Today we're making stickers.
I'm going to walk you through exactly how
to make your own planner stickers, either using a printable sticker pack
you've purchased or even using your own artwork, and how to cut out your files
by professional finish using a Cricut or a silhouette.
I'll be walking through the basics, but I'll also run through some tips
for more advanced users at the end of this video.
If you're wanting to design your own. I've included all of this on my blog,
along with some links to my own printable stickers that you'll see in this video,
including a free set of Valentine's coloring stickers that you can download
and print right away to use in your planner.
I recommend saving this video now to come back to again as a reference,
and you can use the chapters in the description to jump ahead
to specific sections to refresh your memory on key points.
After watching through the whole thing first, of course, let's get started.
First, you might be wondering what I mean by printable stickers.
If you've been on my website, you may notice I sell three different
types of stickers physical stickers, digital stickers, and printable stickers.
The physical stickers are, well,
physical stickers.
They come in the mail and they stick like stickers.
Keep sticking.
The digital stickers are a little different.
These are like clipart.
Basically, they are individual images
saved with a clear background that you can use in your digital programs.
They're designed mainly to use
in a digital planner, but you can also use them to decorate your
school projects, your Word documents, or even in digital scrapbooking.
But today we're talking about the printable stickers.
These are like a DIY sticker kit, and you can print them as many times as you want.
So if you're sticking to a budget,
get it ...Sticking?
Then this might be the solution.
You can find a huge selection of printable stickers on websites like Etsy or
on planner blogs, and I've got a growing range on my own website of the printable
versions of all of my sticker books and packs.
You'll only need to purchase these files
once and keep a stock of sticker paper, and you'll have an endless supply
of stickers without waiting or paying for postage.
And if you're feeling ambitious,
you can even make your own stickers from your own artwork.
But more on that later.
So to keep things simple,
I recommend looking for a matte finish sticker paper that comes in a full sheet
like this, either in A4 or US letter size.
You can buy glossy or even clear sticker paper, but if you're wanting to write or
drawn your stickers, which is often the case with planner
stickers, I would avoid anything with a glossy finish.
Instead, look for the word matte to find something more like a normal paper
texture, but with the sticker backing and size.
Choose paper size that fits your printer,
but also avoid paper that has precut lines like label sheets.
We'll be cutting these ourselves,
so we want a full page sticker with no cut lines.
Okay, so you've got your paper, you've downloaded your stickers.
Now what? I am using the Coloring Sticker Essentials
Printable Sticker Pack today that matches my sticker book here from my website.
Most sticker sets come with a simple PNG
or PDF version that you can print and cut by hand.
This doesn't usually have any extra bleed
or machine cut lines, which I'll explain in a moment, and is
the easiest version to use if you're unsure what everything else is.
With my sets here, the hand cutting files
include a white border and thin guidelines.
You can easily see where to cut out each
sticker, and the boxes are the perfect size for your coloring planner
and the same width as many other popular planners.
All you need to do is print your files on sticker paper at 100% scale.
Do not press scale to print.
Then we've got our professional cutting
files that you can use with a die cutting machine, like a Cricut or Silhouette.
A quick side note, if you purchase
my stickers before 2022, your files might look a little different to this.
So if you're missing a particular file for the machine that you want to use,
feel free to email my support team and they'll email you the updated files.
I've got both the Cricut Maker and the Silhouette Cameo here,
so let's go through this process step by step with both machines.
First, how to Print Planner Stickers with a Silhouette Cameo. I love
my Cricut Maker for so many projects that when it comes to printing stickers,
the Silhouette Studio has a number of features that give it an advantage.
When I get my stickers professionally printed, I spend a lot of time creating
the perfect cut line files to make sure every sticker is easy to peel with no
awkward corners and with the perfect amount of white space around my stickers.
But my box stickers don't have white space.
They have what we call a bleed.
The bleed is the artwork that prints
around the edge of the sticker beyond the cut line so that you don't
accidentally end up with the white edge along your artwork.
Even the most professional industry level
machines don't always make perfect cuts, so professional artists always include
a small bleed around artwork to avoid white edges along brochures,
business cards, stickers, or just about anything you've ever seen printed.
Here is an example of a sticker without
a bleed, and here is a sticker with a bleed.
So in your sticker purchase,
I have provided the same cut files that I've given to my professional printer
so that you can create a quality cut on your stickers at home.
And that's what this weird black page of stickers is.
This black layer isn't just the outlines
of the sticker layer, it's actually a carefully designed layer
that has lines in the perfect place for each sticker to give you the best cut.
So how do you actually use it?
In Silhouette Studio, you open up a new project,
set your media size to the size of your paper, and go to your library view.
