Ahhhh!!!! This is the first post I have written for this blog and I am freaking out, I’m so excited!!!!! After some technical difficulties, I have come prepared for the first activity. If you are curious about my purpose for starting this blog and want more details you can find them _here_ , but my overall goal is to give you guys the tools and insight to take care of your whole self so that you are best prepared to help those around you in whatever way you can.
So as you know by now, the first activity is making stickers!!! The idea first surfaced in my head when I was at college without access to my Mom’s sticker maker, which was handy but didn’t allow for larger stickers (she does not have a large, expensive, automatic one) and the important part was I did not have it with me. So after some research on different methods, I have combined them to come up with the ultimate guide.
If you still need some convincing, here is a list of benefits of this self-care activity.
- You get to use your creative juices! Even if you think you don’t have an artistic bone in your body, you can creatively find pictures online or from your own camera roll to use. Don’t worry about being the next Van Gough.
- You have the opportunity to make your own unique designs no one else has!
- You can use them to dress up your journal, notebooks, scrapbooks, etc. or give them as gifts!
- Give yourself a break from boredom or constant stress with a creative outlet. Sometimes its good to have a distraction.
If you have decided to try this here are the materials you will need.
- Clear Packing Tape
- Parchment Paper (You can use Wax Paper if that’s what you have, it is just harder to pull the sticker off in my opinion)
- The image that will become the sticker. Depending on what you are feeling, you can either paint/ draw your image or print out a design, even one of your own photos. Either way, whatever paper you end up using will likely be fine. Just keep in mind a thicker paper like card-stock may not adhere well to a round surface, like a water-bottle.
I had a lot of time and watercolors on my hands, so I sat down to paint some flowers and leaves. You don’t have to be the world’s best artist to make your own design. There are plenty of youtube videos on basic but beautiful flowers or greenery. I used one from Shayda Campbell. For paper, I used an old drawing notebook I had. You can use paper designed for watercolor or paint. Again, my only caution would be that if you intend to use the sticker on something round, a paper that is too thick may start to pop off.
IMPORTANT: When you are drawing your design or printing your image make sure it is no wider than the width of the tape you are using for maximum sticker life! If you want a wider sticker, you can put 2+ tape strips next to each other. This required extreme patience and fine motor skills on my part to get the pieces to completely line up without overlapping, but if you are up for the challenge or aren’t picky about having a tape line in the middle of the sticker the side possibilities are endless!. (the blue 4 petaled flower with 2 leaves cut in a circle uses this technique. I accidentally made it to big)
Now for some actual directions on what to do after you have your unstickified sticker!
1. Place a strip of packing tape on the wax/parchment paper sticky side down.
2. Cut out your sticker design. You can choose to leave a lot, little, or no whitespace around the edge of your sticker. The bottom 3 are cut in squares rather than following the outline of the shape. It’s all up to your design vision!
3. The next step can be done 2 ways, but it will start with a second tape strip roughly the same length as the first. When placing your designs leave AT LEAST 1/4 inch between them)
Method 1: Place your design(s) on top of the first tape strip (it should not be the sticky side). Carefully place the second strip, sticky side down, on top of your designs and first tape strip.
Method 2: Take the second tape strip and attach the face of your image to the sticky side of this tape. Once all your designs are secured, place the tape sticky side down to the first strip of tape.
4. Once you have all 4 layers (parchment, tape, sticker, tape), I recommend running your fingernail around the edge of the stickers to better seal and shrink any air bubbles around the edge which is totally normal.
5. The last step is to cut out your stickers and stick them wherever you want, by peeling them off of the parchment paper! Here is one sticker I put in my journal.
I have problems trying to decide where to put stickers because I don’t want to waste them, but now, with our new sticker skills, we can make as many as we want and put them everywhere! If that still isn’t reassuring enough you can make a sticker book or put them in a journal so that you always have them! I made so many my first time I couldn’t use them all so I put them in a plastic sleeve in a binder for safe-keeping.
I hope you guys enjoyed making your own stickers and found it a relaxing and fun thing to do to unwind. Let me know how your stickers turned out and if you have any suggestions I should share! Have an amazing week!
With Care,
Rachel
