Using Designs from Silhoutte Studio with Cricut Design Space

Yes You Can – Silhouette Studio with Cricut Design Space

People ask me all the time if it is possible to use the designs from Silhouette Studio with Cricut Design Space. The answer is Absolutely Yes!

In this tutorial, I am going to walk you through the steps. I am going to offer you a lot of pictures so that you fully understand the process. The process isn’t hard, but there are several steps involved.

Let’s This Process Together.

Upload Requirements – Cricut Design Space

Let’s start by looking at the upload requirements for Cricut Design Space.

There are a couple of different ways you get designs to use in Cricut Design Space. One method is direct upload.

Direct Upload

When we talk about direct upload, we also need to talk about file types.

The file types that can be uploaded to Cricut Design Space are JPeg, GIF, PNG, BMP, SVG, and DXF.

Using Designs from Silhouette Studio with Cricut Design Space

There is a little confusion about the DXF files. Here is a question I get asked all the time. If Silhouette Studio and Cricut Design Space both take DXF files, can any Silhouette File be uploaded to Cricut Design Space?

The answer is yes and no.

It is true that Silhouette will accept a DXF file as an upload. It is also true that Cricut Design Space will accept a DXF file as an upload. But when you try and save the Silhouette file to your hard drive there is a problem.

Okay, but isn’t the point of this tutorial to show you how to use files from Silhouette Studio with Cricut Design Space?

Yes, that is true. The answer to the question was yes and no, this is the no part of the answer. Part of learning how to do something is knowing what will work and what won’t work.

Take a look at the example below for a better understanding.

Here is a design that I picked from my Silhouette Studio Library.

I opened this window by clicking on the square box under the design file.

There is good information here. I have the name of the designer and the design #.

Having this information is useful because now I can go back to that designer and look for similar designs in the same style. I can also go back and purchase the SVG or Commercial license if I choose.

Double-clicking on the design will open the design to Silhouette Studio.

This is how you save a Silhouette file to your hard drive.

When you want to save a design from Silhouette Studio to your hard drive, go to File – Save As – Hard Drive

When saving Silhouette designs to your hard drive, you have several file options.

• Silhouette Studio Version 2 or 3
• SVG – PNG – JPeg
• GSP
• Portable File Document – PDF

Let’s give the design a name – Easter Bunnies and save it as a PNG file.

When you save a file as PNG to the hard drive, there will be a pop-up message. It allows you to make some adjustments to the file and choose a transparent background if that is what you want.

This is what the PNG design will look like when opened in Adobe Illustrator. That white rectangle in the picture is the artboard.

As you can see, the blue square around the image is the bounding box. Image trace at the top of the screen is activated.

The file name is in the tab and you know that it is an SVG because that is the extension after the file name.

Here is what the design looks like when it is uploaded to Adobe Photoshop.

Now let’s save the design as a PNG.

The pop-up window gives you a very different message when you try an save a design to your hard drive as an SVG file.

This is what the design looks like when uploaded to Adobe Illustrator.

The design is completely unusable.

This is Silhouette protecting their designers.

Okay, now that you know what not to do, let’s talk about how to use designs from Silhouette Studio with Cricut Design Space.

Start by Purchasing the SVG Format

Designs are purchased from the Silhouette Store. Silhouette Studio is a software program that you can download. Silhouette Studio has a FREE version and 2 paid versions of the software. I have the top-tier Business Edition and it is well worth the money.

But you do not need to own a Silhouette die-cutting machine to use either the FREE Version of the software or the 2 paid versions of the software.

You are able to use this software with any of your Cricut machines.

Okay, let’s go over to the Silhouette Store and get a file for my Cricut Maker.

Disclaimer – how to download Silhouette Studio to your computer and get started is outside the scope of this tutorial and will be covered in another tutorial.

Here is a cute Saint Patrick’s Day Design that I would like to have.

Notice in the pic that there is a check box for SVG.

What does this check box mean? By checking this box, I will get the Silhouette File Version and I will get the SVG Version for this file.

Checking this box will add $0.37 to the cost of this file. That is a bargain.

The pic below is what my cart looks like in the Silhouette Store.

After Checkout you will get a Password Prompt.

The Silhouette Store will accept your password and a new thank you window will open.

I have the box checked for automatically downloading to my computer.

Now a pop-up window will open and you need to save the file to your hard drive.

There is no need to upload these files to your Silhouette Studio. The files will automatically be added to your Silhouette Studio Library in a Recent Downloads file.

I save my files to a Silhouette folder located on my external hard drive.

When this window pops up, I need to check that the file is being saved to the correct folder. I can check the file name.

All I need to do now is click on the save tab.

If you do not have a file to put your files in and you need to make a new folder, there is a New Folder Icon at the top left corner of the pop-up window.

There is no need to upload these files to your Silhouette Studio. The files will automatically be added to your Silhouette Studio Library in a Recent Downloads file.

Uploading to Cricut

Now that we have purchased the SVG design from Silhouette Studio, let’s upload it to Cricut Design Space.

Opening Cricut Design Space – Finding the Cricut App

I like to keep my Cricut Design Space on my taskbar. It is right there beside Silhouette Studio and I can always find it.

But what if you have placed it on your taskbar, how do you find it?

There is a Windows Icon at the bottom of your screen in the taskbar. I am working in Windows. It may be different if you are working on a Mac.

Click on the Windows Icon. Type Cricut into the Search Bar and hit enter.

Once you find the Cricut App, you will be given several options. I choose “Pin to Taskbar” for my option. But you can choose “Open” if that is what you need.

Opening the Cricut App – Getting Started

Now you can either click on Open if you are still in Windows Pop Up, or you can double click on the Cricut Icon in the taskbar.

Cricut will open automatically and you will see the Home Screen. You have a couple of choices. You can click on the hamburger in the top left corner which will allow you to open the Cricut Canvas. Or you can click on the New Project button in the top right corner. This will also bring you to the Cricut Canvas.

Once on the Cricut Canvas, you need to click on Upload Icon.

The Cricut upload screen will look like this. You will have the option to drag and drop the designs or you can browse your computer.

For this example, I am going to browse my computer.

I created a folder when I uploaded the Silhouette Files. I will browse the computer and find the folder. The pop-up window shows me both designs.

I am selecting the first design and then clicking on the OPEN tab.

Now the first design is uploaded. Cricut will return you to the upload screen. You can see the first design in the Recent Uploads.

I going to do the same thing again. I am going to click on the UPLOAD tab. This time when the pop-up window appears I will click on the second design and then click on the OPEN tab.

Cricut will again return you to the UPLOAD screen and you will see both images in the Recent Uploads.

Bringing these designs into Cricut Design Space is very easy.

In the image below, I clicked on one design, then Shifted Clicked on the other design. That is why you can see bounding boxes around each design. This means that they are both selected.

Tip – you can look at the Selections Tab at the bottom of the screen to see what designs have been selected. You can delete selections by clicking on those “X’s”.

The only thing left to do is click on the ADD TO CANVAS tab.

This will bring the design from Silhouette into your Cricut Studio and you are ready to go.

That Was Easy – Using Silhouette Studio with Cricut Design Space

I have been teaching for more than 40 years. I love the delightful expressions from my students when they learn something new.

My style of teaching involved detail and I try to anticipate all questions when I am putting together a tutorial. But I sometimes miss a question or two.

That is what the comment box is for! If you have any questions, or if there is something that you are confused about, please let me know and I will answer all your questions.

Until next time,

Happy Crafting.