So I’d like to introduce you to my new little darling.

Isn’t she cute? I love her.
We’re still in the getting to know each other stage of our relationship – but I can just tell. We’re made for each other.

When she arrived though – I will confess that I was a bit intimidated. You guys know that I am not good with paper-ish things. And I’m not exactly graceful.
I was a little afraid that my “issues” might extend to her and I would cut my finger off or something. Who knows.

I am happy to say that we had a very successful first run – and I can’t wait to show you what I made!

This month’s Silhouette promotion is for their Rhinestone products (yep. another thing I’ve never done anything with).
I thought the perfect thing to start with would be to dress up some tops for my cute little nieces!

Here’s what I did. And bear with me here – because I was so new to this I took pictures of every step.
Silhouette Rhinestone fun for Dummies. ;) (Not that any of us are dummies – but you get what I mean, right?)
All you Silhouette experts – feel free to have a chuckle at my newbie expense. I’m good with it. ;)

(Also – I was given this machine – and the product to show off to you.
But I will ALWAYS be honest with you about how it goes and what I think. :)

I started by opening up the software and adding my designs to the page. Since I was doing two shirts I put both images on so it could cut them at the same time.
I chose  a couple of their fun designs for spring – this little birdie and a butterfly.

You use the pink tip to cut the rhinestone template – which is very easy to change out.

Feed the green Rhinestone template material into the machine.

(If you look closely it even tells you inside to keep your hands out of the machine. See?
They understand paper-challenged people like me. Ha.)

When you click “Send to Silhouette”, they make it very easy to set up – you just select the rhinestone templete from the menu on the left.

Then the machine does it’s magic!
(I will spare you all the ridiculous pictures I took of it cutting – because you can’t tell it’s cutting from a single photo. Duh.
What can I say? I was excited.)

Here’s the design all cut out.

Peel the paper backing off the template material and all the little holes should come out.

Obviously mine didn’t but it was no big deal. I ran my fingernail along the hole and it popped right out!
The back side of the template material is sticky. Lay the sticky side of the material onto the backing board they provide.

It makes a little rhinestone pattern for you! So cool. :)

They recommend you put the rhinestones on from largest in size to smallest. It is easier to fill the holes that way.

Oh. So cute already.

Peel the backing off the sticky transfer tape and lay it down over the rhinestones.
I’ll confess the second time I did this, I didn’t lay it down evenly, and it messed up my pattern. It was an easy fix though. I just picked the rhinestones off the tape in the affected area and set them back into the template. Then I laid the tape down again. No problem!

Now the transfer tape has all the little stones stuck to it with the iron-on side facing up.

Iron the transfer piece onto your fabric – place a cloth over the transfer tape to protect your iron.

When your stones are ironed on – lift the transfer tape off the fabric and stones.
(My transfer tape was still sticky after this so I put the backing material on it to save it and I’ll reuse it. Sweet!)

Flip the piece over and iron again to pull the transfer material further into the fabric. Use your towel again to protect the iron.

Now I have two cute little designs to add to the tops!

Walmart is carring these great little shirts for girls right now (for $3.50!!). They are blank but have a little gathered section on the yoke. Perfect for embellishing! :)

I added the rhinestone designs to the bottom of the tops on one side -

I dressed up the yoke section with ric rac on one and some sweet gingham trim on the other. I used the gingham trim on the hem of the white top too.

It was such a fun, easy project for my first time using the Silhouette! I really love how the tops turned out and I think the girls will too!
They are perfect for this time of year.

Don’t forget – there are a few more days to enter the Silhouette giveaway!

And you can get the amazing deal for the Silhouette and Rhinestone pack for only $229 (that’s $125 off!!).
If you have the Silhouette you can get the Rhinestone bundle for only $34.99 – savings of $20!!
Click here to get either bundle and enter the code FLAMINGO for the deals!

What do you think? Aren’t the Rhinestones fun? I am looking forward to trying them again!
What would you add them to?

I’m linking to Today’s Creative Blog, Met Monday, Skip to my Lou, Tutorials & Tips Tuesday, 
and the other fabulous parties on the sidebar – make sure you check them out!