Rhinestones add flair to a design, whether you use rhinestone studs in clothing or glue-on rhinestones on a crafting project, such as a decorated card or scrap book. You can purchase templates that create fancy designs, but prices can quickly add up when using multiple templates. A cheaper alternative is to make your own templates using a graphics program to design the shape of your template, then add circular guide marks along the shape.
Make your design in a graphics editing program, such as Gimp or Photoshop. You can hand draw the design and import it with a scanner, draw in the program, or open an image you have found or had made for you with the graphics editing program.
Resize the image so its dimensions are the same size as you wish the template to be.
Use the graphics program's circle tool to draw circles on the outline of the pattern, 1/8-inch larger than the size of the rhinestones being applied. The circles mark where rhinestones will be placed, and the final design after using the template will only be the areas inside the circles.
Print out the template.
Punch out the circles using a hole punch or crafting knife.
Position the template on your project, pin or tape it in place, then place rhinestones into the holes to position them. Cut the holes slightly larger than the corresponding stones so you can fit rhinestones through without sliding out of position.