svgs

made
simple
Learn how to find,
download, upload,
and modify SVG cut files

by award-winning graphic designer

and bestselling author

jenniferMaker
CUT ABOVE SVG Design Course by Jennifer Maker

SVGs Made Simple

Have you ever wanted to make the beautiful paper crafts you’ve seen around, or wondered why
some people can make amazing creations while others get SO frustrated?

Hey, I know you might be having issues. We all have them! But I’m also betting you love to make
things. Beautiful things! Just like me.

Hi, my name is Jennifer, founder of the CUT ABOVE SVG

Design Course and award-winning graphic designer at the
JenniferMaker.com blog. Welcome to my training series,
SVGs Made Simple.

Today, you’re going to learn all about SVG cut files and
how they can transform your crafts. You’ll also learn how
to find and download SVGs to help you cut and make
gorgeous, jaw-dropping creations. Once you get this
down, you’ll blow everyone away with the things you can
make … and you’ll also totally make someone’s day when
you give them something you made with your own two
hands.

That means if you are a Cricut or Silhouette owner who is

struggling with this whole “cut file” thing, you’re going to
be able to start making amazing creations right away with SVG cut files.

My goal for the Joy of SVGs training series is to help you make beautiful creations that you can use
to decorate your home and wow your friends and family. You are going to blow them away!

So are you ready? Let’s dive in!

About This Training Series

In this first training session, I’m going to tell you about SVG cut files and share with you my secrets
on how to find amazing ones, and my hope is that it will help you discover gorgeous designs so that
YOU can use to craft something special.

I developed this training video series because I saw so many people who are struggling with SVGs.
As many of you know, I design and share my free SVG cut files through my blog at JenniferMaker.
com.

Every day I get email from some lovely person who is so eager to make one of my designs, but they
just can’t figure out how to get from point A to point B.

Copyright Jennifer Maker | page 2 | please Do not copy or share

CUT ABOVE SVG Design Course by Jennifer Maker

Sometimes the issue is knowing where to find the file, but other times they struggle with
downloading them or even finding them after they’ve downloaded. It’s not always as easy as we’d
all like it to be.

But the reality is that I can relate to that struggle, because that has a lot to do with my story too.
The day I bought my Cricut, I took it out of the box, set it up, and did the first project. It was so
amazing!

But a couple of days later, I wanted to make something really beautiful, something that would just
make people go “wow!”

I looked around online and discovered

that it was possible to make flowers out of
paper. I had no idea you could make paper
flowers and I was instantly hooked.

But it was a total mystery to me. So I

started poking around online, and reading
blogs, and visiting sites, and eventually I
discovered a wonderful blogger who was
sharing some paper flower SVG files. I had
no idea what an SVG was, but with time
and persistence, I figured out how to get
it and use it. And that day I made my very
first paper flower! And when I showed
everyone that evening, they were all so impressed … and so was I.

But this story doesn’t stop with me.

The tutorial I am about to share with you is my method of using SVGs to make all these gorgeous
creations. Everything you see here — everything on my blog — they all began as SVG cut files.
Because I want you to be able to make things like this too. And you probably wouldn’t be watching
this if you weren’t struggling — at least a little — with how to make these unique creations. But
luckily, there’s a solution.

The purpose of SVGs Made Simple is to help you quickly overcome this frustration so that you can
get to making stuff you love faster. It’s that simple.

So as we go through these lessons and videos, I want you to identify obvious areas of opportunity
for your current situation.

You ready? Let’s get started.

Tip: You can watch video 1 https://jennifermaker.com/svgs-made-simple-how-to-download

Copyright Jennifer Maker | page 3 | please Do not copy or share

CUT ABOVE SVG Design Course by Jennifer Maker

What is an SVG cut file?

So let’s begin with the basics. What is an SVG cut file?

An SVG is a file with a pre-made design that you can

download to your computer or device, upload to
your favorite design software, such as Cricut Design
Space, Silhouette Studio, Sure Cuts a Lot, or Make
The Cut. The file contains all (or most) of the imagery
and directions needed to cut a project exactly as
designed. And it’s this exactness that makes SVG
cut files so appealing — it allows designers to make
something precisely and share it with others so they
can do the same thing.

So here on the left side of my screen is the SVG file for my Penguin Paper Bomb in Cricut Design
Space, just as it was designed. And on the right side of the screen is the completed penguin, cut
from the directions in the SVG file.

And by the way, SVG stands for scalable vector graphics, and it is an open standard file that’s been
in use since 1999.

I love SVG files because they are SO precise!

Copyright Jennifer Maker | page 4 | please Do not copy or share

CUT ABOVE SVG Design Course by Jennifer Maker

Where do you find SVG cut files?

Now you may be wondering, where do you find SVG cut files?

