Thursday, March 11, 2010

10 tips for using Stickles



I've had my Stickles for ages and after an initial play, they lay forgotton and unloved in my craft box until I rediscovered them again last year!... now there's no stopping me and I've found that they are such a useful product to use in many ways - here's a few ideas to get you started, so go and find those forgotton Stickles and give them a little TLC!....

1. They make an ideal accent. Place three small dots in a line at the corners of your card for a sparkly detail.

2. Fill in a whole area with Stickles - such as a dress or handbag for an image with a bit of bling (see my last post for an example!)

3. Before using them give them a sharp shake downwards to move the glue down towards the nozzle end, this helps get rid of air bubbles

4. Keep a pin handy in your toolkit just in case you get an occasional blocked nozzle

5. Apply a clear stickles such as Crystal or Diamond over decoupage or a project and then smear it over the surface with your finger for a fab sparkly finish!

6. Use to accent the centres of flowers - whether stamped, decoupaged or on a printed paper. You can make a fab card by just taking a decorative paper and adding accents - like the card sample below!

7. You can never have too many colours! and they last a very long time so they are good value for money. I've never run one out yet - not even my crystal which is used most cardmaking sessions and in many workshops too!

8. Give them a gentle squeeze to apply your glue, that way you can control the flow and get very fine detail - have a bit of a practice on some scrap paper first just to make sure you have mastered the flow and got rid of any air bubbles.

9. If it goes somewhere you don't want it to (or you put your finger in it!!), if you are quick you can remove it by scraping it off your card. I find my curved ended tweezers are ideal for this

10. Experiment and get artsy!.. you can create flowers and swirls and squiggles and all manner of effects by mixing the colours too!

This card is made with a simple black and white paper with flowers. I've added accents using a dark blue Stickles to transform it into a card with lots of bling! It just shows that you can made a lovely card with the simplest of papers!
Hopefully this has inspired you to reach for your Stickles, and if you need to add some more colours to your craft box, you can buy them at the shop here with 10% discount until 15th March!
Happy Crafting!
Jane

2 comments:

tracy said...

i only have a few bottles, couldnt get to grips with one or two as the nozzle is wider on them then the others, but now i will give them another go
thanks xx

Julie said...

I use mine all the time, my favourite is Stardust which I'm now on my second bottle of. I also like to use a waterbrush sometimes to paint it on, it goes a bit further. They look fantastic on grungepaper too.

Julie x (aka jjuli2 Trimmie)