark where you push the stem through the other way so you can reattach the flower.

Put the flower back on the stem, snugging it down into the Styrofoam cookie.

Run a little hot glue around the bottom, to hold the cup in place.

Cute, huh? You can stop here, or...

Put some glitter glue on a piece of waxed paper.

Dab your flower in the glitter glue, adding a little color and sparkle to the tips of the petals.

Like sprinkles on a cupcake!

I used a raised cake rack to put them in to try, to keep them from touching each other and transferring glue, and to keep all surfaces exposed to air for drying.

Here's the vase they'll sit it once the glitter glue has dried. The ribbon is held in place with double-stick tape. After the party this weekend, this can go in her room, and no glass to break!