This is where you can store all of your images and cut files for quick reference.
The quickest way to import your sticker
files into your library is to drag and drop them straight from your files.
Or you can go to File, Library and then import to Library.
Then drag the cut file first from your library onto your mat.
It can be a bit slow, so hold your mouse and don't let go until it loads.
For now, just dump it anywhere and we'll line it up in a moment.
With the cut layer selected, open the Trace menu on the side,
Select Trace Area, draw a box around the entire page, and click Trace.
There should now be a fine red line around all of the black sections.
It might look slightly different based
on your program settings, but these new lines are your cut lines.
Since we don't want to print black
stickers, we can now delete our black layer, leaving us with only the cut marks
and a blank page ready to bring in our artwork layout from the library
in the same way.
Once you've added the artwork, select the artwork and the cut lines
and use the Align or Center tools to center them with each other and the page.
If your artwork is on the top, use the arrangement buttons here to send
it to the back so you can see that your cut lines are in the right place.
Finally, turn on the registration marks.
This will help your Silhouette to line up
the cuts with your printed artwork perfectly and save your file.
This final file is now a Studio Three file, and Silhouette doesn't allow
the selling of this type of file because it is a proprietary file type.
But the good news is that you only have
to go through this process once per sticker page.
Save this file and you can simply open it
from here the next time you want to print and cut this same sheet of stickers.
And if you've already purchased this
sticker set from me, send my team an email with your purchase receipt or order
number, and we will send through a PREDONE Studio file as a little freebie
bonus - since you've already purchased the actual sticker files anyway!
So let's assume you've already got your Studio Three files ready to go.
The next step is supposed to be the easy part, and that is to print your file so
you don't end up with a page of blank stickers like I just did.
The True Meaning of Silhouette
so pop your sticker sheet in your printer and within Silhouette Studio,
just go to File and Print. Line your printed sticker sheet onto your cutting
mat in the top left corner and turn on your machine.
In Silhouette Studio, press send, choose the kind of paper you're using
in this case, just a white stick of paper and set the blade depth.
This might vary depending on your paper brand, so try the default setting first
and adjust it lighter or heavier if it cuts too deep or too shallow.
Ideally, you want the cut to go through the sticker completely,
but not through the backing sheet, which we call a kiss cut.
When your machine is ready and your paper is loaded, press Send and watch it go.
This sticker sheet took about three minutes total to cut,
but sheets with simple boxes or bigger stickers will be even quicker.
Once you've learned these steps, the process feels quite easy and you'll
be able to print as many stickers as you want.
The great thing about this method with the Silhouette is that it allows you
to use the professional cut lines and create stickers with a bleed,
which is something that not all cutting machines can do.
Next using a Cricut Maker or Cricut Explore.
Now it's confession time.
Until this week, I was completely under the impression that Cricut could work
with the same cutting files that I've been providing for the Silhouette.
But I have spent hours trying to find
a way to keep the bleed and the cut lines, and this is not as easy as it should be.
I love my Cricut,
but when it comes to stickers, I'm feeling a bit let down in its ability
to take a simple art file and a simple cut file, so I've come up with a workaround.
The first problem I came across is that Cricut design space doesn't seem
to understand the importance of DPI for the non graphic designers.
Watching DPI tells computers how many dots
or bits of artwork to fit in every inch of space.
Your computer screen only uses 90 dots per
inch, but printers use 300 dots per inch, sometimes more.
That's why that picture on Facebook might
look blurry when you try to print it out on photo paper.
Design space seems to be working
at a screen quality instead of a print quality, so print quality images come
in at two to three times the actual size onto the canvas.
I'd like to see Cricut resolve this to allow for high quality printing,
but in the meantime, there is an easy workaround.
Just resize your file after bringing it into the design space,
you'll usually find the correct print size listed in your purchase instruction file.
And just to be safe, it's always worth doing a test print
on normal paper before doing your proper cut on sticker paper.
The second problem here is that Cricket is designed to print and cut from a single
image, and it doesn't like me trying to give it a separate cut layer.
So after hours of troubleshooting, calling
customer support and calling in some help from my friend and sticker making expert,
Mim Jenkinson, I've redesigned my sticker files and have accepted that the extra
bleed is just not a viable option for most of us using the Cricut.
This is really not a big deal for personal
users, and the process is now much simpler, which I'll show you in a moment.
But if you're considering making stickers to sell as a small business on Etsy or
on social media, this is something to keep in mind.
The process in actually using the print and cut files with Cricket is quite easy,
even if it's not quite as fancy as the silhouette in a new project.
Click upload and upload image, then open the Cricut Ready PNG file
of your sticker. Select Complex Image and press Continue.
