Rhinestone Easter Egg (Frame Makeover)

Easter project time!

I'm taking a hiatus from my Commenting 101 series today because the I {Heart} My Crafty Cutter link party is live and open for new posts all week! Please come by and link up any Cricut, Silhouette, stenciling, transfer paper projects, tips, or tricks you have.

I got to try out some of Silhouette's rhinestone starter kit this month, and I thought I'd share one of my projects with you today. My goal was to do something simple that anyone (even those of you who claim to be "uncrafty!") could recreate. I wanted to use only items I had on hand...no going out to shop for t-shirts or onesies or extra rhinestones.

I had a plain, empty white frame sitting around and I decided to use one of the FREE shapes from Silhouette's shop to create something Eastery.

TIP: Every week, the Silhouette blog puts up a post announcing their free shape of the week. If you have a Silhouette machine, you just have to open your software, click on the online shop icon, and stick the free shape in your cart! Totally and completely free. I loves it.

Silhouette rhinestones can only be used with the rhinestone templates, and they can't be resized, so I was careful to check the size of the egg template before cutting it on the template material.

Outside of the rhinestone starter kit (which came with everything I needed to use the rhinestones, even a CD of images!), my main supplies were scrapbook paper from my stash, burlap, glue dots, and ribbon.

I followed the simple instructions on Silhoutte's printable instructions (very easy to follow!) and cut my egg out on the template material before adhering it to the white backing board:

The only hitch I ran into (which wasn't really a hitch) was that my shape called for rhinestones of all the same size. It wasn't a big deal because I had plenty, but it meant that I couldn't just brush the rhinestones on the way they do in the directions because I wanted different colors in different areas.

That's where the cute little Pick Me Up tool came in handy!

I love fun little gadgets, and this one was very, very useful. I watched a show on my DVR while I used the tacky end of the tool to pick up my rhinestones and the flat end to place them in the holes:

Once I had all the clear rhinestones in, I added pink and then got to work with my frame! I used the transfer tape and an iron to set my rhinestones in place on some pink cardstock and layered with some burlap and ribbon.

The rhinestones were much easier and much less scary to use than I thought they'd be. I'm finding that as I play with my machine and the software, I am becoming more comfortable with everything!

Thursday will bring a really neat Silhouette promo, so I hope you'll drop back in to check it out, along with my next rhinestone project. It will be another simple one that any crafter (or non-crafter!) can do. Hop over and see what these machines can do...it's pretty cool! If you go shopping, please use my affiliate code SERENITY!

*Don't forget to link up your own crafty cutter posts at the I {Heart} My Crafty Cutter party. I know another bigger, better blog decided to start hosting one this week too, but I hope you'll take a minute to check out mine. I've been working hard to grow this party over the last several months, and I really appreciate your support!

{Happy Crafting!}