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How to make Paper Cut Gift Tags
Customize your products or decorate personal gifts!

Posted by Annyamarttinen • Published 3rd October 2017 • See Annyamarttinen's 7 projects »

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Step 1
Create a design in Adobe illustrator using the pen tool. This tool is very similar to the tool used in Silhouette studio except you have a lot more freedom and options. Keep in mind the nature of the cutting lines on paper and make sure that the details and shapes you use make sense with how the silhouette will cut your design. A common mistake is cutting a design into many different shapes but they will not hold together as one piece. Also, make sure to include a hole in your design to be able to string the cut out onto a parcel. You can find an example of this above in the gift tag that I created.
Step 2
Get rid of your fill and stroke colours by setting them to ‘none’. You should be left with a blank art board but when you hover your cursor over where your design was it should highlight your design.
Step 3
Save your design! Go to File>Export. Create a name for your file. Before hitting ‘export’, select from the ‘format:’ dropdown menu on the bottom of the window and save it as AutoCAD Interchange File (dxf). The extension on your new file should end in ‘.dxf.
Step 4
Open up Silhouette Studio! Select File>Open and then locate your dxf file. Now you will want to resize your tag to be the size you want to have it cut. Silhouette Studio is good for this because it automatically shows you how big your design is in inches when you select it. To resize your design, click the design and select the left arrow while holding shift (to keep the proportions correct) and drag your mouse left or right depending on if you want it smaller or larger.
Step 5
You are ready to cut! You can add as many as you want on the page also by copy and pasting your design. Set up your paper on your cutting mat and insert it into the machine. Select “send to silhouette’. From here, adjust the cut setting to the thickness of the paper you are using.
Step 6
After it cuts, make sure to be careful while you peel the paper off of the mat.

Enjoy your custom gift tag!