How to Make Bumper Stickers

You can make your own bumper stickers.

People use bumper stickers to personalize not just their cars, but their laptop computers, luggage, notebooks---anything you can put a sticker on. You can lift that personalization up a notch by designing bumper stickers yourself, using your own images and text. Using a computer and some specialty supplies might speed the process up a few minutes and add to your sticker's longevity, but you can also use just a pen, paper and some contact paper.

Things You'll Need

• Design template, either hand-drawn or in your design software (3 inches by 10 inches is the standard size) Bumper sticker blanks or vinyl-coated sticker paper Liquid laminate or clear shelf liner

Instructions

1. Design your bumper sticker within the template's confines, either by hand or on your computer. Some bumper sticker paper templates made for computer printers might come with their own design and printing software, which you should use to correctly format and print your design.

2. Preview your print job before actually printing it if you are printing your bumper stickers on your computer printer. Make sure your design will line up correctly with all sticker boundaries when you print it.

3. Draw or print your design onto your bumper sticker blanks.

4. Use a clear liquid laminate such as ClearJet to weatherproof your bumper sticker. Although blanks and bumper sticker paper are weatherproof and weatherproofing isn't totally necessary, this extra precaution will help further your bumper sticker's lifespan.

5. Apply a sheet of clear shelf liner paper over your bumper sticker if you don't have a liquid laminate. Apply the shelf liner carefully to avoid air bubbles and press it down firmly over the bumper sticker's surface to ensure it makes total contact.

Tips & Warnings

• If you're designing your bumper stickers on your computer, test print your design on regular paper to ensure it's lining up correctly and looks the way you want. You can find bumper sticker paper for your printer at office supply stores and blanks at sign and specialty printing stores. You can find clear liquid laminates at art stores and sign shops. If you can't find bumper sticker blanks, you can make your bumper stickers on regular paper and use contact paper to both weatherproof your bumper sticker and seal it onto your car. Weatherproofing is especially important if you're using water-soluble inks. Although bumper sticker blanks are designed to absorb your printer ink and help it set as a "self-weatherproofing" sticker, additional weatherproofing will lessen any changes of your inks' running.

Resources

• Office Depot's bumper sticker paper
• McGonigal Paper's bumper sticker paper
• ClearStar's clear laminating liquids