As it turns out, there all over the place. I myself have a big collection of free SVG files on my blog
at JenniferMaker.com. I keep them all in my free resource library. And many other bloggers do
something similar and are happy to share their designs
with you via SVG cut files. If a design is being shared, the
blogger will mention it in their blog post.

Beyond blogs, you’ll also find cut files in SVG design

shops. Most all shops have a free section along with their
files for sale. If you don’t mind paying a small price,
SVG shops usually have what you need in their large
collections

Another place to look for SVG cut files is in Facebook

groups devoted to Cricut, Silhouette, and other cutting
machines. Most of these groups encourage their members
to share files they’ve made themselves and members are
allowed to download them.

To help you locate these blogs,

shops, and groups, I have a big list of
great places to find SVG cut files on
my blog at https://jennifermaker.
com/free-svg-files-best

Finally, my all-time favorite place

to get SVG cut files is to JUST MAKE
THEM MYSELF. Yep, that’s right—you
can just make your own SVGs in
precisely the way, size, style, and
configuration you want without
any compromises. Those SVG files
aren’t found online, but are in
your imagination. And it’s TOTALLY
possible to make your own. If you’ve
ever thought about it, I encourage
you to try it. I’ll be talking more
about how you can learn to design
and make your own SVG files later
on.

Copyright Jennifer Maker | page 5 | please Do not copy or share

CUT ABOVE SVG Design Course by Jennifer Maker

How do you get SVG cut files?

Ah! Now we get to the trickier part, and the one I get a lot of questions about. How do you get
the cut files from online into your software. The first thing you need to do is DOWNLOAD the files.
It isn’t hard to do, so let me know you how to download a file from my blog on four different
devices—a Mac desktop computer running Chrome and Safari, a Windows laptop running Firefox and
Internet Explorer, an iPad or iPhone either with iOS version 11 and higher or (barring that) running
Chrome Remote Access, and an Android device like a tablet or phone.

Downloading SVG Cut Files on a Mac with a Chrome Browser

First, you locate the file. Usually, all you need to do is click a link or a Download button, and the file
will download for you. First, go to my blog’s resource library and click link to download a design. It
downloads. Now we need to locate it. If you know where your computer downloads its file, you can
go right there. On the Mac, it’s almost always going to download to your Downloads folder.

But if you’re ever unsure, most browsers have a way to track downloads. On Chrome, your recently
downloaded files appear at the bottom of the window. Click the little down arrow next to the file
name and it takes you to your Downloads folder.

Now you’ll notice that the file that downloads is a compressed ARCHIVE that ends in .zip. This is
going to be true of virtually any SVG file you download anywhere online, because most designers
like to bundle a variety of versions and formats to make sure everyone can use it. To open and
decompress a ZIP file on the Mac, simply double-click it. A new folder will appear with the same
name as the ZIP file. Double-click the folder and inside you will see all of the contents. The file
that ends in .SVG is the one you’ll want to work with.

Copyright Jennifer Maker | page 6 | please Do not copy or share

CUT ABOVE SVG Design Course by Jennifer Maker

Now don’t try to double-click or open an SVG file. If you do, it will search for some illustration
software to open it in, and many people do not have it. Instead, we’ll upload this file just as it is —
and I’ll be showing you exactly how to do that in the next video.

Downloading SVG Cut Files on a Mac with a Safari Browser

Ok, so we’ve done a Mac desktop computer running Chrome. Let’s see how it looks running Safari.

In Safari, go to my Resource Library on my blog. Download the file and you can see it download.
And again you can go right to your Downloads folder, but if you ever not sure where your download
went, you just click this little down arrow at the top of your screen, and it shows you the latest
downloads. Click the magnifying glass and it takes you to your Downloads folder.

Downloading SVG Cut Files on Windows with Firefox

Ok, now let’s switch to a Windows laptop running Firefox. So again, we go to my Resource Library
on my blog and I scroll to find, and click the link to download it. And you’ll see it ask if you want to
open or save it—you want to Save it.

You click OK awnd you see that this little down arrow is what you click on to find your downloads.
You don’t want to open it, you just want to go look at the folder. Click the folder icon to the right
of the filename.

Copyright Jennifer Maker | page 7 | please Do not copy or share

CUT ABOVE SVG Design Course by Jennifer Maker

And then here you are—this is the file you downloaded. You double-click that file to extract
(decompress) it.

Ignore the MacOSX folder (that is something that gets created when I compress files on the Mac and
is not anything to be concerned about).

Here is the list of files in there.

The SVG file you are going to want to use is right here. Pretty easy, actually.

Copyright Jennifer Maker | page 8 | please Do not copy or share

CUT ABOVE SVG Design Course by Jennifer Maker

Downloading SVG Cut Files on Windows with Internet Explorer

So let’s look at Internet Explorer. I go to my web site and open the library. Again, browse for the
file that we’d ilke to download. Click on the link. You’ll get a dialog box at the bottom asking if you
want to open it or save it. You want to save it.

