Trick to Getting a Perfect Print and Cut on Silhouette

Guess what...I'm taking the day off! Yup...totally handing the blog overto my friends We're Becky and Glenna from My Paper Craze. I know you'll give them another warm welcome as they take it from here! 

Hi there! We're Becky and Glenna and we're honored to share a Silhouette tutorial with you today! We started off as paper crafters before we discovered the all-powerful Silhouette electronic cutting machines. While we tinkered with a little of everything, we {LOVED} making handmade cards and scrapbook layouts.

With that little intro said, our whole world of paper crafting opened up when we discovered the Print and Cut feature of our beloved Silhouette cutting machine. Not familiar with this fabulous feature? To sum it up, Print and Cut allows you to combine your printer and your Silhouette to create awesome printed die cut images. You simply set up your design in the Silhouette Studio, work your cut lines, print on your own printer, then cut with your Silhouette. For the full tutorial, check out Silhouette Print and Cut Tutorial for Beginners! After you have a chance to look over Melissa's wonderful tutorial, we'll let you in on a little secret... The Secret to the Perfect Print and Cut!

So first, you may be asking yourself, "What's wrong with a regular Print and Cut?" Well, technically nothing. {EXCEPT} on the occasional whim when our printed design doesn't line up exactly 100% with the cut on the Silhouette, resulting in those ugly white lines surrounding your image. I know, I know, it's so hard to imagine that our beautiful Silhouette would be capable of such a catastrophe... but it happens from time to time. So, with a few extra steps, you can be sure that your Print and Cuts always come out perfectly.

First, set up your image in the Silhouette Studio. If you need a refresher on this, give the Silhouette Print and Cut Tutorial for Beginners a look-see. Once you have your outer cut line set up, select it with your curser and use the offset function to create an outline.

Once you have the shape offset, go ahead and fill the shape with the same color as the image's original outline. In my example, my word bubble is outlined in black, so I fill my shape offset with black as well. If you are unsure of the color, don't forget you can use the eye-drop shape to select the color you need.

Once the shape is filled, make sure you use the "Send to Back" function to move it behind your design.

Once your design is set up with an outline cut line and an offset, you'll need to change your cut line settings so that the offset DOES NOT cut. This is easily achieved by selecting the outermost cut line, selecting the cut line function, then choosing "No Cut".

Is it starting to become more clear what separates this from a regular Print and Cut? Exactly! The offset color eliminates the white, so even if the cut is slightly off, you still don't have that ugly black line! Let's take a look at some before and after.

So, let's recap. In an ideal world, the Silhouette would be completely flawless and perfect in every way. But when you come back to real life, there is one major draw back to the Print and Cut feature... occasionally it doesn't line up exactly the way we need it. I know, try not to faint. But enter stage right... an easy and perfect solution for all Print and Cut images with a solid border. We hope you enjoyed our simple little tutorial.

We sure love "substituting" here at the Silhouette School! Interested to see what I'm doing with this particular Print and Cut word bubble? Head on over to my blog to see what fun goodness we have coming right around the corner! Here's a sneak peek...

A huge {THANK YOU} to Melissa for hosting our guest post today! We truly love the Silhouette School and all the wonderful tutorials she provides! Thanks to you, our reader, for giving us an opportunity today. Hope to see you again soon!

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing products through my links, I received a small commission. That's what helps fund Silhouette School so I can keep buying new Silhouette-related products to show you how to get the most out of your machine! 

Thanks for coming to class today at Silhouette School.  If you like what you see, I'd love for you to pin it!