I bought this expecting that I would ruin the first few pins figuring it out. The reviews led me to believe that it would be finicky. I took the advice most of them mentioned and used a heavier paper for my first try. I cut a circle out of a sheet of printer paper a little lighter than card stock, tried the steps, and out popped a perfect pin!I then took some art I'd had in mind to print when I bought it, resized it to fit in a 25mm diameter circle, and put it against a 35mm square background. I copied those images on a 4x6 canvas, 8 per sheet, and printed them at Walmart for 25 cents per 4x6 print. That comes out to a hair over 3 cents per button.I used the provided circle cutter. Having made the background exactly 35mm, I could see exactly where to cut to line the image up in the middle.Each button I've made so far has been perfect. No wasted material. The machine feels sturdy, and I hope it continues to perform as well as it has so far!