A Beginner’s Guide to Creating Custom Stickers with a Printer and a Cut Plotter

Are you a creative enthusiast who dreams of turning your designs into real-life stickers? With printer and a cut plotter, you can make it happen! In this guide, I’ll walk you through the entire process of creating your own stickers from scratch. Whether you're crafting for fun, your business, or seasonal projects, I'll cover everything from choosing a theme, designing in Procreate, preparing files, and using the right materials. Let’s dive in and bring your ideas to life with professional-looking stickers!

1. Choosing a Theme for Your Sticker Collection

Before you start designing, it's essential to brainstorm and select a theme for your sticker collection. This step is often overlooked, but it will shape the overall aesthetic of your stickers and make the process more cohesive.

1.1. Seasonal Themes

One popular approach is to create sticker collections based on seasonal themes. Holidays and seasons provide a rich palette to work with. For example:

• Winter Holidays: Think of Christmas trees, Santa hats, hot cocoa, snowflakes, and reindeer.
• Spring: Easter bunnies, blooming flowers, fresh colors, and pastel tones.
• Autumn: Cozy sweaters, pumpkins, falling leaves, and Halloween-related imagery.

Seasonal collections work well because they evoke emotions that resonate with people during certain times of the year. If you're selling your stickers, seasonal collections also encourage buyers to return for new releases.

1.2. Hobby or Interest-Based Collections

If you’re not into seasonal designs, consider focusing on hobbies or special interests:

• Pets: Dogs, cats, birds, and other animals with quirky or cute features.
• Gaming: Pixel art, gaming consoles, or favorite game-inspired designs.
• Plants and Gardening: Stickers of succulents, flower pots, and herbal plants.

Choosing a theme that you’re passionate about will keep you motivated throughout the creation process.

1.3. Tips for Planning a Collection

• Create Mood Boards: Use Pinterest or other platforms to gather inspiration for your theme.
• Sketch First: Sketch some rough ideas on paper or digitally.
• Consider Your Audience: Are you designing for kids, adults, or a specific niche? This will influence your style and colors.

2. Designing Your Stickers in Procreate (or an illustration app)

Procreate is a powerful app for digital illustration, perfect for designing your stickers. Here’s how to get started with creating sticker designs, whether you want die-cut, kiss-cut, or easy-peel stickers.

2.1. Setting Up Your Canvas

When starting a new design in Procreate, it’s crucial to set the correct canvas size and resolution for high-quality stickers.

• Resolution: Always work with at least 300 DPI (dots per inch). This ensures that your stickers print crisply and with high detail.
• Canvas Size: For standard stickers, a good starting size is around 1000x1000 pixels, but it depends on how large or small you want your stickers to be.

2.2. Types of Stickers You Can Create

• Die-Cut Stickers: These are individually cut stickers with a distinct shape that follows the contour of your design. Think of it as a sticker with a "frame" around it.
• Kiss-Cut Sticker Sheets: This involves cutting only through the sticker layer and not the backing, allowing you to peel them off easily from a larger sheet.
• Easy-Peel Stickers: These are like die-cut stickers but with an additional, lighter cut (kiss cut) around the sticker to make it easy to peel off.

2.3. Tips for Designing in Procreate

• Use Layers: Separate different elements (like background, text, and main design) into different layers. This will give you more control when adjusting colors and making changes.
• Include a Bleed Area: Add an extra 1/8 inch (about 3 mm) around your design for bleed. This ensures that when your stickers are cut, there won’t be any unwanted white edges.
• Export in PNG Format: Stickers should have a transparent background, and PNG is the best format for this.

3. Laying Out Your Stickers in Affinity Designer (or a design app)

Once you’ve created your individual sticker designs, it’s time to arrange them on a page for printing. Affinity Designer is perfect for laying out your sticker sheet in preparation for printing and cutting.

3.1. Setting Up Your Document

• Page Size: The standard paper size for sticker printing is A4,US Letter or A5. Set this up based on your printer. 
• Guides for Alignment: Use Affinity Designer’s guide tools to evenly space your stickers on the page.

3.2. Exporting Your Design

Export your sticker layout in the highest quality for printing. The best format for printing is typically PDF or PNG, depending on the type of cut marks you're adding.

4. Printing and Cutting Your Stickers with your Cut Plotter

Once your design layout is complete, it’s time to print and cut your stickers using for example Silhouette Studio and the Silhouette Portrait 4 plotter (or your cut plotter and its software, in my case I have a Silhouette).

4.1. Setting Up Your Print Job in Silhouette Studio

• Import the Design: Open Silhouette Studio and import your design (PDF or PNG).
• Set Registration Marks: These marks help your Silhouette machine know where to cut. Make sure to enable registration marks for a print-and-cut project in Silhouette Studio.
• Include Cut Marks: For kiss-cut stickers, you'll want to create an outer cut mark around the whole sticker sheet and lighter cut marks (kiss cuts) for each individual sticker. You can create different colors for the different types of cut you wish to do.
• Align Cut Settings: Set the correct cut settings based on the type of sticker you're making. For kiss-cut stickers, use lighter cut settings so that only the sticker layer is cut, not the backing. For die-cut stickers, set the blade depth to cut all the way through. Setting the right cut settings is tricky because it will depend on your paper, lamination sheet and blade, so you'll have to test before. I recommend you to create different type of colors for each cut with different settings to test and don't waste material. Be careful not to cut to deeply to avoid damaging your cutting mat.

