Life is funny....just discussing this and BAM! Here it is on the Silhouette Blog.

Isn't life funny sometimes?  After discussing this with Mo, I come home and checked out the Silhouette Blog.  What do you know, here is a great tutorial on exactly what I needed.  LIFE IS GREAT!!!!

Straight from the blog...

A lot of people asked at CHA if you could create your own print and cut. The answer is YES!!! I have found that the easiest way to do this, is by bringing in an image with a white background. Then you do not have to compete with the "noise" in the back to get your super close, crisp outline.

Ok lets get started! From the Insert menu choose "File". Grab the image you want to use from the location you have saved it to. This file should be only a jpeg or bmp file. Once you have selected your file drop it into your document. Here I have a letter size document with a landscape layout.

Next go to your Edit menu and choose "Get Outline". Your image will come up looking something like this. Any white space you see will be cut out. Since I want the entire image of my dog to remain and just have an outline cut around him, I want to change the amount of white space I see within my dog image.

To do this you must change the "Threshold" move the scroll bar left or right depending on what you want to have cut out. I am going to move the scroll bar to the right to create more black in my image to allow for a crisp outline.

I don't want to add too much as I will loose the shape of my dog see image below (you don't want this). You can no longer see a clean shape of the dog.

Now that I have the outline that I desire, click on "Convert to Outline" this will immediately take you to the document where you will now see your outline lines.

From here make sure you have added your registration marks so that your image will be prepared to cut from the Silhouette.

I am using Silhouette Dark Heat Transfer to print my image, as I will be ironing it onto a darker material. Print out your document using your printer. The registration marks will be printed onto your paper as well, allowing the Silhouette to find the correct cutting placement.

From here place on a mat and cut out your image. Our Dark Heat Transfer does not need to be mirrored as you will be removing the image from the backing and placing it directly onto the garment.

Now simply remove your image from the transfer paper and place onto your project.

Here is my finished project! I took a basic canvas tote and added my little doggie along with some new gorgeous colored heat transfer and a few rhinestones just to add a little sparkle. What will you come up with now that you have new found print and cut skills?

Other Shapes used:

flower_4petal_border_1224

ISN'T THIS TOO COOL!!!!!