Stickers are stars for decorating and customizing all your stuff! You can buy them from your favorite illustrators and stick them around the house.
It has become very common that illustrators post their art on Instagram and then make small pieces that they will later turn into stickers for their fans to buy on online shops.
Instead of buying big framed pictures to hang on your walls, you can get stickers for your laptop, windows or notebooks.
But you can also make your own! Whether they are for yourself or you are an artist making stickers for your fans, go ahead and read about how to make waterproof stickers that can be used anywhere!
There are two methods we recommend using. One of them requires a Cricut machine and some software knowledge, and the other one doesn’t.
The second method doesn’t result in stickers with a very professional finish, but you can use it if you are making waterproof stickers for water bottles you are going to use at home or something similar.
How to make waterproof stickers using a Cricut machine?
There are several ways to make water proof stickers with a Cricut machine, but they all follow the same basic principles. You simply need to change some details in the process.
The first thing you need is a design. You can either make your own using Procreate, Ibis Paint or any other design tool you like. With these programs you can make whatever design you want, either black and white or color.
We have some SVG designs for you to download for free, like this butterfly SVG free image.
You can also use any design you find on the internet. Any will do, as long as they are in PNG or SVG format without a background. If you’ve found a design you like that does have a background, you can follow this tutorial on How to Easily Convert a PNG Image to an SVG Cut File (it can be used in JPEG format too).
Once you have chosen your desired design, let’s print it! You need to use sticker paper or vinyl. Your sticker paper can be regular or waterproof! A good option is using Evergreen Goods vinyl, which is glossy and waterproof and won’t need any extra step.
Here you can see an article about The best sticker paper for Cricut!
If you use regular paper, to seal the stickers to make them water proof. For sealing stickers, print them and apply a layer of self-adhesive laminating sheets. Apply them on the stickers sheet making sure that there are no air bubbles between layers.
Let’s start cutting! Use the Cricut software to preview the cutting process and choose the setting depending on what method you used before. If you didn’t seal the stickers with a laminated sheet, you can use two different types of cuts.
Choose “sticker paper” if you want to make individual stickers, and “sticky note” if you want to make multiple stickers on a sheet. If you did apply the laminated sheet on top, you will need your Cricut to apply more pressure, so choose “Photo paper” but using the maximum setting, so that the blade can cut through all the layers.
You will professionally-looking stickers you can sell on your website or give your friends as a present.
How to make waterproof stickers for yourself without using a Cricut machine
This method doesn’t need you to have software knowledge or a Cricut machine, so they are easier to make. However, as we said before, this may not be the best option if you want to make professional-looking stickers for your clients. You better use this method for making stickers for yourself.
The materials you need are:
- Designs printed on regular paper with a LaserJet printed
- Clear adhesive tape, as wide as possible
- A bowl of warm water
- Scissors
- (optional) Parchment paper
The first thing you need is a regular piece of paper with designs printed on it. You can choose whichever design you want as long as it black and white. You might want to try colored designs, but we cannot guarantee you will get the best results.
You can look for PNG images on Google and paste them on a Word document to check the size and easily print them at home. Just remember this method only works with LaserJet printers.
This process shouldn’t take too long if you know what kind of design you are looking for. You can make waterproof stickers for cups, containers, or bottles, or you can stick them on any surface you want. If the sticker is small, the result will be better.
Once you have decided upon a design and had it printed, cut a piece of adhesive tape and stick it onto the design. Try to use a tape wide enough to cover the whole image with only one piece. You can use more if the design is too big, but you will need to overlap the different pieces and that will be visible.
Cut the design with the tape on top and put it into the bowl with water. Let the paper get completely soaked for about 30 seconds. After that, take the tape out of the water and rub the wet paper off the tape. You will see it comes out easily, but you may need to wet your fingers as you do it.
Once you have completely removed the paper, let the stickers dry for a while and you will see the tape recovers its stickiness. After they have become tacky again, you can stick them on whatever surface you want!
How to make waterproof stickers and keep them for later?
If you don’t want to use your stickers right after you have created them, you can stick the tape on a piece of parchment paper. This paper has some kind of wax on top that it will prevent the sticker to get completely stuck to it.
This way you can protect the adhesive surface until you want to put the label on a permanent surface. When the time comes, you simply have to peel the paper off easily to let the tacky side free.
Finally, here is all the advice we can give you about how to make waterproof stickers with and without a Cricut machine! All of them are easy to make and require different materials and specifications, but they all can give you great results!