I think just about everyone has a sweet tooth when it comes to cupcakes.  This colorful dessert is the perfect recipe.  These cupcakes are fun, super easy to make and they look delicious. 

However, this is one batch of sweet treats that I don't recommend you actually take a bite into.

These confections are actually for fun display only, and are made out of easy-to-find materials in addition to a few colorful scrapbooking supplies.

It's so much fun to see just how creative you can get with the decorations as you can see in the fun photo below.  These curly-cues were made from small strips of patterned paper and curled the old fashioned way-with a pencil edge.

This is another project that requires minimal supplies.  You'll need some Styrofoam balls and cones, some assorted food coloring, assorted acrylic craft paint, a putty knife and one gallon of lightweight spackling which can be picked up from any hardware store.

Start by creating the cupcake shapes.  Cut the Styrofoam ball in half using a large kitchen knife.  Also cut the lower portion of the Styrofoam cone to desired size to form the base of the cupcake.

Don't worry if you have difficulty cutting a perfectly flat slice in the Styrofoam.  Use sandpaper or a crafter's file to shave the excess Styrofoam so that the surfaces are even and fit flat together.

Now for the frosting.  This is where the drywall spackling comes in.  Spackling is generally used to fill in holes for drywall repair.  It dries very hard and can be sanded down on just about any surface.

It's also perfect for this project because spackling has a smooth, creamy texture as you can see in the photo below.  Spackling is easy to work with and has the same consistency as frosting.  It's also water soluble so it's a breeze to clean up.

To make the frosting, transfer between 1-2 cups of spackling to a smaller container.  Add one tiny drop of food coloring for color and then mix well.  The more food coloring you use the darker the end result, so start off with the tiniest possible drop first.

If the color is still darker than you want, just add more plain spackling to lighten it up.  Hmmm, looks good enough to taste, doesn't it? 

Use a putty knife to apply the spackling directly onto the Styrofoam.  I initially used a screwdriver in the bottom of the Styrofoam to hold it firm while applying the frosting, but the cupcake kept twisting around with every dollop of frosting. 

I found a dinner fork stuck through the bottom works best, because the prongs in the fork hold the ball firmly in place and prevents shifting during the application of the frosting.

Set your frosted half-balls on a paper plate to dry completely overnight.  The colored spackling will typically darken a tad during the drying and hardening period.  Keep that in mind if you're trying to achieve a particular shade.

Warning: Please keep these out of the reach of small children who may be tempted to taste them because of the realistic looking appearance.

After the spackling has completely dried and hardened (at least 24 hours), paint the bottom of the half-ball and the bottom of the cupcake base a matching color.  Acrylic craft paint is fine for this step. 

The matching paint will help conceal the exposed white Styrofoam and help everything blend in.

Now it's time to decorate your cupcake base which is made up of the Styrofoam cone that was cut.  Measure the height of your Styrofoam cone and cut a strip of patterned paper slightly wider than that measurement.

I used this crimper by Fiskars to give the paper strip the vertical ridges that you typically see on cupcake tins.  I've had this crimper for years and it's always great finding a new use for an old tool or supply.

Just feed the paper through the metal rods, squeeze the handle at the same time and turn the orange knob on the side.  The paper comes through the top of the paper with these wonderful ridges. 

Use a hot glue gun to adhere the crinkled strip to the Styrofoam base.  Then just embellish to your heart's content.  For this base, blue ribbon and matching sticker letters add a festive touch.

Adhere the top portion to the bottom using hot glue.  Then decorate the top of the cupcake as you please. 

I used matching pearl scrapbooking brads on top.  Since the colored spackling is hard at this point, you can use a paper piercer to create a tiny hole in the areas you want to add brads.  Apply a small amount of hot gun glue to the tip of the brad and stick the brad right into the hole.

Here's a closer look at the embellished pink cupcake.  I love how delicious that frosting looks.  Ahem, I mean how yummy that spackling looks.

You can rummage through your scrapbook stash for lots of creative ways to decorate your cupcake tops.  The possibilities are as fun as they are endless.

This butterfly topper was fussy-cut out of patterned paper.  I curled tiny strips of craft wire for the antennae.

Use a tiny drop of hot glue to secure the antennae to the underside of the butterfly and then hot glue the butterfly body to the top of the cupcake.

These yummy-looking cupcakes were on display a few weeks ago at the annual  National Craft and Hobby Association convention and trade show in Chicago.  The event brings manufacturers and retailers together from all over the country to preview and order the latest and greatest in scrapbooking and crafting products.

I was one of several artists asked to create a few original cupcakes and other projects for the Chatterbox booth.  

Meanwhile, this is certainly a project you can try at home and with supervision it would also be a great project for youngsters. 

You can use these cupcakes as party favors, decorative table items or just create a few for the fun of it on a rainy day. 

Just looking at these cupcakes makes my mouth water.   They certainly look good enough to eat.   Remember, no tasting-or you could end up talking to a dentist instead.