Create a Shaped Sticker From An Image

If you’ve been down the planner/planner accessory rabbit hole on Pinterest lately, you are probably aware that planner stickers are a big thing.

It’s super easy to make your own if you have a cutting machine, and once you know the process for making a shaped sticker, you can make one from just about any piece of artwork you can create, find or buy.

In this tutorial, I’m using the free version of Silhouette Studio software.

I’m sure Cricut users can do the same thing – you’ll just need to look around in the software to find the matching menus.

Open a new document, and set things up for a Print and Cut by specifying the page size and turning on the crop marks.

Then, merge in your artwork, and size it.

If this image looks familiar, it’s because it’s my favorite little alligator. I made him into a shirt some time back, but I thought he’d make a great addition to my planner sticker stash. Lots of things in life should be marked “Later” 🙂 .

If the artwork is a JPEG or PNG file, you’ll need to trace it, using the Trace Menu. 

Move the original artwork out of the way, and with the outline selected, open the Offset Menu.

This is going to create a path that will be the cutting border to your sticker. I like to make my distance .125, and change the corners to the curve option.

This should create a big enough border that all the little details are merged together, but sometimes little tiny parts are in the center that aren’t really worth cutting out. If that happens, just delete those parts. You just want one continuous outline that is the shape of the sticker item, just larger.

Select the outline and the original artwork, and then use the Transform Menu to center them to each other.

At this point, I like to group them so they move together exactly aligned.

Duplicate the group several times to fill the page, keeping note of the zones that are not to be printed on for a successful print and cut.

Save your work at this point (if you haven’t already), and then load a blank adhesive sticker sheet into your printer. Be sure to load it correct side up so that it prints correctly, and then choose the printer icon from the upper left corner of the Silhoutte Studio software.

Once the sheet is printed, place it on your mat with the little black square in the upper left corner – it should match the on-screen view.

Load the mat with the sticker sheet on it into the Silhouette Cameo, and then choose Send to send the file to the cutter. Make sure the outlines you created with the offset are colored red or blue in the Send screen, indicating they will cut. If they aren’t, then select them and choose the Cut option under the correct tool menu.

Change your Material settings – I use “Vinyl, Glossy” because I’ve found if I use the one marked “Sticker Paper, White” it usually cuts too deep. Then send the job to print. For these, you’ll reverse weed, which means you pull off the parts you don’t want, and leave the final sticker shapes on the sheet, where they’ll be safe until you want to add them to an envelope, gift package or planner page.

Pin this so you’ll have it for when you want to make your own stickers!

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