Today I am covering a very exciting topic (at least in the planner world): cutting stickers using a Silhouette Cameo and Silhouette Design Studio. I have been using Cricut machines and Silhouette machines since the dawn of time. Just kidding, but it’s definitely been a good 10 or 11 years. I’ve been a Silhouette user for the last 5 years as, at the time, Silhouette was a lot more open ended in terms of using their specific software and images (Cricut had cartridges that you had to buy). Cricut is a bit more open ended now but this tutorial is specific to Silhouette Cameo. I am using Silhouette Design Studio Business Edition but this functionality will work in the Design Edition.
You can find my YouTube video here and I have included a printable cheat sheet for you below. I am not affiliated with Silhouette America in any way. I just know that the printable sticker struggle is real!
How to Cut Stickers on a Silhouette Cameo
First things first, I am embedding the cheat sheet right here so that you can grab it. The instructions are the same as below but just easier to print.
So you can follow along with the instructions below, or use your handy cheat sheet for reference.
The Basics
- Import your file/image into Silhouette Design Studio
- Resize if needed/desired
- Open the Trace Menu on the right hand side panel (looks like a butterfly icon) and click on Select Trace Area
- Draw the highlighted box over the imported file/image
- Adjust Threshold to 98 or 99% (adjusting it to 100% will highlight any anomalies in the file).
- Select Trace and Detach (if you want to detach the image from the background – common with PDF and JPEG files)
- Select Trace if just need to create a cut line around the image
- Group image and cut line and adjust to desired size
- Open the Page Setup (page icon with a folded corner) menu
- Click on the Registration Mark menu
- Select “On” (this will print registration marks on your paper, allowing the cutting machine to cut the image correctly)
- Print the file to your printer
- Place printed image on cutting mat and load into your machine
- Select the Send menu
- Send to Cutting machine
Adding a Border
Follow steps 1 – 5 as outlined above
- Open Offset menu (icon looks like a star within a star)
- Highlight the image you want to offset
- Select Offset
- Play with the Distance to determine how wide you want your border
Do no group the image and border at this point
- Go to the Send menu
- Highlight the image inside of the offset border (that you just created)
- Choose No Cut (on *just* the image inside the border)
- Go back to the Design menu
- Group the image and the border
- Resize as needed/desired
- Turn on registration marks (see 8 above under “The Basics”)
- Print the file to your printer
- Place printed image on cutting mat and load into your machine
- Select the Send menu and cut the image
Creating Sticker Sheets
Follow steps 1 – 9 from “The Basics” (or 1 – 12 if adding a border)
- Arrange stickers in Silhouette Design Studio as preferred
- Place generic square border around images (using the square tool from the left hand side bar)
- Open Line Style menu
- Select the Line Colour menu
- Highlight the square border and select a new colour, e.g. blue
- (Borders around stickers will automatically be red so make sure to choose a different colour)
- Click on the Send menu
- Select the Line menu and here you will see your different colour lines
- Remove check mark from colours you don’t want cut
- Make sure to adjust the material as needed (e.g. blue = cardstock, red = sticker paper)
- Print and cut stickers (as indicated above)
I hope you found this tutorial useful. You can use these instructions to cut my monthly freebie stickers (which you have access to as a Subscriber, otherwise you can sign up below). In the YouTube video I specifically show you how you can cut my stickers (if you need an extra bit of help).
Please let me know if there are any other tutorials you would like to see.
Talk soon!