And it’ll take a while in Explorer—I’m not sure why. It does at least tell you the percentage that
you’ve downloaded and about how long is remaining.

And then when it is done, you’ll want to click View Downloads. You’ll then be able to see all of our
downloads here on the side. Click the filename that matches what we downloaded. And there we
find the SVG file just as we need it for the next step.

Copyright Jennifer Maker | page 9 | please Do not copy or share

CUT ABOVE SVG Design Course by Jennifer Maker

Downloading SVG Cut Files on an iPad or iPhone with iOS 11+

Let’s talk about how to get SVG cut files if you’re using an iPad or even an iPhone. First, you should
know that it IS possible to download files on these devices. And since the introduction of iOS 11,
you can even download and upload directly from your iPad or iPhone! Let me show you how to do
this on my iPad.

So first we go to the SVG file we want to download and tap on file to download. Once you tap on
the SVG file, you’ll be asked if you want to download it — tap Download to proceed.

The next step is to extract this file from the ZIP folder. To do this, go to the Downloads icon at the
very top of your screen and tap it — it looks like this:

Copyright Jennifer Maker | page 10 | please Do not copy or share

CUT ABOVE SVG Design Course by Jennifer Maker

Once you tap the Downloads button, a dropdown menu with your most recent downloads appears.
The file you just downloaded is at the very top. Tap it to go to it.

Once you do that, your Files will open. Check the screen for the file you just downloaded (it may
be in alphabetical order) and tap the file icon once to extract it.

Inside you’ll see the files, including the SVG file. That’s all there is to downloading and extracting
SVG files on your iPad!

Copyright Jennifer Maker | page 11 | please Do not copy or share

CUT ABOVE SVG Design Course by Jennifer Maker

Downloading SVG Cut Files on older iPads and iPhones

Now if you have an older iPad or iPhone that does NOT support iOS 11, there is a trick you can use
to download SVG cut files using your iPad or iPhone.

To do this, you’ll want to download and install the Chrome Remote Desktop app on on either a Mac
OS or Windows computer (it works on both) at https://remotedesktop.google.com

It’s free and easy to install — if you need help installing it, here is a helpful step-by-step tutorial
below.

https://jenifermaker.com/chrome-remote-access

Once you’ve got that installed on your computer, go to your iPad

or iPhone, open the app store, and search for the Chrome Remote
Access app there. Download and install it, too, then connect to your
iPad or iPhone.

Copyright Jennifer Maker | page 12 | please Do not copy or share

CUT ABOVE SVG Design Course by Jennifer Maker

Once you do that you now have remote control over your computer on your iPad or iPhone and you
can do anything that you could do if you were sitting at your own computer, including look for files,
download files, and upload files—everything you need to do.

So let me show you how I do this on the iPad. I cick the Chrome Remote Access app and I connect
to my computer.

I put in my PIN code which I set up when installing it. And here is my remote access what the
remote access to my iMac looks like on my iPad.

Copyright Jennifer Maker | page 13 | please Do not copy or share

CUT ABOVE SVG Design Course by Jennifer Maker

Click on the SVG I want and it downloads to my computer. And I can go in and unzip it right here on
my computer. And I’m doing all this on my iPad right now, don’t forget that. I can also decompress
it right here. Here is the SVG that I can then upload when I need to. And this is all done using the
iPad with remote access to Chrome on my computer.

What’s Next?
Okay, so now that we’ve worked on finding and downloading SVG cut files, the BIG question is, how
do you upload and use these files?

I mean, just downloading the file does not make it magically load itself into your machine and
begin cutting, now does it? How do you get an SVG cut file into Cricut Design Space or Silhouette
Studio? What do you do if you’re on an iPad or phone? Can you upload it at all?

Well, that’s exactly what I’m going to show you in lesson #2! I’m also going to give you actual
examples of SVGs being uploaded in a variety of different ways.

Solving the problem of getting SVGs into your cutting software is easy and I’ll show you how in the
next lesson.

Copyright Jennifer Maker | page 14 | please Do not copy or share

CUT ABOVE SVG Design Course by Jennifer Maker

Remember this when you’re feeling frustrated —

Without some struggle,

there can be no progress.
|||
You CAN turn your breakdowns
into breakthroughs.

See you in the next lesson!

Jennifer
Copyright Jennifer Maker | page 15 | please Do not copy or share
CUT ABOVE SVG Design Course by Jennifer Maker

Notes
........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

Copyright Jennifer Maker | page 16 | please Do not copy or share

CUT ABOVE SVG Design Course by Jennifer Maker

Notes
........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................................................

Copyright Jennifer Maker | page 17 | please Do not copy or share