Cutting Stickers - Portrait by Silhouette

Stickers - Print and Cut in Portrait

Howdy Crafters - I purchased the Silhouette Portrait Die Cutting machine last November, 2016. It has been one of the best investments for crafting - at least for me!  One thing I wanted to do was print & cut stickers - Did you know there are TONS of blogs that offer FREE Planner Stickers? Whether or not you own a Portrait - you could still print them off using your printer and then fussy cut with scissors.

Anywhoo, I found one blog that I am very fond of that has many, many free stickers and for the most part - nearly everyone that I have cut with my Silhouette machine has come out perfect. Some stickers I have to tweak or redo the outlines before printing and cutting.

My registration marks before cutting

Another thing I found with my Portrait [trial and error] is my page set up and registration marks. I was spending a lot of time holding the flashlight down near the blade to get my Silhouette to cut and this was after I entered the Manual Cutting. So far I found the correct settings that have been working for me - the Silhouette Portrait reads the Registration marks the FIRST time and cuts my stickers correctly on my new Epson printer xp-640.

I look forward to learning more about my Portrait by Silhouette. I am providing what I have learned in this posting that has worked for me. I hope you find something useful here ~ thank you for stopping by - be blessed ~ Gail ~ PS - if you look to the left of my blog I have a blog list of  links to download free stickers - some of these places you MIGHT have to sign up to receive the freebies -but most are there for you to download.

First - one of my favorite places to download free stickers is Vintage Glam Studio
The photos on this posting are stickers from her Frozen Treat Planner Sticker sheet.  I am not affiliated with Dru Cortex - I just love these stickers and her work - thank you Dru!

I use Digi Orange White Adhesive Labels [full blank sticker sheet ] purchased at Amazon - I also enlarge the stickers on my page.

Steps in how I print & cut stickers using my Silhouette Design Studio and Portrait  Die Cutting Machine

In the Silhouette Design Studio  - open a new Drawing Page -

These are the settings that work best for me: 

Width: 8.5

Height: 11.5

Custom

Portrait

Cutting Mat Portrait

Show Cut Border - The PRINT border is not necessary so I uncheck that box

Under FILE - select OPEN - Locate your PDF of stickers

Select PDF - OK - a box will pop up

Select - Import as Image - Select - 300 DPI

The PDF now pops on your mat in design studio 

Drag the PDF to the left side of page

Select TRACE window - Select TRACE AREA

Highlight the entire PDF File - [a Grey box should be covering the images]

Uncheck High Pass Filter

Slide the Threshold button to the right - make sure the images are bright yellow [be careful here - sometimes you need 100% - sometimes 100% makes them blurry  or covers the entire sheet- you need clear crisp yellow for each of your images]

Select TRACE OUTER EDGE [this is going to make the cut line around each image]

Highlight the entire PDF again

Select OBJECT button - Select - Modify - Select Crop - this will remove all of the white space and make each of the icons individual images - you will see the images with very light boxes around each image. [Note: I delete all of the additional writing and heading that was printed on the sticker sheet as it is not needed - however - I remember to SAVE my prepared sticker sheet with the designers name for reference]

If you forgot to set up your page - do this now. [Hint you can set up your page before bringing in your PDF and your registration marks page if that works best for you]

Set Up Registration Marks - Open the Registration Marks Window

STYLE - TYPE 1

Thickness - slide all the way to the RIGHT - mine reads 0.039

[Note: My machine is wacky so I have to move my top Insert down - not everyone has to do this - If I do not move it down -sometimes I cannot cut at all - go figure]

So here are the settings I use to set up my Registration page

Top Insert - 1.232 - this is the only one I change except for the Thickness

Now select the Sticker[s] you want to print.

Drag the first sticker to the sheet and within the red cut border of your page

Resize the sticker if you wish - larger or smaller

Highlight the sticker if you want more than one in a row - then select Replicate window to make a ROW of 4 stickers - look toward the bottom of the Replicate menu to create Rows or columns or full sheet of the same sticker Please note - you might need  to separate your stickers a bit after making rows or full sheet, otherwise they might cut into each other. [to check the cutting lines of the stickers: Highlight the stickers -  select Cut icon and then Select Cut Edge] Use the  Zoom in button to see if the cutting is too close - if not - then no need to separate the stickers.

To add more stickers of the same one in a row - highlight the last sticker and select Replicate window again - and then select row of 3 or row of 4 - if you get too many in a row on the page - they can be deleted.

Continue with all of the steps above for other stickers added to the page.

Once you have all of your stickers filled on the page [within the red cutting border] - highlight the entire page to check cutting: Cut Icon - Cut Edge - to be sure the cutting lines are not too close and all of your stickers are within the RED Cutting box on the page as well.

If everything looks OK - [all stickers are showing the red cut lines and all stickers are within the Red cut line box on your page] you are ready to PRINT the Stickers through your printer.

Go To FILE - Print - and then follow your normal printing steps - I print my stickers using Standard print from my Epson XP-640 Printer.

Cut the Stickers using the Portrait:

Remove the printed sheet of stickers from your printer and place the sticker page properly on the cutting mat.

Start with the upper left side of the border on the Portrait mat and make sure the sticker print out page is evenly placed on your mat before loading it into the Portrait Die Cutting machine.

Load the mat into the Portrait die cutting machine - Select Cut Button/icon - Select White Sticker Paper - make sure the blade is set correct - Blade 2 - [the Speed is -8 - and the Thickness 14 as default and I keep it that way - it works for me] Note: Some people are OK with the Blade being on 1 as I have read in my research - sometimes we have to fine what works best for us. I never tested number 1 for my blade. If it ain't broke - don't try to fix it - just saying. :)

Cut your stickers and enjoy.  Gail Scott - utb01@att.net

Please note - sometimes an artist does not have smooth cutting lines around their icons [I do not know the reason as I have not created an entire page of stickers from scratch[- and other times the lines are very smooth - I am learning more on how to correct this [getting better lines around a sticker],  but I am sure there is a You Tube video out there that will teach you if you are not happy with how the lines around the stickers are cutting. I can say for 100% - the lines on all of these stickers shown on this posting are very smooth - printed fast and cut fast! I am a happy camper - thanks again Dru!

Have fun with your Portrait and cutting stickers - I am!