Separating Images and Using the Slice Function in Cricut Design Space

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I don’t have a lot of time to design projects from scratch, but I often find things I can easily customize in Design Space. The Slice feature is a really helpful tool to remove part of an image. It can be used to cut text or images out of an image, but I find that most times attach is an easier and better option in that situation.

Dreaming Tree released this penguin gift card holder this past summer, and I knew it would be perfect for my son’s teachers. I don’t really do much with hearts outside of Valentine’s Day, and I didn’t have any rhinestone hearts, and so I decided to cut a snowflake from Cricut Access to go on the scarf. (This had the added benefit of being cheaper!)

The only catch was that the scarf image in the design has two little bumps to help position the heart. I didn’t want those bumps to show behind my snowflake, and this was easy to fix using the Slice tool.

First, I had to get the scarf image isolated. The scarf is a part of a group of three images. Design Space sees it as one uploaded image, and ungrouping won’t separate these images. This happens often with images from designers who create designs for multiple platforms. I have seen it a few times with designs that are already in Design Space. Fortunately, it’s easy to isolate the different pieces with the Contour tool.

In order to do this, ungroup, select the image (the square, hat, and scarf), and duplicate it twice. Notice I’m only duplicating the image, not the cut lines that will hold the gift card.

I’m only showing this set of images from this project to keep it simple.

Select one of the duplicates, then click “Contour.”

The Hide Contour box will pop up. Click on the square and the scarf to hide them. Click on the “x” to close the box.

Select other duplicate and click “Contour.”

Hide the square and the hat. Click the “x” to close the box.

Select the square and the gift card slits and attach.

Now, I’m ready to work on the scarf. Slicing splits two overlapping images, and so I need a shape to overlap the bumps I want to remove. I go to the Shapes menu and insert a circle. I size the circle large enough to cover the bumps and create a smooth cut line once the bumps are removed. I select the circle and the scarf, and click “Slice.”

Next, I select all three slice results (click while holding down the shift key). I delete those pieces.

The scarf is a smooth half-circle now, and all three images are separate. I can also make these images different colors so they go to different mats.

For one version, I cut the square out of paper to reduce the bulk of the card, and I cut the hat and scarf out of the double-sided card base cardstock.

Here’s a brief video that demonstrates these features:

The above post contains an affiliate link. For more information, please see my disclosures here.

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