How to Make Reusable Stencils with Silhouette CAMEO | VIDEO

Ever wonder how to make DIY reusable stencils with Silhouette CAMEO? If you create a stencil with vinyl you can use it once then you have to throw it out. 

But if you use the right material you can make a DIY stencil for wood signs that you can use over and over again!  Look no further than your laminator.

Dollar Store Stencil 'Vinyl' Material for Silhouette

I am so excited to share this little tip with you today because it's gonna save you some money and there's not much I like more than a deal!  The Dollar Tree and Deals sell rolls of Con-Tact Quick Cover Clear Self-Adhesive Shelf Liners for just $1 ($2 at Deals) that is a great substitute for Silhouette Stencil Vinyl.  

The sticky Clear Cover has a backing that can be peeled off after it's cut - just like vinyl - and then transferred to another surface for stenciling. 

10 Places to Find FREE Silhouette Cut Files

Call me cheap, call me tricky...call the trace feature my BFF! It's true...pretty much the last place I look for Silhouette cut files and design is the Silhouette Online Store.   There are so many other places you can find free designs and cut files, why would I spend my .99 there if I don't have to?  I'd rather save my craft fund for supplies I can't get for free!

Today I'm going to let you in on my 10 favorite places to find FREE Silhouette Cut Files and Designs!  

#1 Google Search - I always stop by Google first and do a Google image.  Just a few key words and I can usually find something that will work for the design I'm looking for. Any JPG, PNG, or GIF can be brought into Silhouette Studio and traced to be made into a cut file which means the possibilities are pretty much endless!  Here's an example of a google image I found and then traced in Studio for a print and cut file project.  
 
#2 PicMonkey - When I want to design my own images instead of using a stock image from Google I turn to PicMonkey.  There are a huge selections of free fonts, designs, labels, decals, shapes, and overlays. that you can use to make a custom design.   You can get access to all of the designs and fonts by upgrading to the Royale package - it's just $33 for the year.  PicMonkey designs are great for both print and cut projects as well as cut files - just save a jpeg and bring into Studio to trace. Here are a few examples of ways I've turned PicMonkey designs into Silhouette cut files.  

Stop Wasting Silhouette Vinyl: Get 3 Projects from 1 Cut {And a Giveaway}

If you follow our sister DIY site, Two It Yourself, you may recognize that chair.  It found the chair along the side of the road months ago and recently made it over in about 15 minutes.  Not even joking.  I may only be slightly exaggerating when I say it took me longer to weed the vinyl design than it did to paint this chair.

Anyway, after the chair was painted black I wanted to add a vinyl monogram to the seat.  I created the design - for free - in PicMonkey.  Click here for details on cutting PicMonkey designs in Silhouette Studio.

When my design was all ready to go I put my vinyl - with the backing still on - onto my cutting mat.  You do not need to use a cutting mat for vinyl, but I like to when I can.

How to Cut PicMonkey Designs in Silhouette Studio

I'm so excited to share this fun tutorial with you today because it combines two of my favorite programs - PicMonkey and Silhouette Studio.  If you're not familiar with PicMonkey, it's a free online photo editing and design website.  The graphics, designs, and fonts are outstanding and the capabilities when it comes to photo editing are endless.  Any screen grab you see on Silhouette Studio that has things circled or arrows or text..it's all powered by PicMonkey :)   Today I'm going to show you how to bring designs you've made in PicMonkey over to Silhouette Studio.

Since PicMonkey is free to use the designs are free, as well, for personal use.   Today I'm going to show you how to turn a basic PicMonkey design into a cut file.

Go to PicMonkey.com.  Click Design at the top.

On the left side click the butterfly icon to open up the overlays (designs).

Scroll through until you find a design you like.  I am desperately wishing for spring so I'm going to make three flowers.  I pulled over my flower designs from the bursting blossoms set and then added stems from leafy greens set.  I resized and got my design all ready in PicMonkey.

Now save your design by clicking 'Save' in the gray toolbar at the top.  Name the file and make sure it saves as .jpeg.

Open up Silhouette Studio and at the same time navigate to the folder where your PicMonkey design saved.  Click the name of the file and drag it into Silhouette Studio.  For more help on importing a JPEG into Silhouette Studio click here.  It's going to come in looking enormous so use the corner squares to make it small enough to fit in your Studio work area.

Click the 'Open the Trace Window' icon (circled) at the top. Then click 'Select Trace Area'.

Now use your mouse to draw a box around your design.   A yellow highlight will now appear around your entire design.  From the trace area menu click the 'trace' button.  If you only want only the outline of your design then you would choose 'Trace Edge' instead.

A thin red outline now appears around your design.  You can now grab your original design and pull it out of the way to delete it.

You can cut now if you're ready or you may need to do a little bit of cleaning up on the design.  You can see that the leaves have a double line.  I don't like when my designs cut that way so I'm going to fix it by right clicking > release compound path.  Now I can move the inner part of that leaf out of the design and delete it so I get a cleaner cut that's easier to work with. I also want to make sure that the flower petals on the middle flower cut as one big line so I weld them together. (Click here for a basic welding tutorial.)

And when I'm ready, I can send the design to cut.

Here's how my flower designs cut on card stock.  Of course, you can cut on any medium you'd like...and the possibilities of use are endless!  It's always nice to have an extra free source of designs, isn't it?

Next week I'll be sharing a few more fun spring craft I made with some of these flowers.  Here's a sneak peek at how I used one...the tutorial is up now on our sister site Two It Yourself.

 Also, be on the lookout for a tutorial on how to turn PicMonkey design into print and cut files.  

By the way, if you decide you're a PicMonkey luvah, like I am, there is a paid upgraded version that unlocks more designs and fonts.  I think I paid about $33 for the year...totally worth it!

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

Note: This post contains affiliate links. By clicking you are helping to support Silhouette School. All opinions are 100% my own.