Crafter Notes | Know Your Materials #1: Adhesive Vinyl & Printable Stickers

[OliviaZzz]

Heyy LOKLiK Fans!

New to crafting? The number of materials out there can be overwhelming.
What are they for? How do you use them? And why does vinyl come in so many types?

This beginner-friendly series is here to help.
Each post breaks down a few key materials—what they do, how to use them, and what to watch out for.

First up:
Adhesive Vinyl and Printable Vinyl Sticker Paper.

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Adhesive Vinyl

A go-to material for customizing all sorts of surfaces. Use it with a cutting machine to create shapes or lettering—perfect for mugs, mirrors, laptops, jars, and more.

Composition
Surface film + adhesive layer + backing sheet

Best on
Smooth surfaces like glass, metal, plastic, mirrors, furniture

Things to keep in mind

• Cut from the vinyl side, not the PET liner
• Not suitable for fabric, walls, or printers
• Use at room temperature—extreme heat or cold can affect adhesion

How to use

1. Design your shape in the software (no mirroring needed) and send it to your cutting machine
2. Cut the vinyl with the appropriate settings
3. Weed out the excess vinyl
4. Apply transfer tape over the design and smooth it out with a scraper
5. Peel off the backing paper
6. Stick the transfer tape (with design) onto your surface and press down again—then peel off the tape

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Printable Vinyl Sticker Paper

When you want full-color custom stickers, this is your material. Print your design, then contour cut it with your cutting machine. Great for labels, sticker packs, planner pages, and more.

Works with
Most inkjet printers and cutting machines

Best on
Clean, smooth, and dry surfaces. Avoid moisture or textured areas.

Things to keep in mind

• Print on the sticky side
• Not ideal for fabric or rough/dusty surfaces
• Water-resistant ≠ waterproof — don’t soak it

How to use

1. Design your image in the software (no mirroring) and send it to your printer
2. Print on the sticky side of the paper
3. Place the printed sheet on your cutting mat and send it to the cutting machine for contour cutting
4. Weed out any excess and apply as needed

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Got any tips of your own for using these materials? Share them in the comments—your advice might help another crafter avoid a sticky mistake.

Next up: Heat Transfer Vinyl & Cardstock—two must-haves for fabric projects and papercraft lovers. Stay tuned!

[Marino]

Great beginners notes

[Poleng]

Thank you, I need these information

[BellethehowtoGuru]

Some tips for adhesive vinyl from Belle

Adhesive vinyl is not food safe. So when applying to cups and mugs try to keep in mind that your lips will touch about 1 cm around the rim of the cup.

After applying your adhesive vinyl leave it sit and cure for 24 hours before using or washing.

Don’t put your vinyl projects in the dishwasher. Hand wash only.

Always clean your surface of your blank first. I use rubbing alcohol and a mircofibre cloth. This gets rid of all the oil and dust off your blank so your vinyl has a better chance to stick to your blank. I made a vinyl cup 5 years ago and it still looks the same as when I made it.

Lining things up
I know it can be hard to line layers up or even your transfer tape. My method is standing over my project so I can see everything is full view. I then bend around 1 cm of transfer tape on one end.

Then you can line up your transfer tape with your design with out worrying that your transfer tape will stick to your design when you don’t want it to.

Then with a scrapper burnish the transfer tape to the design

You can use this same technique applying your vinyl to your blank. If you make a mistake it’s easier to take that 1cm off your blank than the whole thing. Take your time and line it up.

On round surfaces I like to use a mircofibre cloth to burnish my design down. I find it easier than a flat scrapper tool.

Removing the transfer tape.
When your design is on your blank and its time for your transfer tape to be removed. Just go SLOW and monitor your design while removing. Sometimes your vinyl may not of stuck down fully to your blank so you might have burnish that part again.

When layering your vinyl.
Always choose your largest layer first. Apply that to the transfer tape first. Then keep layering the other layers one by one using the methods above.

Wet method
Sometimes when applying to a glass or mug you can get a lot of bubbles under your vinyl. A way to stop this is using the wet method. It’s where you lightly spray your blank with water. Don’t soak it. You apply your design the same after that. Having the water between the glass and the vinyl allows you to move your vinyl around freely with what I like to call wiggle room. This makes it easier to line up your project. You can then use your scrapper tool to get the water from behind the vinyl leaving now bubbles. Sometimes you need to leave your transfer tape on your design a little longer depending how much water you used. Also, the vinyl doesn’t start adhering or curing properly until the cup is dry. So leave it for 24 hours after the cup is dry.

Hinge Method
For large vinyl projects it might feel daunting trying to apply this big piece of vinyl to your blank. Well that’s when I use the hinge method. With your transfer tape applied to your vinyl and your vinyl backing still on place your design on your blank where you want it. Once in position apply tape to the middle top and middle bottom of your design.

On one side, slowly peel the vinyl off the backing. Then cut the backing off.

Then from the center outward, slowly lay and burnish your design down to the blank.

Now on the other side repeat the process. Peel the vinyl away from the rest of the backing.

Then slowly from the center outward burnish your design down to your blank.

Then burnish your whole design down. Then start slowly peeling your transfer tape away from your design. Monitor your design and burnish bits again that stay stuck to your transfer tape. I always peel my transfer tape off at a diagonal angle as there is less resistance from the vinyl than peeling across or up and down.

[BellethehowtoGuru]

Vinyl Sticker paper tips by Belle

Printer settings
If you are using glossy or matte sticker vinyl, make sure you change this in your printer settings before printing. Because printing with matte printer settings on glossy paper can sometimes lead to smudges and blurry images as the printer uses more ink.

Loading into your printer
If you have a bottom tray normally you want to place your sticker paper face down into the tray. If you have a paper tray at the back of your printer place the sticker paper face up. If you find your paper is getting stuck and jamming up your printer, try using the back tray. This helps as the paper doesn’t have to bend inside the printer. It can just go straight through.

Test cuts
I recommend test cutting your sticker paper. These probably won’t work out and they will be waste. But after you have your cutting parameters, it will work every time.

Kiss Cut and Die cut
A kiss cut is where your sticker is left on the paper and peels away.

A die cut is where your sticker paper has cut all the way through and is stand alone.

You can combine both cut types to make easy peel stickers.

[RageAppropriate]

thank you for this tips.

[skyicreations]

Wow!!! Such great information, basically a wonderful tutorial.

[skyicreations]

Great tips! When I use printable vinyl stickers on cups, I always add a self-laminating sheet prior to cutting the design. This helps keep the print intact a little more.

[Marino]

Great Infos thank you for all the hard work

[redhada]

Superb compilation! Thank you both for this < 3333

[BellethehowtoGuru]

Thank you guys I feel so appreciated. I know how hard it to learn something new so the more information out there the better everyone is.

Great tip about the laminating @skyicreations

[prinsesaian]

thank you for these tips