Make Stickers From Scratch (Without a Machine)

Ever wanted to make your own stickers, but don't have one of those wild machines? Well, this is the DIY for you! Make stickers that look professional with items from around the house.

Step 1: Collect Materials

Parchment Paper/ Wax Paper
Scissors/ X-acto Knife
Tape (Double Sided, Packing, Masking)
A ruler
A Picture: Mine are hand-drawn, but you can definitely use a printed design instead.
Other Stuff, like Mod Podge

Step 2: Prepare Your Image

Find some inspiration in the stuff around you or what floats around in your brain.

I really loved the new Devilman anime, so I drew Akira Fudo. I also like playing my ukulele and it's snowing today, which obviously made me want to draw spring flowers.

Doodle a picture, color a page in a coloring book, or find something online. Band stickers are a good route to go.

A note on types of paper: I used some light weight sketch paper for these stickers, so they're floppy. You can use Multimedia paper or watercolor paper for stiff stickers. When I print images for stickers, I use rubber cement and a plain sheet of paper to make my images sturdier. Experiment with what you have.

Anyways...

I drew some stuff, and lined it. Then, I colored them. I screwed up the fish, so it's not going to show up again.

Step 3: Seal Your Images

This step is optional, but I recommend it. You can also do this step later.

Option 1:

Take your picture and the packing tape (you can also use normal clear tape, but packing tape is thicker and easier to use).
Lay your art down on a flat surface, and peel some tape. I leave a bit of tape on the edge, to stick it to my work surface and keep everything straight. If you twist the tape, you'll get big wrinkles or might even ruin your picture, so be really careful!
Pull the tape over the entire picture. Leave lots of extra tape on the sides; you can chop them off later. If you can't cover the whole picture in one piece of tape, do your best to line up the next piece of tape to the previous one.
Take something hard (like the edge of a ruler or the handles of your scissors), and push it all over the picture. This helps to hide any wrinkles and ensure that your sticker is sealed.
- As you can see from the last two photos, wrinkles are minimized.

Option 2:

You can also seal with varnish or Mod Podge.
Only use this method if your image is water-proof! The liner and color medium have to be waterproof. Test the Mod Podge on a separate test doodle.
Brush the Mod Podge onto the picture and wait until the sealer dries before moving on to the next step.

Step 4: Cut

Cut out your pictures! I like to leave lots of borders. You can cut off excess later.

Step 5: Prepare the Parchment

This stuff came from the dollar store, so I'm not worried about using too much.

You can use wax paper, too, but parchment has worked best for me.

Make sure your images will fit on the paper.
Tape down the parchment paper. If you don't stick it down, the next step becomes much harder.

Step 6: Prepare Your Sticker Base

Use the double-sided tape. This also came from the dollar store.
Cut pieces of tape that are as long or as wide as your picture.
Lay them out as close together as you can, without overlapping them.
Once there is enough tape to fit your entire picture, you can stick your picture on.
If you didn't seal your sticker before, you can do it now.

Step 7: Press It On!

Apply pressure to make your sticker stick. If you didn't seal your picture, lay another sheet of paper or parchment over the top to prevent smudges.
Slide your ruler all over the image with equal pressure.
Flip the picture and press it more.
It's important to stick your picture well.

Step 8: More Chopping

Cut out your (almost) stickers!
If you have rounded edges, be careful with the excess double-sided tape; it might start peeling off.
Press the cut out sticker one more time, just to be sure everything is stuck!

Step 9: Success!

Hey, check it out! You just made your own sticker. You can give these to friends, sell 'em (if they're of your own work), or just hoard them for yourself. These are really fun to make, and even more fun to peel off.

If you find it too hard to peel the stickers off, leave a piece of the parchment paper exposed without tape on it. It'll give you a hold.

Step 10: Display

I made these stickers, too.

The gecko is a digital picture I drew (which is available as a sticker on my Etsy), the boy in the donut is one of my original characters, and the other two are of the SuperMega boys.

Have fun, and get crafty. Hope this was helpful! Good luck.