4.2. Tips for Cutting Stickers

• Test Cuts: Always do a test cut on a small area to ensure the cut depth and speed are correct.
• Blade Maintenance: Keep your cutting blade clean and sharp to ensure precise cuts.

5. Choosing the Best Materials for Sticker Making

The quality of your sticker material can make or break your project. Different materials offer varying levels of durability, finish, and adhesive strength. Here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of popular sticker materials.

5.1. Matte Sticker Paper

• Pros: Smooth, non-reflective finish. Great for planners, scrapbooking, and journaling.
• Cons: Not water-resistant, so not suitable for outdoor use.

5.2. Glossy Sticker Paper

• Pros: Vibrant colors and a shiny finish. It’s perfect for stickers that need to stand out, like product labels or decorative stickers.
• Cons: Prone to fingerprints and not as easy to write on.

5.3. Clear Sticker Paper

• Pros: Transparent finish, great for glass, jars, or surfaces where you want a “no-border” effect.
• Cons: Not ideal for light-colored designs as the transparency can make them less visible.

5.4. Vinyl Sticker Paper

• Pros: Waterproof and durable. Ideal for outdoor use or for stickers that need to withstand wear and tear (like on water bottles or laptops).
• Cons: More expensive than regular sticker paper.

5.5. What’s the Best Material for Your Project?

• Matte Paper: Best for stationery stickers.
• Glossy Paper: Ideal for bold, decorative designs.
• Clear Paper: Great for minimalist or label stickers.
• Vinyl Paper: Perfect for waterproof, long-lasting stickers.

6. Laminating Your Stickers: Cold vs. Hot Lamination

Sometimes it will be practical to laminate your stickers. Once you’ve printed your stickers, adding a protective layer through lamination can take your stickers to the next level, enhancing both their durability and appearance. Laminating adds protection from water, UV light, and general wear and tear, making your stickers longer-lasting and resistant to smudging or fading. There are two primary methods of lamination: cold lamination and hot lamination. Let’s explore both methods, including how to do them, the materials involved, and the pros and cons of each.

6.1. Cold Lamination

Cold lamination is a process that involves applying a protective laminate sheet over your stickers without the need for heat. This method is often preferred for delicate materials or surfaces that could be damaged by heat, such as inkjet prints on certain sticker papers.

6.1.1. How to Cold Laminate Your Stickers

Cold lamination can be done either by hand or with a cold laminator. Here’s how:

• By Hand:

  1. Before printing and cutting your stickers, carefully peel the backing off a clear cold-laminate sheet.
  2. Slowly place the laminate sheet on top of your sticker sheet, starting from one edge and smoothing it out as you go. Use a squeegee or a ruler to eliminate any air bubbles.
  3. Once applied, use a craft knife or your cutting machine (Silhouette Portrait 4) to cut the stickers.

• With a Cold Laminator:

  1. Place the sticker sheet into the laminator, sandwiching it between the laminate roll and the backing paper.
  2. Turn the handle to feed the sheet through the laminator, applying the laminate film evenly across the surface.
  3. Cut your stickers. Using some cut plotters you will need to left the silhouette registration marks uncovered without the lamination sheet on top for the machine to be able to read them.

6.1.2. Pros and Cons of Cold Lamination

• Pros:

  • No Heat Required: Safe for stickers printed with inkjet printers, which are sensitive to heat.
  • Easy to Apply: Can be done by hand or with a simple laminating tool.
  • Clear Finish: Provides a smooth, glossy, or matte finish that makes colors pop and protects the stickers.

• Cons:

  • Adhesion Quality: Cold laminates may not adhere as tightly to all surfaces as hot laminates.
  • Thicker Finish: Can sometimes result in a slightly bulkier sticker, depending on the thickness of the laminate used.

Bring Your Sticker Ideas to Life

With the right tools and a bit of practice, making your own stickers can be a rewarding and creative process. From brainstorming your theme, designing in Procreate, and setting up for print and cut with Affinity Designer and Silhouette Studio, you’re now equipped with the knowledge to produce custom stickers right at home. Whether you’re making die-cut stickers, kiss-cut sheets, or easy-peel designs, this guide has covered the essential steps to make your sticker-making journey smooth and enjoyable.

As a freebie I'm going to share these pdf with the registrations marks I use to create may stiker layouts when I want to prepare them for the cut plotter. Please note that as I use the silhouette software and paper cutter, these files will be valid for that brand and may not match other cutting plotters.

You can download them here:  PDF Silhouette Registration marks files

Ready to start creating your own custom stickers? Get your printer and cut plotter, grab some high-quality sticker paper, and follow this guide to turn your creative visions into reality! Happy creating!