DIY nail decal with Cricut machines

Nail decals will make all the difference in nail art. An easy DIY to create a nail decal with Cricut!

There are two ways to create nail decals. The first is to use the regular cutting function of the cricut machines, which is the simplest, and the other option is to use the print then cut technique to make more colorful decals.

Supplies needed

• Nail polish
• Regular vinyl
• Masking paper trasnfer tape
• Weeding tool
• Topcoat nail polish
• Glossy sticker paper
• Inkjet Printer
• Cricut machine

For both processes first go to cricut design Space to design a template that will be useful to size the designs of the nail decals. Go to the left side, click on shapes and insert a circle. Turn off the size lock ratio at the top and size the circle to 0.5 inches by 1 inch to create an oval. This is the size for a standard nail type. Now, in the following section, the two processes will be explained separately.

Regular cut decals

First of all, make the design of the decal. It is possible to add lines, shapes, silhouettes, numbers and even text on the template. Keep in mind that the smaller the design, the harder it will be to weed it out. Once the design is done, hide the template. Then, if the design has different pieces, be sure to weld them together so that the machine will cut the design in the same positions as they are on the canvas.

Finally, click on make and select the material to the normal vinyl setting. It is possible to use scraps of vinyl for this project, as the size of the decals is minimal. To do this, place them on a mat and make sure the scraps adhere well to it.

Now, it’s time to remove the decal. To do this, don’t remove the vinyl from the mat. first, take the scraping tool and scrape off the entire cut design after weeding it to make sure the small pieces stick to the backing sheet, because those are the ones we’re going to use as decals. Then start removing the vinyl being careful not to accidentally remove one of the small pieces of the design.

After that, put some transfer tape on top of it. The masking paper tranfer tape is better for this project because its adhesive is not as strong as the regular trasnfer tape and it prevents the nail polish from peeling off. Finally, with a craft knife separate the different designs to make it easier to handle each decal for each nail.

Glossy sticker nail decals

The print then cut technique is where you create a design and send it to a printer and then send it to the Cricut to cut the shape. This is the technique we are going to use for this project. Open Cricut design space. If you feel more comfortable designing in canva, photoshop, or other design software feel free to do so, and then just save the image in a high quality png format and upload it to Cricut design space.

Be sure to create or choose a design with an easy outline for the Cricut manchine can cut it to make the sticker. At BGArtDesigner there are many designs with the best prices check it out.

Also, make sure that if you are going to sell the images, use only free images or purchase a site membership to use the image for commercial use. Upload the image to Cricut design space. To do this, select on “upload image”, then “browse”, and it will pull up the downloaded images. open it, after that choose “complex”.

Then click on the left side “advanced options”. Change the color tolerance to 100. After that, go over the image and remove the background. Click “preview” to see the contours that will cut the Cricut machine. Finally, click on continue and click on “print then cut”.

Insert the image into the canvas. The only change needed has to do with the size of the image. Because remember this is not a normal sticker, it is a nail sticker. Adjust the size of the image according to the nails. As a recommendation, do a test print to make sure the nail decal fits well after cutting it with the Cricut machine.

Nail decal creation

To make the test, create different sizes of the same image. Click on make it and then on “Send it to the printer”. A configuration window will appear, click on “system dialog”, to view the printer settings and modify them. Do the test with black and white ink and on normal letter paper, not on the actual sticker paper.

Once you are sure of the designs, modify the sizes if necessary. When making the stickers it is best to use the entire sticker sheet, otherwise you will waste it. Line up the stickers, select all the images and click “attach”. This is so the printer will print and the cricut will cut exactly in those rows. Send it to print and leave out the bleed and click on “system dialog”.

Leave the color on. then, go to “media type” and click on “photo” to get that glossy photo finish. Change the quality from normal to high. Place the sticker sheet on the mat, make sure it is aligned properly. Go back to cricut design space and click on “i’ve already sent to printer”. select the material to cut.

Finally you will have the nail decal created with a Cricut! Make sure to apply some top coat polish after placing the sticker on the nails.