bump

Not clear. Do you want a stroke to ask like a mask?

oh yeah i think so

Expand), then select the expanded stroke and the object you want to cute and then click Divide in the Pathfinder panel.

At first it looks the same but go to the newly created group and you will find the pathfinder has divided the cut object into areas separated by the path. For example, if you had a red unfilled circle path over a black square, the group would contain the red circle path, a smaller black circle that is the area inside the path and a black square with a round hole in it. Click the eye next to the circle path to make it invisible and you have a black square with a circular path you can see through.

I hope that makes sense!

This might help

try 'add new stroke' in the appearance panel. Once you have that sorted, expand and delete the 'new stroke' you no longer need...?

thanks for the replies...
Morkki, hmmm I'm doing something wrong I think, once I divide the two, the strokes disappear, then what do I do? Aslo i used live paint... don't know if it matters, and I can't select the expand in the pathfinder window but have to go to object - expand, is that the same?
thanks

sorry guys didn't see your replies, thanks I'll watch the vid. now thanks!

thanks guys,
mmmmmhhhhh, I must really suck at this, can't get it to work.... I get the whole image masked and not just the stroke :s

I think you need to "outline stroke" so the stroke becomes a filled shape, then it should work

Yeah oyu'll have to expand the stroke. That makes it a filled shape in the shape of the stroke.

You can also do it with a clipping mask but the thing is that the clipping mask masks away everything outside the shape, not inside. So you'd have to make the clipping mask like a big box that covers everything and with the pathfinder cut a hole in it in the shape of the stroke.

Thanks guys!
I finally managed to get what I want,
What I did was I outlined the strokes (lost my colours but that's ok I can put them back in later) then took of the fill of the strokes, then I put my clouds back in!
Thanks for the help!

Oh yeah Morkki!
I got it now! thanks, expanding the strokes and then I can fill it in keeping the strokes and then get rid of them at the end!
Thanks you so much for the patience everyone!

I think expanding the stroke or outlining it makes the same thing :)
Thanks

I hate ai so much. Photoshop ftw!

Hahaha, I used to almost only us PS but now that I'm learning to use Ai better I appreciate it a lot and really like the "cleanliness" of it :) a combination is good :)