Today I want to show you how easy it ist o add a little bit of „bling“ to your life with the Silhouette Cameo and some rhinestones.

I decided that my Cameo deserved a cover with a little “bling” on it – for being the star in a lot of my hybrid and craft projects, lol. Here’s what the cover looks like now:

Pretty, isn’t it?

Now if you wonder how a cutting machine will help to put iron-on rhinestones on something, let me tell you: By cutting a placement template by machine all the tedious placement of the tiny stones is done in no time at all. This whole project took me 10 – 15 minutes (if I had remembered to preheat my iron it would have been even faster, lol). It’s a great way for some last minute dress-up for a t-shirt, as well! 😉

So what do you need for a project like that: A cutting machine, a cutting template file, iron-on rhinestones the correct size for your template in your preferred color (if you’re using my file they’d need to be 10 ss/3mm in size) and either the Silhouette Rhinestone template material and transfer tape – or some heavy cardstock. I will show you how to do it using both options.

Here’s my rhinestone star cutting file, in case you’d like to give your machine a nicer cover, as well, lol – or use it on any other project. The star has a height of about 3 in. (click image to download)

 

One of the most important thing when working with cutting files for rhinestones is: NEVER RESIZE!!! If you change the size of the star for example, the size of the little circles would change, as well and then the stones wouldn’t fit in anymore!

So first open your cutting file, move it to the place you want it cut. If you’re using the Rhinestone template material from Silhouette, choose that one as your material. You could also use some heavy cardstock to cut the template – I will show you both ways to do things in this tutorial.

 

After cutting the “holes” into the rhinestone template material, peel off the light blue layer and check that all the little holes are “empty” before sticking it on to the backing board (this comes with the template material when you buy it). This is a sometimes tedious work – I almost never succeed in peeling it off without having some of the little circles still in their holes. Even cutting with another knife setting hasn’t helped me there so far. (As you can see I like to cut the template material to size – less waste and much more manageable for small projects).

If you’re using heavy cardstock, the little circles will usually stick to your cutting mat 😀

Now for the fun part:

With your template stuck on the backing board – or the cardstock taped or glued tightly to a backing – pour a little heap of rhinestones on your template and brush them gently into the holes. If you have the rhinestone starter kit you will have this nice soft brush to do it. If you don’t, try using a baby brush or a soft thick paintbrush. Just brush ever so gently – enough to make the little rhinestones get into the holes but not out again.

Once they’re all in there (make sure they’re right side up) cover your design with a piece of the clear transfer tape.

The rhinestones will stick to the clear foil, just peel if off and check that all the stones are there.

 

Now stick the whole shebang where you want your rhinestones to be – in my case that was the cover of my machine:

You can use the transfer foil on your cardstock template, as well, just make sure to apply it genty, so it will come off again without having half the cardstock sticking to it, lol. I have not found a replacement for that material yet – it would need to be a heat resistant sticky foil. And actually I love how easy it is to transfer the design using it. But – there is another way to do it, I’ll show you:

Instead of placing your cut cardstock template on your table or a board to brush in the rhinestones – place it right where you want the design to be. Apply the rhinestones with a brush just as before.

Then – and now you need steady hands – carefully lift off the cardstock template. You will probably have to adjust the placement of one or two of the stones but there you are:

When using this method, make sure you are VERY careful when placing a piece of cloth on top of your stones when ironing, so the stones will not be moved.

The iron-on process is simple – heat your iron to “wool” setting, cover your transferred design with a thin cloth (I usually use a kitchen towel for that) and press for about a minute. (do not take off the transfer foil before ironing)

After that time remove iron and cloth and carefully lift the foil at one corner. If the stones still stick to the foil, put everything back in place and press again. It might be that your cloth is too thick or your iron is not hot enough, so you might adjust one or the other.

When you check (again) the stones will hopefully all stick to where they’re supposed to be. Return the transfer tape to its backing you can reuse it.

Turn your project inside-out and press again for a minute without a cloth to make sure the glue of the rhinestones has bonded well with the fabric.

Ta-daa – that’s it!  😀

I hope you enjoyed this tut and the freebie – there are more rhinestone template cutting files in my store.

And because it’s the Studio’s birthday I do have a little extra fun for you:

Go to my store and find the cutting files for this project (it is one product):

 

Add it to your cart and enter the following coupon code at checkout (and it will bee free): HappyBirthdayStudioBling

May you all find Peace, Love & Happiness! ;D
Have a great day!