And it all comes together...

Not bad for a first attempt.  I'm happy with what I've achieved with the first one, and, best of all, I learnt a lot from doing it that will make any future ones a lot easier, and, a hell of a lot better looking!

Ok, this is how I put it all together.

Using a brightly coloured gift box (the pot was the wrong size, but hey, you learn), some hot glue and a little wooden rod, my handy helper secured the Styrofoam ball into my 'carrier'.

Gathering caffeine, more little wooden rod things (I got them in the craft section at the cheap shop, realised coloured paddle pop sticks might not be food safe after the shops were shut..these were to be for my 'pops' I want to try) , a black marker, 4 uniced chocolate cupcakes and a small sharp knife, it was time to start.

First step is to get the placement happening:-

Taking one of the chocolate cupcakes, I held it against the ball, guessed as good as I could where the centre was, and marked a spot with the marker.

I then inserted one of the rods, once it had been cut in half, until there was around 3cm of the rod left sticking out of the ball.  Taking the small sharp knife, I made a small slit in the bottom of the cupcake

Then slid the cupcake onto the wooden rod.

An on, and, on, and on...

Until you end up with a ball that Hellraiser would be proud of.

Then, its time to grab those 'purty' cupcakes from earlier and get to work.

Placing a small slit in the bottom of each of the buttercream decorated cupcakes, slide them on each of your pre-prepared rods, alternating colours as you go

Doing the last one was tricky, awkward, and fiddly, but I got there

Admired my work, took a well deserved caffeine hit and now, for the hindsight.

First, the stats.  I used 15 cupcakes total on this.  I had more than enough iced and ready this time, but, for futures sake, I'll make sure to always have at least 4 extra iced ones.  In slotting them on, you can graze the icing if you're not careful, so, spares are a welcome relief.  I haven't worked out the cost to make, but, I'll get there.  The Styrofoam ball was not cheap, was really shocked at the cost and I'm investigating cheaper options and will re-use this one once it comes back, but, that alone cost me $6.  Admittedly I had to go to the local sewing shop, where everything costs double, but I didn't expect Styrofoam to be so dear!

The colours, even though they look nice, I shouldn't have gone with two.  I didn't know until I was doing the rods how many I'd need, and, as it turns out, with 15, I should have opted for 1, 3 or 5 colours, not two.  I had two spots where the colours were doubled up (see the bottom left in the last picture, two pinks in a row, then above, two yellows, oh, the humanity!).

I wanted to have this done this weekend, so, instead of going to the extra effort with the fondant I have still sitting in the pantry and rolling out sugar leaves to place on the craft wire to fill in those empty spots where the white blinds you, I opted to just get to the end, get it done, and this of course has changed the finished product from my original plans.  There's always a next time though.

I want the bottom row to be sturdier.  I think maybe the paddle pop sticks do this job better, so, my next styrofoam ball will of course be subject to paddle pop sticks, rather than these rods.

I'm pleased its done, the neighbours kids are pleased with the results and we've got more than enough leftovers here to enjoy for the coming days.

**Edited to add, I've done my maths, and this has cost me in the region of $18 to make.  Thats for 2 dozen iced cupcakes (I only needed 15), $6 for the styrofoam ball, the cost of the rods, glue, $2 thrown in for a cheap box (I didn't need that this time though) plus a ream of cellophane and some ribbon costed in, as thats how I'd be presenting it I dare say.  So, under $20 and it would make a lovely gift, I'm actually dying for someone close to me to have a baby so I can give it as a present for a new mother.