Let's Make Die Cut Kawaii Stickers on Cricut Joy and Procreate

1. Introduction : Hi, I'm Elaine Vitikainen. I'm an illustrator and an entrepreneur from Helsinki. I've been making stickers for as long as you remember, from drawing directly on label papers, illustrating on my iPad, printing them out then cutting them by hand. But now I have a Cricut Joy which makes sticker making more fun, relaxing, and even addicting. So why Cricut Joy? Cricut Joy is only 8X 4 X 4 " in size, which really fits well in my small working space. Also, I didn't want to put more money on a cutter that I would probably not managed to use because I'm not tech savvy. But I was able to figure out Cricut Joy. And in this class, I will share with you how to create die cut stickers. The set of stickers that we will be designing will be Kawaii snacks. We will design our stickers on Procreate, then send them to the Cricut design space to have them printed and cutting them on the Cricut Joy. We would need an iPad and Apple pen or any stylus that you have, the Procreate app and the Cricut design space. We would then, of course, use the Cricut Joy, and a 4.5 X 6.5 " mat. Also we would need a printable sticker paper, a printer, a cutter, or scissors. By the end of this class, you will have die cut stickers that are truly Kawaii and something that you have designed yourself. You can also check out my previous class in creating stickers on Cricut Joy and Procreate. if you would also want to make sticker sheets. I really hope to see you in class. 2. Class Project: For the class project, we will be creating die cut Kawaii snack stickers. Die cut stickers are stickers that are cut around the shape of the artwork, which is also known as custom shaped stickers. The set of stickers that we will be designing will be Kawaii snacks. We will design our stickers on Procreate, then send our sticker designs to the Cricut design space to have them printed and cut. We would need an iPad and Apple pen or any stylus that you have, the Procreate app and the Cricut design space. We would of course need the Cricut Joy and a 4.5 X 6.5 " mat. Also a printable sticker paper, a printer, and a cutter or scissors. I really like working on a 4.5 X 6.5 " mat as it allows me to print more stickers on an A4 sticker paper. Let's get started. 3. Kawaii: Since we're drawing Kawaii snacks, let's look at the basic style of Kawaii drawing. Kawaii characters have cute eyes and smiley faces. Usually the eyes and the mouth are close to each other. The more rounder they are, the cuter they become. So avoid sharp edges. Use pastel colours for a more Kawaii look. I suggest to create the color palette before starting your project. Also add some elements like stars or confetti. You can download my confetti brush from the class resources section. 4. Drawing Kawaii Snacks: Now it's time to draw Kawaii snacks. Let's open Procreate. Hit the plus sign and let's create our canvas. I will set it at 15 by 15 " and 300 DPI for good quality printing. Hit Create. Now we can start drawing. I will be using the ink bleed pen from the inking section of the brush library. I will set the pen size to 100. First, let's create a face that we will use for all our Kawaii snacks. By using the same face, we have a consistent look. You can draw different Kawaii faces until you find the one that you really like. Now let's open another layer. I'll be setting my pen to size 35. Let's draw an ice cream. When drawing Kawaii snacks, start with the shape as drawing is really just about shapes. Go through the sharp edges and just round them up a bit. Remember that when you hold your pen in place, it will create a straight line. Also, it will create a nice curve shape. Now let's activate the Alpha lock for some confetti to add another element of cuteness. I suggest to draw six to eight drawings depending on the size that you are going for. I always suggest to draw each snack on different layers. Let's draw some more. I've added two more snacks to have a total of six Kawaii snacks. You can look at my illustrations again from the previous video for inspiration. But also remember that inspiration is everywhere. You can find different snacks and turn them into Kawaii snacks. When you have done all your drawing, Let's name this file Kawaii snacks. 5. Setting Up Stickers: Now let's set up our stickers. Let's create another canvas. I will set it at 4 X 6" at 300 dpi. Hit Create. Now we will upload all the stickers from the Kawaii snacks file to this canvas. It's a copy and paste process. Copy the layer then paste it by swiping three fingers. Continue doing this until you have all your stickers uploaded to this canvas. We will then arrange the stickers to have enough space between the stickers and around the stickers as we will be putting the offset around them later. Put all the stickers in one layer by pinching them together. Remove the background, then save this file as PNG and send it to the Cricut design space. 6. Preparing Guide: So here we are on the Cricut design space. First, we will prepare the guide for cutting. So let's start a new project. Let's go to shape. Select square, then set it to 4 X 6 ". Then select and duplicate. Let's change the color of this layer so that we can see better what we are doing. Adjust the size of this layer to create the border of the guide. Place it. Select, then align and center. Select, slice. Then unselect the layers except for the transparent layers. Select then position to zero. Select then set operation to draw and pen. Then make it. Follow me in this process. Then take the 4.5 X 6.5 " mat. We are going to draw on the mat to help with the cutting of stickers. Be sure to change the blade to pen. Then click go. Unload. And now we have a guide where we will place our stickers for cutting. 7. Printing Stickers: So now we will upload the stickers. Follow me in this process. Let's add the offset. Select stickers. Click Offset. I can choose how thick the offset would be. You can change the color of the offset to your choosing. Select both layers, then attach. Place the sticker layer on the guide. Select all, then attach and duplicate. We are duplicating so that we can print two sheets on an A4 sticker paper. Select all then position to zero. Since the Cricut Joy doesn't have the ability to print it cut, we will change the setting to Maker. Select all then set it to print and cut. Click Make it. Continue and send to printer. Be sure that your printer has the right setting. For example, if you're printing on a glossy sticker paper, then set the printer to print glossy paper. Unselect the Add bleed, then print. Now we have two sheets of stickers. Let's cut the sheet. Be sure not to cut the guide out. Place one on the mat, placing it exactly on the guide. 8. Cutting Stickers: Now it's time to cut our stickers. Let's go back to our canvas by clicking Cancel. Select both the sticker sheets then detached. Since we can only cut one sticker sheet at a time, let's delete the other sticker sheet by selecting it, then Delete. Now let's go back to Cricut Joy. Then unselect the stickers, but leave the offset and the guide. Select all, then change the operation to Basic Cut. Then make it. Choose on mat. Check that the mat size is correct, then continue. For the base material, I will use medium card stock. But this will depend on the thickness of your sticker paper. Then I will set the pressure to more as we are making die cut stickers. Now let's change the pen to blade. Load the mat with the sticker sheet on it, then go. Unload, and now it's ready. Now we have created Kawaii snack die cut stickers. I think they're truly Kawaii. 9. Thank You: Thank you for joining me in this class. I hope you enjoy designing Kawaii snack stickers. And you have learned something about the process of making die cut stickers. Please don't forget to snap a photo of your stickers and post them in the class resources section. Bye for now and see you again soon.