Learn how to make holographic stickers using a Cricut and printable vinyl. A full custom sticker sheet makes a great party favor or gift!
I have been having so much fun making custom holographic stickers and I’m excited to finally bring you this new tutorial!
I’ve had to play with a lot of variables to finally get the holographic sticker sheets to cut just right so hopefully you won’t have to waste your materials by following these directions!
I have shown you before how to make waterproof stickers for water bottles and also how to use the Cricut print and cut, but today we are going to the next level and making holographic labels or stickers.
You can get such cool designs with tons of different colors to use with print then cut than just cutting simple shapes out of adhesive vinyl.
Sparkly custom stickers (vs the matte finish) are all the rage and make party favors, gifts that you can send in the mail, or sell.
You can even make them with your company logo to use as product labels! Imagine your company name on a bunch of cute custom stickers that you can send out with your handmade items.
Making your own stickers is a great way to add your own design or any image design you like to the sheets. For parties, you could add a bunch of different images that represent the favorite things of the birthday girl or boy!
Tips on Making Holographic Stickers with Cricut
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links from Shareasale, Creative Fabrica, Cricut, Awin, and Amazon.com. I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my links (purple text). As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
The Cricut machines cut print then cut images by printing registration marks (black lines) at the corner of the pages you print from your own printer (use your own print settings for your specific printer). The cutting machine then scans over the black lines slowly to know where to cut.
If you haven’t used print then cut before or haven’t in a while, make sure to CALIBRATE your machine. Click on the three hamburger lines in the top left of your Canvas and click on Calibration. Follow all the easy directions.
Cricut machines need a high contrast to read the marks so lighter colors of printable vinyl or paper are needed.
One of the main problems I hear about when making holographic stickers with a Cricut is having problems with the machine not reading registration marks once the glossy laminate sheet is added on.
I also have that problem, so I will show you my workaround and the best way to get the holographic images to cut correctly. Hint… we will be using a paper trimmer to cut our holographic label materials first!
Making a Full Sticker Sheet
Since I’ve given you instructions before on making individual stickers I decided to show you how to make a full custom sticker sheet with that psychedelic look for this post!
We will be making kiss cut stickers so the stickers will not cut fully through the sheet, you’ll be able to pull off each sticker around its own cut line like a regular sticker sheet you buy!
Plus you will be able to add our own custom information or wording to the top part of your design that will be printed but not cut.
There are two options for making the sheet. If you want to save a bit of time, you can use scissors or a paper trimmer to cut around the stickers after the Cricut has made the kiss cuts of the stickers.
The second option I’ll be showing you is adding some layers behind the top layer so the machine cuts around the rectangular sheet multiple times to ensure that it cuts all the way through.
A note about the cut setting I used: I applied a piece of the holographic vinyl to the printable vinyl I was using and tested out different cut settings on a small simple shape. It’s a good idea to do your own testing before trying a full cut sheet with the settings that work for my machine and materials.
Where to Find Sticker Designs
If you are an artist or know someone that loves designing eye-catching designs in software such as Procreate or Adobe Illustrator then you save those files as PNG format and upload them to Cricut Design Space to use.
As I’ve mentioned before, I find the majority of fonts and images I use at Creative Fabrica. I have a yearly subscription that includes commercial use for everything (most sites only offer personal use license) which is a great deal! (learn more about the yearly subscription here or to get a month free click here (just make sure to cancel after the first ten credits if you don’t want to continue).
The sticker PNG files below already have the white ink offset so you won’t need to add it within design space. Add as many images as you want on the sticker sheet to fill the empty spaces of the page.
When I search on Creative Fabrica for stickers, then graphics, there is a bunch of sticker sets to choose from. I like to download a bunch and pick an image or two out of each set. That’s one of the bonuses of making your own holographic stickers, you can pick and choose!
Here are the images I used for this sticker sheet:
You can also use any SVG file you find within Cricut Access. Just make sure to add a white offset to the image, select them both, and Flatten the image so it turns into a print then cut image.
How to Make Holographic Sticker Sheet
Make custom hologram stickers with a Cricut, printable vinyl, and holographic sticker paper vinyl self adhesive!
Materials
Tools
- Cricut Maker or Cricut Explore Air
- Paper Trimmer
- Scraper
- Color Printer that can handle thicker paper - I have an HP OfficeJet Pro
Instructions
- Create the sticker sheet backing in Design Space. Insert a square and size to desired sticker sheet size. I sized mine to 6 inch x 9 inches.
Change the color to white. - Optional Step: In order for the Cricut to cut the sticker sheet out completely (but not the stickers), you'll need to add layers. You can always use a paper trimmer after your sticker sheet has cut instead of this step.
Duplicate the square four times.
Keep one rectangle aside to design the sticker sheet. Select the four duplicated layers (by dragging your cursor over them), click on Align -> Align Center/Center. Then click on Group.
- To make a decorative top of the sticker sheet, add another rectangle and size it to 6 inches long and about 1 inch high. Change to the color you want to print and align it to the top and center of the single white rectangle. Then Group both.
- Add a text box and type in the words you want on top of the sticker sheet (or you can add your own logo!). Change color and size to fit. Select both the text and grouped rectangle and Align to Center. Then with both still selected, click on FLATTEN.
- Find images you want to use as stickers. I found all of mine at Creative Fabrica (see up in post for specific images used). Download images and upload to Cricut Design Space. Save as Complex.
- If the sticker image is a PNG, click on Continue and then Save as Print Then Cut image.
- Add each sticker design you want to use on to the canvas. Then should all be Print then Cut images if uploaded. (If using images in Cricut Access, make sure to add a white offset to the image and flatten). Decrease the sizes of each and place on top of the flattened image. Once the stickers are arranged how you want them, drag your cursor over all of the sticker images and background rectangle to select them all, then click on ATTACH.
- If you made the rectangle to cut out, then move the sticker sheet over the white rectangle group and Align center/center. Then with both selected, click on ATTACH. You'll notice the layers panel changes and shows all layers attached.
- Now the sticker sheet is ready to print! Save your design and click Make It. Send the design to your colored printer and print on printable vinyl. Place in the upper left corner of a cutting mat
- The next step is to add the holographic effect by applying the holographic material to the printable vinyl. I like to trim by holographic vinyl to fit inside the registration marks so there's no issues with the Cricut reading it. I cut the holographic vinyl sheet to 6.3 x 9.3 inches so it covers the sticker sheet but is inside the black lines.
- You can get bubbles when adhering the holographic sheet so make sure to go slowly. I like to pull off the backing from the top inch of the holographic material.
- Then center and place the top part of the sticky material over the top of the sticker sheet. Scrape down well.
- Now slowly pull off the back liner sheet as you scrape down with your scraper tool. Make sure to watch the video for this part if it doesn't make sense!
Once the holographic vinyl is fully on, scrape down well to push any air bubbles out.
- Ready to cut! As mentioned above, I tried a lot of different cut settings to find the ideal kiss cut setting for my Cricut machine, printable vinyl, and holographic material on top. For me it is LIGHT CARDSTOCK setting from the material setting drop down menu.
- Load the Cricut mat and follow all on-screen prompts to cut the sticker sheets.
Your Cricut will read the registration marks first, then cut the stickers, and then finally cut around the edge of the sticker sheet four times if you added those extra layers. - When the cutting has stopped, unload the mat and remove the sticker sheet and you're done!
- Enjoy the pretty iridescent effect of the custom sticker sheet
Notes
See post for all designs used in this sticker sheet! Make sure to watch the video tutorial below to see all the steps in designing sticker sheets in action.
I hope that helped answer some questions about making holographic stickers!
Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
