Are you really bored of lockdown #3 and are counting down the days until Boris lets us out? Or are you looking for an outlet for your creativity? Maybe you’re starting to sell some home-made products on Etsy and need stickers.
Whatever your reason, this guide will help you to make custom printed, beautiful stickers at home for very little cost.
Stickers are great for so many things. We love using them for labelling everything in your larder, branding your home-made products, or keeping the kid’s toys organised. You can also decorate a mirror with stickers in a fun and creative way to personalize your space. By following these steps from stickeryou.com, you can enjoy decorating your mirror with stickers and later removing them safely without causing damage to the mirror surface.
By the end, you’ll know how to make low-cost stickers. No prior skills and little money needed. Let’s get stuck in.
Step 1 – Create your design
The first thing you need is your artwork.
There are fantastic, free tools such as Canva to help you get this in minutes, and they’re so easy to use. They’ve got thousands of pre-made designs to choose from if you don’t have a clue where to start. You’ll love having a play creating loads of fun designs – we recommend taking a look.
We had a lot of fun designing this sticker on Canva, ready for organising our cupboards. And it only took 10 minutes!
If you want to use it as a template, you can download it here.
If you fancy yourself as a pro and want to get into more complex design, try Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW, two leading design tools.
Step 2 – Print your stickers
Now you need to print your artwork. If you have a printer at home, this step is easy. If not, you’ll need to buy a home printer. Here are a few options that cater for all budgets:
- Entry-level – Epson XP-7100 – £200
- Best quality – Canon PIXMA PRO-100S A3 – £450
There are lots of other options but these both have pretty good quality for the price.
Now you need some self-adhesive material to print. You have a couple of choices; plastic or paper.
Paper is ideal for short-term use, and better yet, it’s recyclable. Plastic vinyl is more durable, so it lasts longer.
Amazon is probably the best source. If you search for ‘sticker paper’, loads of options will show.
Step 3 – Cut your stickers
You can keep it simple and use basic shapes, such as circles or squares. If this is what you want, buy pre-cut labels on an A4 sheet and put these through your printer. To find good label sheets, search ‘pre-cut label paper’ on Amazon.
If you’d like fancier shapes, such as a custom-shaped, clear sticker, you’ll need a cutter; otherwise, you’ll have to cut by hand.
Cricut machines are perfect. They’re simple to use and have so much information on their site. They can also supply your materials; however, it can get expensive buying everything from them.
Step 4 – Start creating
Step 4 isn’t a real step. We’re just recommending you start now! It’s so easy. All you have to do is get designing & printing. Let your imagination go crazy and have fun.
There are minimal limits to what you can create. If you do get stuck, Pinterest has a vast source of wonderful ideas.
If you don’t have a printer and don’t want to buy a printer & cutter, or you enjoy the designing bit the most, we’ve got an alternative option for you.
You can have great fun designing on Canva or Photoshop, but to keep it simple, get your stickers professionally printed. Sticker it is UK based, and they’ve printed 10+ million stickers, so know what they’re doing.
And there we have it. Now you know how to make custom stickers at home. If you have any questions, please get in touch below.