How to outline and stroke this image in Illustrator

Question

I have this starting image:

I would like to achieve this effect, in terms of outline and stroke:

I want to cut it out an a Cricut machine. But when I go to image trace and outline I cannot get the stroke, no matter what size or color I choose, only fill works.

Answer 1

1. Trace the image, choosing the Ignore White option in the settings

2. Expand the trace, Ungroup it, and do Object > Compound Path > Make

3. Copy it, and do Edit > Paste in Back, and change the fill colour to red. Note you won't see this colour change as it will be covered by the black object on top.

4. Do Object > Path > Offset Path and choose an offset to suit

5. In the layers panel delete the compound path in the middle

6. Select all

7. In the Pathfinder hit Minus Front

8. Round some of the corners at the bottom with the Corner Widgets, and you're done.

Answer 2

Other than tracing it with the pen too to make a shape I found an option that might work depending on how your circuit machine handles files.

1st: I took the image you provided into illustrator and image traced it to clean up the lines.

2nd: I moved the file to photoshop where I used the magic wand tool to remove the background.

3rd: I put a white color overlay on the shape which will not usually be printed or cut by most machines.

4th: Apply an outer stroke to desired thickness.