A huge pile of germs and sleep deprivation have been thrown at our house over the last fortnight or so which has meant hobbies and blogging taking something of a back seat to tissues and Snuffle Babe!

I have however found a bit of time to look around for something to bring the bridal designs a bit more to life. I’d been debating using some kind of glitter to convey elaborate beading and “bling” as it’s often referred to on my favourite American bridal show! But it just made me think of kids crafts and shaking some garishly coloured sparkly mess onto blobs of PVA glue and hoovering up the resulting debris for weeks to come.

Then I came across the delightfully named Stickles during a cheeky Ebay browsing session. A bit of further investigation lead me to the conclusion that these could be just the ticket so I set about ordering a few that might work.

And I love them! On the whole, they really add another dimension to the dresses and give the impression of beading and sparkle beautifully. And they are super easy to use. They look to be pretty versatile too for projects other than those I’m using them for.

I chose from 2 ranges, what I think are some newer “shades” from your basic Stickles and a couple from the designer Tim Holtz Distress Stickles. I’ve had a go with all of them and have settled on “Diamond” being my favourite and most effective, with “Star Dust” a close second. I thought I’d be especially taken with “Tattered Rose” from the Distress range but I’m afraid on the one design I used it for, it came out looking a bit rash-like!! I think I was a little heavy handed…these darker shades will definitely need a lighter brush application.

As much as I’m raving about these Stickles, it’s proving very difficult to photograph the results to do them justice. I’ve picked just a couple of images of “Diamond” in use – it’s still impossible to see just how delightfully sparkly they are but hopefully you’ll get the jist!

I purchased some of my Stickles from Ebay for under £2 each (always worth searching on here for the best price). The Tim Holtz Distress Stickles were £1.99 from Grafton Crafts. This is by far the best price I’ve found them for (some were in the region of £4-£8 each elsewhere!). The service was great from these guys too and they have a pretty good range of colours.

There really does seem to be an almost infinite array of colours available in the Stickles ranges, just have a quick image search for a colour chart! So although they may not all be suitable for my needs, I think you’re bound to find something that works for you whilst still feeling like you’ve found a “grown up” way to splash glitter around!

Find out more about the complete Stickles range here.