How to Make Die Cut Stickers with Cricut (Print Then Cut)

Die cut stickers are cut all the way around the shape of your artwork, usually with a white border. With a Cricut you make them with Print Then Cut: your home printer prints the sticker sheet, and the machine’s sensor reads a printed border around your designs so it knows where to cut.

What you need

• A Cricut that supports Print Then Cut, such as the Explore and Maker series, Cricut Joy Xtra, or Cricut Joy 2. The original Cricut Joy has no Print Then Cut sensor.
• Cricut Design Space
• An inkjet printer and printable sticker paper. White matte paper is the most reliable, because glossy surfaces can confuse the sensor.
• Your artwork as a PNG with a transparent background

Step 1: Upload your PNG as a Print Then Cut image

1. In Design Space, click Upload, then Upload Image, and choose your PNG.
2. If the background isn’t transparent, remove it in the upload editor.
3. When Design Space asks how to save the image, choose Print Then Cut image, then insert it onto the canvas. If it’s already on the canvas, set the layer’s Operation to Print Then Cut.

Step 2: Add a white border with Offset

1. Select the image and click Offset in the top toolbar.
2. Set the distance. About 0.08 to 0.12 in (2 to 3 mm) suits most stickers. Choose rounded corners so the blade doesn’t have to turn sharply.
3. Click Apply. The offset appears as a new layer behind your image.
4. Change the offset layer’s color to white. That becomes your sticker border.

Step 3: Flatten

Select both the image and the white offset layer, then click Flatten at the bottom of the Layers panel. They merge into a single printable layer, and its outer edge (the offset) becomes the cut line.

Step 4: Size and duplicate

Set the final size of each sticker and duplicate designs to fill the page. Everything has to fit inside the Print Then Cut area, which depends on your machine and paper size. Design Space shows the limit when a design is too big.

Step 5: Print and cut

1. Click Make It, choose your paper size, and continue.
2. Send the page to your printer. Keep bleed turned on so tiny alignment errors don’t leave slivers of paper showing. If you print through your system’s print dialog, make sure scaling is 100% and “fit to page” is off.
3. Choose your material setting, such as printable sticker paper.
4. Place the printed sheet on the mat and load it. The machine scans the black border printed around your designs, then cuts.

Shortcut: upload a sticker PNG that already has the border

Steps 2 and 3 exist only to give Design Space an outline with a white border. If the PNG already has that border and a transparent background outside it, Design Space cuts along its outer edge, and you can skip Offset and Flatten entirely.

1. Add your PNGs to MyStickerCut, then set the cut shape, white border, and print size.
2. Open Download and choose the Cricut preset. You get one Sticker PNG per sticker: the white border is drawn, the outside is transparent, and there is no cut line printed on it.
3. In Design Space, upload each file as a Print Then Cut image. The cut line follows the edge of the white border.
4. Check the size. Each file name includes the sticker’s real size, such as bear-sticker-50x51.4mm.png. If Design Space shows something else, type in the width (divide millimeters by 25.4 for inches).
5. Continue with Step 5 above: Make It, print, and cut.

Where people get stuck

“My SVG won’t upload” or “the artwork disappears”

Cricut Design Space doesn’t support raster images (PNG or JPG) embedded inside SVG files. Upload the artwork as a PNG instead, such as a sticker PNG with the border already drawn, and use SVG or DXF files only for shapes you want to cut.

“The sensor can’t find the marks”

• Make sure the page printed at 100% scale and the border printed dark and complete.
• Switch to matte paper if you’re using glossy.
• Avoid bright light shining directly on the machine.

“The cut is a little off”

Run Print Then Cut calibration from the Design Space menu. A slightly wider white border also hides small offsets.

“The cut goes into tiny gaps”

Increase the offset distance a little. Narrow gaps between arms, ears, or letters close up, and the sticker is easier to peel.

“My design is too big”

Print Then Cut has a maximum size that depends on your machine and page size. Scale the design down, or split a large design into smaller stickers.

When a print shop is the better choice

Print Then Cut is great for small batches. If you need hundreds of stickers, durable vinyl stickers, or sizes beyond the Print Then Cut area, a print shop is usually faster and more economical. Print shops need a file with the cut line on its own layer, and making that file is exactly the fiddly part.

If you’d like to understand what a cut line file contains first, read PNG to SVG cut line.

Skip the offsetting. MyStickerCut adds the white border for you: download Sticker PNGs that go straight into Print Then Cut, or a print-ready PDF with the cut line on a separate CutContour layer for a print shop. It’s free, and your artwork file is never uploaded.