I am computer literate and that’s honestly about it. Wish I was smart but I’m not. I read some of these threads and think you people work for NASA. 
Anyway, I have a friend who has asked me about making something for her and I know someone would have to make a file for me to purchase. I have a book, Inkscape for Dummies, or something like that but I haven’t actually mastered a circle. I have no idea where to look or who to contact. I tried two places on Etsy and they kindly told me they didn’t have time for custom work. I have photos of what she wants but am totally at a loss as to where you purchase custom files. I would greatly appreciate and advice you can give me. By the way, this is a simple wreath type item she wants. A picture of a horse in a circle. 
This might be a good start:
I know it’s not a custom file like you’re asking, but no time like the present to learn to make a present!
Also, you’ll probably get a pretty decent walkthrough on how to go about it in this thread… lots of people here are very generous with their time.
Awesome! Thank you so much!
The nice thing about the Glowforge tutorials is that they are explicitly for a laser and Inkscape. Also, this might be a really good use case for the Premium account. You could create a circle right in the Glowforge and then use the Glowforge clip art to place a horse.
What do you have drawn out?
Drawn out? I don’t have anything other than the photos she sent me to see if I could make something. I said I hadn’t mastered the circle because I’ve had this book for several months and it just led to frustration for me.
would you mind posting the photo?
Jonathan
You can do a photo engrave of the pic. Do you have photoshop or anything to turn it to black and white and sharpen it? Then you can put it in the circle, engrave it and cut it out…
She wants the picture on the bottom to be in a circle like the one on the top. She’s going to use it for a doorhanger.
Sorry! No photoshop for me!
Download Inkscape (it’s free). This is not a complicated process to do (complicated if you don’t know how but everyone here will help you!!)
a glowforce of a horse, or course of course (ok, I slurred it a little) 
are you on a pc? a mac? a Tablet? most come with a simple drawing program, that will help you create a .jpg or a .png file that the glowforge can read and then burn.
I have Inkscape but can not use it.
I can put the horse she wants in a circle and engrave it but she wants it like the one in the picture. The blue and white horse with part of it cut out like a wreath. That’s where my confusion comes in. How do I make a file that shows the two elements and where to have the Glowforge cut? If I upload the image, all it will do is engrave.
so what you want is an outline added to the horse? to cut it out as a separate object?
My question is how do you cut out the white areas above and below the horse? Does that make sense? I don’t know why she wants it like that but it needs to look more like the ugly wood picture I uploaded. Well, that’s what she’s looking for. This horse but kinda cut out.
Part of it cut out. You see how the ugly brown horse is actually attached to the circle and it looks like there would be nothing there but air and the horse?