How to Slice On Cricut – Complete Written and Video Cricut Design Space Tutorial!

Learn all you need to know about how to slice on Cricut including how to slice a shape in half, how to slice out words, and how to slice on iPad.

With this edition of Cricut Design Space 101, we are going to be talking all about how to slice in Cricut Design Space. Slice is one of my favorite tools in CDS and I’m going to show you why!

Slice is one of the main editing functions within the Cricut Design Space software and is super useful in a variety of ways. There are a ton of different ways to use slice with a Cricut machine so it’s hard to show you everything.

I put together the five most common ways I use slice to give you an overview of how to slice on Cricut Design Space and why you might have problems when trying to slice.

This is going to be a long and in-depth post with a ton of screenshots so get comfy… coffee or wine, whichever, I don’t judge! I also have a YouTube video tutorial at the bottom of the post if you want to see everything in action, plus a short video at the top of the post.

How to Slice an Image in Half on Cricut

One of the most common uses of the slice feature is to cut an image or shape in half. When I first started using design space, I kept getting frustrated that there wasn’t just a scissor or cut tool to make a line and cut.

Once I figured out that I needed to use slice and two full shapes, it made much more sense.

So let’s look at how to cut a circle in half to create a semicircle.

Click on the Shapes menu button on the left side and insert a circle.

To try and get it exactly a half of circle, I changed the size to 4 inches at the top and then placed the circle in between the 1 inch and 5 inch line so I could tell easily where the center was.

Insert a square from the shapes panel and make it larger than the circle.

Now move the square or rectangle so that the top of it is resting on the 3 inch grid line (the center of the circle).

Now you need to select both layers in one of the ways I mentioned above. I hold down my mouse key while dragging a box over both shapes.

You’ll also notice that both layers in the layer panel turn gray which means they are selected. The image on the bottom of the layers panel will be cut.

Now click on Slice.

Notice the slice result. The two overlapping pieces will both cut apart and you will be left with two (one of each shape). You’ll also notice you now have four layers in the layers panel on the right.

Simply click on the image and click on the X to delete whichever parts you no longer needed. I deleted both of the dark gray images.

Now I have two semi circles to move around and use as needed!

To create orange or other fruit slices, you could insert triangles and slice them out of the semicircle. Sometimes you have to look at images differently to find an easy way to design them using just shapes and the editing tools!

You can use the slice feature with any kinds of shape, like a heart shape, star shape, or square.

How to Slice on Cricut on iPad

Again when using Cricut Design Space on your iPad, select the two shapes by dragging your finger across both of them.

Then click on the Actions tab on the bottom and then on Slice with your finger or an Apple pencil.

You’ll see the sliced out overlapping parts. Use your finger or pencil to drag the pieces to the side and then tap on the X to delete the extra pieces.

And now you have your new cut paths which are two semicircles on your tablet.

The slice tool splits the image which is super cool!

How to Slice Words on Cricut

So probably the next most common use of the slice function is cutting words or text out of images (or shapes).

This is useful if you want the color of the text to be the same as the shirt you are putting iron on vinyl on or to cut a name or saying out of a gift tag.

I used the slicing tool when cutting out the words Mom 2014 of the Minnie Mouse head so that the pink color of the shirt showed through. I also used it to create my son’s Zooming into 4th Grade shirt with Infusible Ink.

The first thing you’ll need to do in CDS is to find the image, cut file, or shape you want the name or text sliced out of. For this example, I inserted a heart.

Then insert a text box and type the word you want, I typed Emma. Position or use the Alignment drop-down menu to center the name and the heart.

Now select both images and click on Slice.

Move the sliced out name over to the side and click the X to delete each layer.

Now your Cricut will cut out the heart and also the letters of the name. So if you were to put this design on a yellow tshirt, the name Emma will be yellow. (I used templates on the left side to choose a shirt to illustrate the point!).

Creating New Shapes in Design Space

You can also use different shapes to create almost anything you’d like including new images! Slice isn’t just to cut shapes in half. Let’s look at making different corners.

For this example, I inserted a square and star and changed the color of one so you could see them better.

I placed the star on the corner of the square and used my mouse to select both shapes. Again, you’ll notice both layers turn gray on the layers panel when they are selected.

Click on Slice on the bottom right.

Again, the sliced part is the overlap of the two shapes.

Move the sliced pieces apart and delete whichever you don’t need.

Now the original shape is left with a pointed corner. Repeat for each corner if you want all the corners to be the same.

More Ways to Use Slice in Cricut Design Space

Here are a few other ways to use the slice function to manipulate files you might find in Cricut Access or SVG files online.

Most of these changes can also be made using the contour tool, but before I really knew what the contour tool did I used sliced for everything! Usually, there are multiple ways to do the same thing in the design space software, find your favorite and use it!

So I found a cute image in Cricut Access and let’s say I decided I didn’t want the word Hot Cocoa in it. Or conversely, maybe you just want the word Hot Cocoa and not the box around it.

I inserted a square from the shape button on the left. Click on the lock icon on the lower left of the square. This will unlock it so now you can change the size any way you want.

