Tips & Techniques Thursday: Stickles & Paper Flowers

Hello to all of the other Stickles Lovers out there, it's so nice to know I'm not alone and it’s a real honour to be asked to share something with you all at All That Stickles!  For those who don't know me, my name is Kate Palmer, though I'm much better known as Sparkle Tart, and I live in sunny Queensland in Australia, with my husband and two little Birman cat terrors.  I love to share on my blog and YouTube channel and create a wide variety of projects suitable for all sorts of art and craft.   I love papercrafts and creating and I mostly love and adore sparkly things (in case you couldn't guess that from my nickname).  Today I thought I'd show you a neat little technique for colouring your own flowers and Stickles is the final step needed to take these from simply gorgeous to super stunning.

What you'll need:  

• White or cream mulberry paper flowers
• Copic Markers: R39, R35 , E31 & E35, and Copic Colorless Blender Ink (Various Ink refill)
• Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Spray in Creme Brulee Cream
• Stickles - Pewter
• Heat Gun

What to do:

Begin with a white or light coloured paper flowers (I like roses and gardenias because they are easy to colour). Choose 3 or 4 colours of Copic marker (for the shabby chic look I chose a dark and a light brown and 2 reds (mid tone and dark).  I colour up a few different sizes at once so that I have a small coordinating bouquet ready.

Colour 1/2 of each petal with your lightest colour (mine was E31) working from the outer edge in towards the flower centre - make sure not to colour the whole petal.  It should look like this when done.

Next using the darkest brown (E35) apply a thin strip of colour to the outer edge of each petal  - I just run the side of my marker along the edge of the petals.

Then with the lightest red R35, apply a thin strip of colour to the outer edge of the petal BUT don't cover up all of the dark brown - add colour quite sparingly.  Again I just scrape the side of my marker along the edge of the petals.  It should look a little like this.

Lastly with the darkest red R39, apply a thin strip of colour to the outer edge of the very top petals only - leave the petals closest to the leaves without this colour.   

The next step is to apply a few drops of Colorless Blender to each petal - add the liquid to the outer edge of the petals - the fluid will wick towards the flower centre and drag a little colour along with it.

Dry the flower with a heat gun / embossing gun - this will take up to 45 seconds depending on how wet the flower is.

Drying with the heat gun will not only evaporate the belnding fluid, but it also results in discoloured edges to the petals (they darken considerably) giving a beautiful result.  You could leave it here but you'll be missing the glitz!

Soak each flower with a pale or colourless mica spray - my favourite is Creme Brulee Cream, which is a Starburst spray from Lindy's Stamp Gang.

Dry the spray with a heat gun or embossing gun.

It should now look a bit like this.

The final step is to add Stickles of your choice to the petal edges, you can add as much or as little as you like, but this secret ingredient really makes the flowers sparkle.  I've only added a hint of stickles, though believe me you can see the glittery goodness from every angle!

Leave it somewhere safe to dry, and they should look a little like this...

For all the visual learners out there you can see the whole process from start to finish in the clip below:

Aren't these beautiful!  Now don't just limit yourself to the colours I chose, experiment, try mixing colours, even mixing up your products - any way you try it it's likely to look stunning.

I hope you've enjoyed this idea - and can use this in your creative projects. 

May your day sparkle,

Kate P.