Designing the elemens in flex?best approach

Hi Guys,
I have to design a web application in flex (for PC). I am a web designer but never used flex. I am used to regular visual design plus html css conversion but now as I have to design for a flex application I have many questions. Please help out!

  1. Is it possible to convert everything from PSD to flex like we do from PSD to html, css. What sort of visual elements should I use for a flex app?
    For example for creating gradient background in html – We use an image of 1px in height and tile it horizontally using css. Can we do the similar thing in flex and write similar code in the flex CSS file? Or shall I use only the default gradients available in flex. As my visual design has good use of photoshop gradients.
    Same thing while using buttons and nav bar. I have created the buttons and navigation bar in web 2.0 style in photoshop can we import it in flex to maintain what I have created? Also can I tile the navbar in flex like we do in regular web app by css tiling. can we do it through flex CSS?
  2. Or else can we create web2.0 gradients in flex itself?
  3. How to apply CSS in flex?
  4. Any free icons/buttons available to use?
  5. Any help for flex design would be of great help and much appreciated.

<Vicky>