Hi there! I have been looking into getting an electronic cutting machine to cut my stickers with. I think I'm going to get a Cricut Explore One, but I can't find information on how to do the white border around an image to make a sticker. I was wondering if you could help? I understand if you're busy. Thanks!
Heyo! I don’t know how the Cricut software works as I use a Silhouette, but hopefully their functions are similar! Here’s how to get the white border (how to set up a design for cutting, really)…
Open up the sticker design in Photoshop or whatever program you’re using. Make sure the canvas has enough space around it for a border.
If using Photoshop, select the image layer and go to Layer Effects > Stroke.
Set the stroke to about 30px (adjust to your liking–this is what I use for images drawn at about 1800px @ 350dpi) wide and white as the color.
Alternatively, for those not using Photoshop, hold Ctrl & click the layer so that the entire outline of that layer becomes a selection (this works in Manga Studio too, which is the only other art program I’ve used, but do whatever your art program uses to achieve the same effect).
Expand that selection to 30px.
So that the selection looks something like this:
With the selection still active, create a new layer under the image and fill with white.
Whichever method you use, your image should now look like this (black background added temporarily to show the white):
Tip: if your design has a lot of sharp corners or edges, I recommend rounding them out further if the border doesn’t already do that for you. Depending on the sticker paper you use, it might snag when the blade does any sharp turns and will ruin your sticker…
Merge all layers so that it is one, flat layer with no effects and transparency preserved (when using the layer effect in Photoshop, what I do is create a blank layer above the image and then merge the two). Ctrl & click the layer to select around the image again, then resize your canvas to the bounds of the layer.
In Photoshop, it’s Image > Crop:
Your canvas should now look like this:
Deselect the layer. Save this as “image-name.png”. It must be a .png to preserve the transparency.
After saving, lock the pixels for the layer.
This sets up the layer so that color only appears on opaque areas of that layer. Color fill that entire layer to black.
Save this as “image-name-black.png”.
You’re done in Photoshop (or other art program), so now it’s time to open up the cutter software. In this case, I’ll be using Silhouette Studio. Open up the all-black version onto a new canvas and resize it to your desired sticker size.
Tile the design so that it takes up as much cuttable space as possible (or add other black-out designs if you have them). Some rotating and Tetris-ing may be needed. Silhouette has these neat tools that make so that you don’t need to paste and resize each copy individually (and I’m hoping Cricut has something similar).
Make sure your guides (registration marks) are visible so you don’t place the design somewhere the cutter can’t reach.
This is what your canvas should now look like:
Hide the guide marks, then go to the trace tools and select the entire area of the blacked out design.
When selected, a yellow outline should appear around each black shape, like so:
Note that the yellow will only detect the color black, which is why you made a blacked out shape earlier instead of just using the design itself. Uncheck “High Pass Filter” so that the yellow covers the entire black shape.
Click “Trace Outer Edge”. This will create a red border (the actual cut line) around the black shapes (very hard to see at this point, but trust me, they’re there).
Now, carefully click each black shape so that they’re all selected (you can’t drag and select because weird stuff will happen, as I’ll demonstrate a bit later). Be very careful to not drag any shapes out of place as you click them all!
Now go into your design library and if you haven’t already done so, import the design from earlier with the white border. Click on it in your library and it will replace all the selected black shapes.
(Here is what happens if you just dragged to select all the black shapes, oops! Don’t do that.)
And now you can see the red cut lines, too. The red is where the blade will go, and if everything is done right, you’ll get that white border around the design.
Now bring back the guide marks and cut away!
I won’t provide any blade-specific settings because all papers are different. Experiment and see what works for you!
This should hopefully help you out with your sticker adventures! Feel free to ask more questions if you’re still stuck.
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