Gumball Flowers

We always have gumballs in the house (thanks to our 6' Wowie Zowie machine) so they're going to turn into colorful "flowers" this Valentines Day.These happy blooms would be perfect for a Valentines Day treat or a Tea Party.
Here are some of the "Valentines" that the girls thought would be appropriate to attach. I'm sure Hallmark will be calling any day...
"I'd always 'chews' you to be my Valentine!"
"If you were a flower I'd eat you."
"Roses are Red, Violets are blue, this flower's a gumball, it's for you to chew."
"Roses are Red, Violets are blue, Flowers are for girls but this one is gum so it's ok for you, too."

...I love kids.

Gumball Flowers
Ingredients:
Large Gumballs (1 inch)
Small Gumballs (8 for each flower)
Sucker Sticks
Royal Icing (recipes here)
green food coloring (optional)
Sprinkles
Wax Paper

Directions: Twist a pointed paring knife into each of the large gumballs to make a small hole. Mix a few drops of green food coloring into royal icing. (Royal icing recipes are here--it's the kind of icing that is very hard when dry). Spoon icing into a cake decorating bag or quart ziploc freezer baggie with a small corner snipped off.
Push sucker stick into each hole (you may have to add a dab of icing if the hole is too big). Pipe out a line of icing around each gumball as shown:

Place gumball on wax paper and push smaller gumballs into the icing to form the flower "petals".

Let dry completely or overnight.

Now, you could stop here, but I thought they needed a little extra sparkle, so after they had dried for an hour (but weren't completely set), I piped out a little circle of icing on the top:

and added sprinkles!

After icing is dry, you can wrap with sucker bags or celophane. Have fun!