On the next screen,
you can remove any background or areas that you don't want to be a sticker.
Most stickers should already be ready
to go like this one, or just need a simple click to remove the white background,
then Select Print, then Cut image and upload your image.
The image will now be added to your recent
uploads, so select it and press Add to canvas.
This is where the image will almost always come in much bigger than it should be.
Cricut will only print up to 9.25 X 6.75 inches, which is the size that I've now
redesigned all of my sticker files as well.
Resizing is easy,
and while I wouldn't normally recommend unlocking the proportions,
I've noticed that they do change slightly in Cricut as well, so in this case I have
actually been unlocking it and putting in the exact width and height.
If you're unsure,
you can always print the page from here on normal paper to see how it compares
to your planner pages before printing it on your sticker paper.
Once your size is correct, press make it and turn on your Cricut.
From here, you can print your image onto
your sticker paper with your normal printer.
One important thing is to Uncheck the Add
Bleed box before you print. Then line it up in the top left corner
of your Cricut mat and load it into your Cricut Maker or Cricut Explorer.
There is a printable sticker paper
setting, but I've also been experimenting with this sticky note setting.
Both work fairly well to create the kiss
cut we want, but you might want to try out different pressure settings with your
paper brand, then it's time to let the machine do the work.
If you want to give this a go, you can download my free set
of Valentine's Planner stickers right now on my website at the link below.
I love that you're still here after all
that Tech Talk - Loyal Viewer award to you, and if this has been helpful so far,
please take a moment to subscribe, but now I think it's time to level up.
Once you've got your head around how to cut these printable planner stickers.
If you're ready to get a little more
creative it's time to look at customizing these or creating your own.
You can use almost any design program to create basic stickers.
They might not be as fancy as some of the ones you see artists sell,
but they can be a great way to bring some of your own art or personality,
or even just customize your planner a little more to your own needs.
You can use Procreate on the iPad,
Canva, the Silhouette or Cricut Design Studios,
or if you've got the budget and skills, Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator.
All of my stickers are designed in Adobe Illustrator,
but that's because I do this at a professional level and print in bulk.
This is definitely not necessary if you're
designing stickers for your own use or just starting out.
Whatever you choose to use, make sure your workspace is no bigger than
the maximum print size and that you use 300 DPI.
This is the print resolution you'll need for your stickers to be high enough
quality to print on paper without being blurry or pixelated.
Keep your background as a clear layer.
If you can and create all of your stickers
on a new layer, then save them as a PNG file.
If you're wanting some ideas on stickers you can draw.
I have a video right here that shows you how to draw some of these simple floral
shapes and banners for yourself, and if you're not an artist,
you can buy cheap clip art icons or stock photo packs online for just a few dollars
that you can pull apart and use for your own sticker set.
I'll put a few of my recommended sites
on the blog. If you're wanting to customize a template you've purchased,
and this is strictly for your personal use unless the template gives you a license
to do otherwise, you can often bring those PNG files into a design program or
the Cricut and Silhouette Studios to add your own text, move stickers around,
copy your favorite stickers, or delete the ones you won't use.
Although all of this gets a little bit
more complicated, so it's not something I recommend for the average sticker maker.
If you're just starting out, think about whether you want a white
section around your stickers like I've done, and you can either do this
by drawing a white layer underneath your art or in some programs.
You can copy your artwork to a new layer and create an outline.
You can also do this within both Cricut
and Silhouette using the offset tool. From here
save your files and the print and cut
process is the same as we've already covered.
A huge bonus with printable stickers is that even if you run out of sticker paper,
you can print these on card stock or colored paper and use them as cute little
die cuts too for your planner or for scrapbooking or even for mixed media.
Now there is a lot more I could show you on how to make your own stickers, way too
much to squeeze into the end of this video.
So if this is something you are genuinely curious about or if making stickers is
something you've thought about doing as a small business, my friend Mim has some
great resources including a free masterclass that can help you take
the next steps to making stickers even if you're not a graphic designer or artist.
I'll pop a link to her website in the description and it is my affiliate link.
So if you end up signing up to one of her
courses I will get a Commission for referring you at no extra cost to you.
But her master class is completely free
and she has helped hundreds of aspiring sticker creators to start businesses.
But if you're not wanting to make stickers
or even print stickers and would rather just buy them ready to go,
I've got a growing range on my website for you to enjoy.
The current stock is selling out fast this
year and some of my older sticker sets won't be printed again once they run out.
Once you've got your stickers you might be
a little unsure how to get started using them to decorate your planner and that's
exactly what I did in my live stream last week that you can watch right here.
I share some ideas for layouts, different
hacks and a closer look inside my coloring planner and you can catch up right now.