How to Make Stickers DIY Tutorial (Tips from a Professional)
If you want to learn how to make stickers, you’re in the right place! Sticker making is actually very easy and anyone can do it.
I have been sticker-making for my shop for 5+ years now; I sell them at boutiques and on my website.
Let’s get right into how to make DIY stickers that are professional quality.
What You Will Need
- Sticker design(s)
- A Sticker Cutting Machine or Scissors
- Any Printer
- Sticker Paper or vinyl sticker paper
- Sticker Laminate (optional)
Step 1: Have Your Design Ready
I hand draw all my designs with my Wacom Drawing tablet. But don’t worry, you don’t have to be an artist to make stickers.
Designing your Sticker (Personal Use)
If you are making stickers for personal use, go ahead and use any design you would like. You don’t have to be an artist for this step; find the picture you would like to use. There are plenty of free designs on the web.
If you are looking to make a logo or labels but may not be able to draw your vision, try using Canva. Canva is a great resource that has tons of free images/texts. Plus, it’s free! Yay!
I do want to mention though that the free version of Canva does not let you save designs with a transparent (png) background, which will be necessary to cut them out. I suggest you upgrade to Canva Pro.
Designing your Sticker for Business
If you are making stickers for your business to sell, you will need to have your own design or licensed art to use.
For a design drawn on paper, scan it and trace over it on your drawing application on your computer. Of course, you could just scan your paper drawing and use it without the digital redraw, but I think making digital drawings for stickers give it a sleek finish.
I use a digital drawing software on my Cintiq 14 inch. If you are wanting to start a sticker business, I highly suggest getting a Drawing tablet or Procreate on your iPad. This will significantly improve the quality of your designs and will allow you to create art more efficiently.
Not an Artist?
If you do not know how to draw, you can still make stickers. I highly recommend programs like Canva Pro or something similar. With Canva Pro you can even sell your design on stickers, websites, etc. You can also just use Canva for free. I use it for a lot of other things like designing my website, creating wallpapers, and packaging!
This is a really great option for those who want to start a sticker business but don’t feel artsy. Honestly, Canva Pro is definitely one of my holy grail resources, it’s amazing for artists and others alike.
*NOTE: If you want to make stickers using a Cricut or Cameo, your image needs to be a transparent background (png). This will be necessary for your machine to cut around your stickers exactly.
Using Silhouette Studio (For Silhouette Cameo Users Only)
*******Skip to Step 2 if you aren’t using a Silhouette cameo.
For this tutorial, you will need to download Silhouette Studio from Silhouettes’ website if you haven’t already.
1. Setting up your Registration Marks
When you first open up Silhouette Studio, your screen may look like the picture below. Yours may not have those black lines and square though (registration marks), so if you don’t see them, keep on reading.
To make sure your machine cuts out your sticker designs exactly, you need to have registration marks. Registration marks are small little markings on the edges of your paper that your Silhouette Cameo 4’s optic reader will scan so that it knows where to cut on your page.
Go under the “view tab” and click “Registration Marks”.
A little window will pop up with different numbers and values. You can play around with it, but personally what I like to do is bring the index down to a 0.394″ (or just slide the slider all the way to the left). Then click “Advanced Settings” and make the bottom inset 0.625″ so the cut zone is still within the print border.
Upon doing this, you will see your cut zone is now a little bigger and you can fit your designs better now!
2. Add Your Design
Now it’s time to put your sicker design on the mat! Go ahead and click “open” on your design file. Depending what size your design was, you’ll probably need to resize it. My images are really big because I sell prints of the design.
If you are making design solely for stickers, it would be best to make them in a small canvas size prior to opening them at silhouette studio (to preserve quality).
3. Resizing Your Sticker
You can easily resize your stickers with the box circled in red in the image above. If I were you, I would lock the image so you can keep the proportions right. I usually shrink my designs down to around 3.4 inches in height.
4. Adding an Outline Around Your Sticker
You can add a white border around you’re stickers too if you would like. The is a great way to make your stickers pop and is a very popular option. First, you are going to click the design you want the outline for. Then what you are going to do is hit the star shaped button as circled in the photo below also called the “offset panel”.
The outline will pop up around your design now! In the box, you can set how big or small you want your outline. The offset default will be 0.125″. You can go ahead and play around with it to see what size outline you prefer. I like giving my stickers a 0.06″ border.
Go ahead and repeat all these steps and add your other designs. Try to tetris and fill up your page with stickers to really save space.
Step 2: Print out Your Stickers
Now that all the technical stuff is done, it is finally time to print out your stickers.
You will have to print out your design on sticker paper. Depending on the results you want, I would recommend Glossy Vinyl Sticker Paper or The Joyeza Printable Matte Sticker Paper. They’re good quality, print vibrantly, beginner friendly, and cost effective.
