Using Your Own Designs in Silhouette Tutorial + Template!

Hey all, it's Pam here! I know it has been a long, long, long time since I shared a template with you all! I have double the fun today. Not only am I sharing a template but I will be showing you how to turn your own designs created in Photoshop (one example of a program you can use) into your own cuttable files in Silhouette! That is one of the reasons I purchased my Silhouette.. I love to create my own designs.  Now I don't have to handcut them, I can send them to my machine. How happy does this make me? A happy camper. That also means that if you have the die cut machine you can do this too!!  Btw- you can also create your own designs in Silhouette but you can't do as many cool things.

So let's get started. First I am going to share with you my layout and a link to the digital layered template and also a link to the JPEG file you will need for this tutorial. This is so those who want to use it digitally can, and those that want to use it on their Silhouette can. Here is a link to the files:
http://www.4shared.com/photo/Md7HxHdF/Pam_C_vine_template_JPEG.html
http://www.4shared.com/photo/tS7Aiqrl/Pam_C_vine_template_PSD.html

Let's start the tutorial!  (Note: the template looks slightly different than the one I provided for download, but just ignore that, I used this version for my page).

1. First here is a version of my template I created in Photoshop Elements. After you are done creating your image, save it in BOTH PDS and JPEG. The second photo is saved in JPEG form. We will need this JPEG form for the Silhouette because it needs a flat file without layers.

2. Next, open up your Silhouette program. Go to OPEN under FILE. Now at the bottom of the pop up box you will see "Files of Type", it will be set on Silhouette Studio. Click and change it to JPEG. You should've already either downloaded my Pam C Vine Template JPEG file above or created your own design. You will see it where you placed in on your computer and open it.

3. This is what it will look like opened. You can't cut it like this but you will be able to in a minute!! :) On the top bar on the right you will see the command "Open Trace Window".. click on that.

4. Now, click on the "Select Trace Area" and take your mouse and hold down the LEFT click and move it over the entire area of the image. This is the image that you will see.

5. On the panel to the right you will see a bunch of options. UNCLICK the High Pass Filter and CLICK the Low Pass Filter. The only thing you are going to move is the THRESHOLD. Move that all the way over to the the number 77. You will see this image below.

6. Now with that highlighted, press the TRACE button. You can now pull out your old image and put it to the side like I did below and your file is all ready to be cut (in red). Cut it like you normally do!!

Congrats you are done!! Easy huh? Hope you enjoy this feature! Let me know if you have any questions!

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