Pull on the 4 arrows on the bottom right to extend the rectangle to cover the words Hot Cocoa.

Now select both images by dragging your cursor over them and then click on Slice.

You’ll see the letters of Hot Cocoa already sliced out of the rectangle.

Move the layers apart and delete the ones you don’t want. Now you can use either just the word Hot Cocoa or the box.

What about slicing images with multiple layers? I do have a video tutorial on how I sliced Disney images to turn them into a split image with a name you can check out if you want. It’s a few years old so Design Space will look different!

As I mentioned before, Design Space will only let you slice two layers. If you have more than one layer in the image you want to slice, you’ll have to Ungroup the image and slice each layer one at a time.

Or if you don’t want to keep all the layers you can use the weld tool to turn two layers into one before using slice.

To illustrate how to slice multiple layers on Cricut, I grabbed an image with two layers from Cricut Access. Remember I do show all these slicing steps in the YT video at the bottom so make sure to watch it if the pictures don’t make sense!

So say I don’t want the wreath image on each side. I only want one in the middle. (Again this can be accomplished with the contour tool also, but we’re working with slice here!)

You’ll notice if I insert a box, place it over the left wreath and try to slice that the slice button is actually grayed out and won’t even let me press it.

This is because I actually have THREE Layers selected… the square, the red layer, and the green layer. You can tell that by all three layers in the layers panel on the right are gray.

So we need to work with each layer individually. Make sure the file is Ungrouped (Ungroup button is on the top right panel).

Since these two layers totally overlap, I find it easiest to HIDE a layer.

Simply click on the Eye Icon on the right side of the layers panel for that particular image. In this case, I hid the red layer. You’ll notice there is a slash through the eye icon when there are hidden layers.

So now I can select the green wreath layer and the square and click on slice without issue!

Click the X to delete off all the sliced layers.

Repeat the same exact steps to delete off the right wreath. Place a square over it, select both, and click on slice. Then delete off the extra.

Now you can click on eye icon again to Unhide the red layer.

Now we want to get rid of all those red dots and stars so we are going to repeat the same process with the red layer.

Hide the green wreath by clicking on the eye icon. Then insert a square and place it over all the dots on the left making sure not to overlap any of the words. You can resize and rotate the square if need be to only overlap the parts you want sliced!

Select both layers and click on Slice.

X out all the layers to delete them. The large image will probably move in front so sometimes it can be hard to click on the small layer. You can always click on the image on the layers panel and then click on your backspace. (I go over this in the video.)

Repeat for the other side.

Now unhide the green layer. Group everything back together if you need to make size adjustments.

So another way to use the slice function is so you have the ability to move parts of premade images around.

What the heck am I talking about?? Let’s take what we’re left of the Santa Snacks file we were just using.

Say I want to move the word Carrot under the other words and center them all.

I hide the green wreath layer to make sure I don’t accidentally grab it and then wonder “why can’t I slice on Cricut??”.

I insert a square and place it over the word Carrots. I select both the red image and the square and click on Slice. Delete off the extra sliced pieces.

Now “carrots” is it’s own layer and I can move it around as I want!

But I also want to move Cookies and Milk around. I add a rectangle large enough to cover both words, select both, and click on Slice. Delete off the sliced images and now I can move around those images also!

See how I can just click on the “Cookies Milk” words and a rectangle is only around those words? That means that it is it’s own element now.

I move the “Cookies Milk” layer under the middle wreath and then moved “Carrot” under that. I selected all of them and clicked on the Alignment button on the top and selected Center Horizontally.

Now when I unhide the green layer, I am left with what I want! A new layout for a previous file all done with the slice function.

I could even delete off the word Carrot if I don’t want that. So many design possibilities to make it exactly how you want it!

Cropping Pictures with Slice

Another cool way to use the slice tool is to crop images or cut a picture out from a photo.

I inserted a family photo from last Christmas wearing our Infusible Ink pajama tops and I want to crop off the right side.

I insert a rectangle and make it large enough to overlap the part I want to cut off.

I moved the picture so that the rectangle side edge was where I wanted the photo cropped.

I selected both of the them and clicked on Slice.

Move the pieces and delete off the extra and you are left with an image cropped in Cricut Design Space.

Now let’s say, I want a little punch out of just one of my kid’s head to make a sticker with it.

I inserted a circle from the Shape button, sized it to fit right over his cute face. Then I dragged my cursor over both the photo and the circle and clicked on slice.

And now I have a little cut out picture!

Whew, that was a lot! I know you might be on design space overload but I hope these examples give you some ideas of how you can use Cricut slice.

If that wasn’t enough and you want even more, you can check out Cricut.com’s info on slice.

How to Slice on Cricut Video Tutorial

As promised, here is a video tutorial of me going through the majority of the slice examples I listed above in Cricut Design Space.

If you’d like to save this tutorial on how to slice on Cricut for later or share you can PIN It now! If you are on a desktop hover over the top left of the image below and if you are on a phone simply tap on the image and a PIN It button will pop up to click on!

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!