So for anyone new trying to get to grips with Sparkle and how to create awesome looking websites, something I found pretty useful are all the Templates available on the Sparkle site. What I have done is go through some of the ones I like and download the available file, what I would do once I have done that is open the file and look for effects that stand out to me, I will click on the element and go through the Style panel on the right to see how they achieved the effect. Being new to Sparkle it is something I did when I installed Sparkle for the first time.
I guess this is more of a tip, obviously I would not suggest downloading and using the whole template as your own design as this takes away from the whole creative process.
Regards,
Hennie