HOW TO MAKE NAIL STICKERS IN JUST A FEW EASY STEPS

Ever wonder how people make nail stickers? Well I can show you the way I make nail stickers easily using vinyl and my CRICUT machine. Yes you can make nail art with your CRICUT and it’s super easy! I’ll give you an idea on the best sizing to use as well as how to get the images.

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What You Will Need:

CRICUT Machine
CRICUT Design Studio
Vinyl (Removable)
CRICUT Mat
CRICUT weeding utensil or tweezers
CRICUT transfer tape or regular clear tape

This post is about how to make nail stickers.

In a nutshell a CRICUT is a machine that cuts vinyl into things for you to stick them on things like nails, walls, cups, etc. You can get a thorough knowledge of everything it actually does with either a google search or searching YouTube reviews. The machine will only cut on top of the cutting mat. The mat has a healable surface, which just means the blade won’t cut through the mat but will cut through the vinyl you place on the mat.

The vinyl you choose is your choice as there are many brands to choose from. If you want to use the specific vinyl I’m using its removable matte premium vinyl, which means you can, under normal circumstances, remove it. *For our purposes, once you add and cure with topcoat, it is no longer removable.*

I love it and it works perfectly for nail stickers. They are sold in a variety of colors. They’re usually priced around $7.95 at Joann’s but they are also sold at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby as well. In the past, I purchased a removable vinyl called Oracle 631 from US Cutter’s website but then found it more convenient to purchase from Joann’s since I create clothing pieces from time to time and was literally always there buying fabric…ANYWAY…now I only use CRICUT because it turns out its thinner which is better for nail stickers, in my opinion.

Usually, if you purchase a CRICUT machine it will include a cutting mat to get you started. For the purpose of nail stickers, the blue Light Grip mat works perfectly for me. You’ll notice the mat will have a clear cover over it remember not to throw this away. When the mat is not being used it needs to have that clear cover on it to protect it.

While the entire process I’m about to explain can be done on a desktop (the setup is a little different), I realize that if you’re like me, pretty much EVERYTHING is done using your phone. So here are the steps to making nail stickers using your phone and a CRICUT machine.

Finding Your Image

Finding your image is really simple with a little google search.

Let’s say you want to do a music theme nail look and need a few music notes.

Just search google for free music note images. Find a nice clean image that doesn’t have anything else in the photo. As you get more advanced you’ll be able to erase the other stuff out of photos, but for now, we want to keep it as simple as possible.
Once you have found your images click “save image as” for each image to save it to your computer.
Then open your CRICUT Design Studio software and click on New Project. Most of your options will show at the bottom of your screen.

Select Upload then click Select from Photo Library. This is where you grab the images you saved earlier.
The cleanup window will popup select Remove then tap the area where the image is (this will get rid of the background).
Now click Next. Choose Next again at the Refine screen as well.
Now we’re at the Prepare to Upload screen. Select the Print Then Cut image and type in a name to save the image then click Save in the top right corner. Do this for each image you want to upload.
Your images will pop up for you to select them, select the check mark at the bottom right corner to upload the images.

Sizing Your Image

The sizing will depend on the length of nail you’re using. I’ve found that for most images I’ve ever used on longer nails, a size 0.87width for thumbs seem to work well and a size 0.63 width works for all the other nails. But for this particular music note image, I had to size the thumb 0.39 width and the other fingers 0.25 width. *If you just alter the width the system will automatically adjust the height for you. You can always tweak the sizes as needed depending on the image you select and the look you want.*

Select Edit and type the number into the Width box to adjust the sizes.

Cutting

It’s time to set the machine to start cutting. If you want to cut multiples of the image at once,

just select your image then Actions then hit Duplicate as many times as you want
then select Make It in the top right corner.

Now your images should be showing on a cutting mat. This visual will give you an idea of how much vinyl you need to cover the area that your images are showing.

Cut and apply the amount of vinyl you need and apply it to your mat, making sure the edges of your vinyl line up with the grid lines on the edge of your mat.

Turn on your machine,
set the dial to vinyl then
select Next on your screen. You should get a popup to select your machine’s name.

Your machine will start blinking an arrow image that means it is time to insert your mat then press the blinking arrow button and it should grab your mat. You may have to help guide it so it’s not crooked. Don’t worry if you don’t get this right the first time, just press the arrow button again and the Cricut will release the mat for you to start again. Once the mat is in the C button should start blinking.

Select the C button for the machine to start cutting.

Weeding

Once your machine is all done cutting it’s time to start weeding.

Weeding is the process of using the tool shown below to remove all the unwanted pieces of vinyl from your nail sticker. At some point once I got the hang of things I stopped using the tool and started using my tweezers, but it definitely helps when you’re first learning.

You can use transfer tape to lift your vinyl from the paper and apply to your nail OR you can save money and use good old clear tape.