Big news! I am working on something amazing here behind the scenes! I just signed on to be the creative director for the FOMO factory. It is a colorful, immersive museum dedicated to childhood and the wonder and feelings of being a kid. It is in the same vain as the Museum of Ice Cream or the Happy Place, but it will be Austin’s first “instagram” pop up museum and I am so excited to be in charge of the look of it. If all goes smoothly, it will be a colorful pop of happy with plenty of activites to try and photos to take.

But what does that have to do with today’s craft? Well, part of the museum will be dedicated to birthdays and we really want to have tons of cupcakes in the space. So this past weekend, I worked on creating the perfect faux cupcake recipe and OMG, you guys. I am obsessed with making faux cupcakes now! It took a little trial and error to find the perfect foam/spackle combo, but now that I have, I am sharing all the details with you. These DIY faux cupcake photo holders are such a fun way to decorate for a birthday party, in a kids room, or even in your office. Or if you are a party stylist, you may just find that you need a few batches for photoshoots too!

They look so real, no one will ever know they are fake!

Materials for DIY Faux Cupcake Photo Holders:

–Great Stuff Windows and Doors (the blue can works best!)
–Patch and Paint light weight spackling
–Cupcake liners
–Cupcake pan
–Acrylic paint in a golden brown and color of your choice for the frosting and wrapper
–Piping bag
–1M star piping tip (for crafting use only, don’t use for food afterward)
-Paint brush
–Sanding sponge
-Bent photo holder wire (buy already made ones or make your own with wire and a pair of pliers)

 

For the first attempt at the cupcakes I used original Great Stuff, but it shrunk after 48 hours and made shriveled little cupcakes. So the next time I tried the one for windows and doors and left the cupcakes outside to cure. It worked perfectly! To make your own “cake”, simply line a cupcake tin with wrappers and then spray the Great stuff into the liners in a circluar motion about half way full. As the foam cures, it will expand and create the perfect smooth domed cupcake top.

Leave the cupcakes to cure for 24 hours outside. Once fully cured, you can sand the foam to remove the glossy layer and and extra bumps to create a cake like smooth surface. Then use a bit of watered down golden brown paint to paint the tops for the perfect cake look. Repeat with all your cupcakes and let the paint dry.

While the paint is drying, mix up your “icing” for this you will use acrylic paint to tint the light weight spackle. Just mix the paint into the spackle until well incorporated and then fill a piping bag with the mixture.

Pipe the icing onto the cupcakes in any pattern you like. I went with the traditional swirl.

Let the icing dry overnight. I wanted a more vibrant cupcake wrapper, so I used a paint brush to paint the wrappers with acrylic paint. Then to turn them into photo holders, I simply inserted a bend wire piece into the top of the cupcake and down into the foam “cake” base.

I love them as is, but if you want, you can add sprinkles too! Let the icing dry first, then give it a coating of spray adhesive and sprinkle on real sprinkles. If you put them on the wet “icing” the color will bleed.

Aren’t the DIY faux cupcake photo holders so real looking?! Oh and if you are in Austin, be sure to plan to come out to the FOMO Factory in September -October to see them IRL and take all the photos!