Cute silhouette cameo decor is so easy to create using your Cricut Explore Air 2! Make these silhouettes with your family pictures and enjoy them for years to come. 

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As I’ve mentioned before, I just got done remodeling my kitchen. With all the major items finished (counters, cabinets, floors) the last few things we have been working on are touching up the walls and adding new decor. I have been wanting some cute cameo silhouette paper cut-outs of my children to hang up and I decided they would look great on our wall above out dining table.

I made these cute cut out profiles using my Cricut Explore Air 2. All I did was take a picture with my phone, email it to myself, take out the background with some free photo editing software, then upload it to Cricut Design Space. I love that I was able to easily upload my own images and cut them out!

This project took me about an hour total to do. Here is what you will need to make your own.

DIY Silhouette Cameo Supplies 
(Click on any of the words below to purchase)

• Cricut Explore Air 2
• Black Cardstock (Or Truebrushed or Vinyl)
• LightGrip Cutting Mat
• Your own profile picture

First take a side profile picture of your subject. (This step is easier said than done with children!) You want it to be against a white background if possible so that taking out the background is much easier. I just took the photo in front of my pantry door.

UPDATE 10/2019: If you would like to skip the steps below, change your picture to black and white on your phone and then upload it directly into Design Space. You can use the tools in Design Space to remove the background. You can also still use the method below. 

 Next you will need to edit the picture on your computer. I emailed the photo to myself and simply opened it up on a free photo editing program called Gimp. Here are instructions if you also use Gimp. I’m sure other software is pretty similar.

First, use the scissor tool to select your subject’s profile. It took me a few minutes to play around with this, but the program does most of the work as it automatically choose most of your subject. You can also adjust the lines by clicking and dragging it if it is not quite where you like it. Make sure to go completely around the image and attach the first and last dot of your selection.

Then under the “Select” menu, click on “Invert” which will select the background. You can then delete out the background. Save your image and it’s now ready to be uploaded to Cricut Design Space.

Now you are going to add your image to your project in Cricut Design Space.

1) On a current or new project, click the “Upload Images” menu item on the left. Then click the “Upload Image” button.

2) Click on the Browse button and open up the folder where you have saved you image.

3)Now you will need to remove the background. There are three options: simple image, moderately complex and complex image. I chose simple image because I’ve already taken out the background and it is easy to see. You may notice that the colors of your picture change to only three colors. That’s okay as you are only needing the edge of your image, not the colors.

4)Click on the background pieces you want to erase. You should only need to click one time to erase the whole background. The background will change to blue checkers to indicate it is gone. Click on Next.

5) Save your image as a Cut Image. This will turn your image black and white. It will now appear in your Upload Images Library.

Now you are all ready to insert your image and cut it out!

I used black cardstock for my image but you could use any color. Insert your uploaded image and adjust the size to whatever you desire. Now select Cardstock on your machine’s dial and cut it out.

That’s it! You are done! Put it in a frame and you have some great new decor. These would also make great Christmas ornaments or gifts.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.