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Today I am going to show you how to make one of my favorite things: print then cut stickers! These custom stickers are super versatile and so fun to make – and they’re the absolute perfect way to add a beautiful, custom touch to your gifts this holiday season.
So, let’s dive right in!
You’ll need:
- Cricut Machine
- Sticker paper
- Printer
- Ipad
- Apple Pencil
- Sticker Designs (you can get the designs used in this tutorial by grabbing your VIP All-Access Pass to the 2020 Holiday Maker Fest!)
In the first part of this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to create a hand lettered design using an iPad, Apple Pencil, and the Procreate app. If you’d rather use a premade design, skip right to Step 3 and start this tutorial from there!
Step 1: Create Design
Open a new canvas in the Procreate app, adjust your brush settings to your desired preferences, and begin to draw your design.
Pro Tip: Procreate will automatically straighten your lines for you when you hold the pen down on the screen after you’ve finished drawing a line. This is a great way to give you design a really clean look with sharp lines.
Step 2: Create an Offset
Once you’ve finished your design, you’re ready to create the background that your sticker will be cut on. This is called an offset.
Pro Tip: When creating the offset, there are a lot of techniques you can use but one of the easiest is to simply draw a shape around the design with your pencil. You can draw any shape you’d like, just keep in mind that whatever you draw here will be the shape of your final sticker.
After you’re happy with the offset shape you’ve created, fill the rest of your canvas with a solid color, and save the canvas as a jpeg.
Step 3: Upload to Cricut DesignSpace
Now you’re ready to upload your new sticker to Cricut Design Space.
Once you’ve uploaded the image, use the Wand Tool to remove the grey area, leaving you with just the sticker image.
Continue working with the Wand Tool to remove all of the remaining background.
Give your finished design a name and save it as a Print then Cut image.
Pro Tip: If you’d like the background of your sticker to be colored or patterned, use a design resource like Creative Fabrica to search for digital paper. Find something you love, download it to your computer, then upload it to Cricut Design Space to use as your background.
When you upload the new background image, upload it as a Complex Design to ensure you get the most detail, then save it as a print then cut image.
Next, add both your background image and your sticker image to a new canvas in Cricut Design Space. Note: You can use either the solid offset shape that you drew in Procreate or any other solid shape you’d like.
Use the Slice tool to slice the solid background image from your new digital paper background.
After you’ve sliced the offset layer from the new background image, place your design on top, and use the Align Tool to center it on the background.
Now resize your sticker to your desired size, select both layers from the layers panel, and choose “flatten”.
Step 5: Print
Now you’re ready to send your new stickers to the printer!
Pro Tip: use system dialogue to ensure the smoothest print possible.
You’ll notice that a black box will print around your sticker images. This is called a registration mark. Your Cricut will read that mark in order to know where to cut the stickers.
Step 6: Cut
Apply your printed sticker paper (image side up) to your mat and load it into your machine.
Pro Tip: If you’re using a Cricut Explore Air 2, you’ll want to set your machine to Custom and choose Sticker Paper. If you’re using a Cricut Maker, simply select Sticker Paper from your material choices.
Once your machine is done cutting, carefully peel away the excess sticker paper and remove your new stickers from the mat.
Step 7: Enjoy!
And that’s it! Your new stickers are ready to use!
So, what do you think?! Are you ready to give sticker making a try?
If you’d like to get your hands on the sticker designs I used in this tutorial, you can get them for FREE when you purchase a VIP All Access Pass to the 2020 Holiday Maker Fest!
Best of all, you’ll get immediate lifetime access to 40+ amazing classes (plus TONS of free downloads, tips, tricks, and MORE!) taught by some of the top creators, makers, and DIYers in the biz!
You can grab your VIP All-Access Pass right here!
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