Another one of my favorites is the PPD Printable Vinyl Paper, which I use for my sticker shop! It holds colors well, water resistant, and has a lovely matte finish. Choosing a good sticker paper is really important because you could use the best laminate but if your base paper is not durable, your ink will smear and fade.
What kind of printer?
For the printer, you can use any inkjet printer really. I wouldn’t recommend a laser printer because the heat would ruin the sticker paper. I use the Canon Pixma.
I put the vinyl paper in the rear tray (Put the side that will be printed on face up) and hit print. Don’t forget to change your print settings to the correct one for your paper. Most sticker paper brands tell you which setting to use in the instructions.
For Silhouette Cameo Users Only: In the print preview, you will not see the red cut lines or outlines.
*Note: Once you print, do NOT move any of your designs around on Silhouette Studio. Consider your layout finalized. If you move your designs on silhouette studio, they may be cut incorrectly.
3. Laminate Your Stickers
After you print your stickers, this would be the time to add a laminate to your stickers if you want to make them more durable. However, this step is optional.
A sticker laminate is basically a clear sheet you put over your stickers, protecting them from harsh weather conditions, color fading, and scratches.
While your sticker paper is durable, it may not perform as well in an outdoor setting and is not weatherproof. If you want to make more professional grade high quality stickers, I would highly recommend laminating your stickers.
Laminating your stickers is completely optional, but it significantly increases the durability of your sticker.
A good adhesive laminate I would recommend is the Oracal Laminating Film- Oraguard 615 (glossy finish).
You can either use cold or hot laminate.
Hot lamination usually requires a heat powered laminate machine that feeds the laminate and sticker paper through it and seals it through thermal heat. This really seals your sticker in place. Personally, I would recommend cold laminating for most stickers.
Cold lamination usually refers to laminate that is self adhesive and no heat or machine is required. You just stick it onto your sticker sheet with the help of a squeegee. I like using squeegees that have a felt tip so it doesn’t scratch the surface of the stickers too hard. I also have a full tutorial on how to laminate stickers without any bubbles or creases.
I use the cold laminating sheets and use a squeegee to firmly press on my sticker sheets. I then run it through the laminating machine under the cold setting just for extra pressing.
If you don’t want to use laminate sheets, you can also just use a UV protective spray too.
4. Cutting your Stickers
After your stickers are laminated, now you are ready to cut them out. You can either cut them out by hand or use a cutting machine like I do.
There are 2 ways to approach this:
- Cutting out stickers with Scissors: If you do not mind imperfect edges, you can simply just cut out your sticker with a pair of scissors carefully and you are done!
- Cutting with a sticker machine: I have the pink Silhouette Cameo 4, which I got from Amazon. If you’re cutting your stickers with a cutting machine, follow the directions for whatever machine you have.
Cutting your stickers in Silhouette Studio (Silhouette Cameo Users Only)
This is how I cut my stickers in Silhouette Studio for the Silhouette Cameo.
In Silhouette Studio, go to the “send” tab.
The red lines will pop up, these lines indicate what your silhouette will cut.
This next part is very important. Make sure you click your DESIGN (not the outline! There is a difference!) and press NO CUT so that there is still the red cut line on the outline. This will make sure your machine only cuts around the sticker.
If you didn’t add an outline, make sure your cut lines are around your design. In the photo above, the cut lines are only around the outlines so that my stickers can have a nice border.
Your cut settings will depend on the type of paper you use. Silhouette actually has some cut settings on their website if you are using normal sticker paper. For vinyl paper, different brands will have different cut setting that you probably will just have to play around with.
Load the Tray with the Cutting Mat
- Line up the corner of your sticker paper with that of the cutting mat. Your mat should be slightly sticky so that the paper doesn’t move around.
- To load the machine, simply hit the “up” arrow icon on your Silhouette Cameo 4 machine itself.
- Hit “send” on the bottom and the optic scanner will start scanning your registration marks, then cut!
Cutting Tips With a Cricut or Cameo
- Make sure your lighting is good or else the machine may not scan them properly and start cutting your stickers incorrectly.
- Another thing I want to mention is if your machine is not reading it’s registration marks and you are using glossy sticker paper, cover the registration marks with matte clear tape and that should do the trick.
- The vinyl paper I use is thick and slides around a bit, so I use matte tape to hold it down (Use matte tape because glossy surfaces can mess up the optic reader’s scan and cut your stickers incorrectly.)
*If your Silhouette Cameo is not cutting right, I’ve come up with more solutions on how to fix them.
That’s it!
That’s all there is to it, enjoy your DIY stickers! That is how to make Stickers. I also have a full guide on how to make waterproof stickers if you are interested. I guide you through the process start to finish and recommend beginner friendly sticker paper, laminate, and other materials.
If you liked the sticker designs used in the photos, you can get them here in my shop!
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*Note: I do receive a small portion from purchases made through the links in this article which helps fund our small business. I will never recommend a product or service I don’t have 100% faith in.