What to do with Stickers

Stickers. It is crazy how significant stickers have become over the decades. What began as an embellishment of sorts has turned into statement pieces and part of a person’s style, attitude, and personality. Stickers range from simple pictures of animals, flowers, symbols, and shapes to parts of home decor, decals, and favorite phrases. The material and versatility of stickers offer a multitude of ways to use them on a daily basis.

Deciding you want to use stickers for a project or decor is one thing. Knowing what type of surfaces are best for those stickers is another. Smooth surfaces such as glass, plastic, and glazed ceramic are ideal for sticker placement because there is nothing extra to concern yourself with. 

Ensuring the surface is clean before application is necessary for best adhesion. Lint, dirt, or oils present on the surface will cause the sticker to lay above the surface, which does not allow for the sticker to properly adhere. A quick wipe of the surface with an alcohol wipe will do the trick, ensure proper adhesion of the sticker, and help your sticker to last long.

Some surfaces can be tricky when applying stickers. Paper and cardboard will not allow a sticker to be easily removed without some of the surface coming up with the sticker. When using stickers on such surfaces, consider it a permanent placement.

Other surfaces that are rough or bumpy might not allow for the sticker to remain in place for long. An interior wall in your home, for example, has quite a bit of texture to it. To help with adhesion for surfaces like this, the trick is to slowly apply the sticker, a little bit at a time, while using a heat source such as a blow dryer to warm the sticker, and then roll over the sticker with a tennis ball to help the sticker to adhere to the texture of the wall. 

Taking your time, having a clean surface, and using a little heat go a long way in helping a sticker adhere to a rough or textured surface.

Stickers can oftentimes be seen as a form of signature, whether by a person or by a brand. So there is no wonder that stickers can be used for different things, and on different surfaces. Let’s take a look at some different ways stickers can be used regularly.

Using stickers to organize or label different files, jars, or containers is not a new practice. Stickers can be as simple as just describing what is in a container, or they can be more decorative, fitting in with the theme of a room, home, or office. Use stickers for spice jars, baking containers, coffee or tea canisters, pantry items, and whiteboards or chalkboards for chores or lists. Who said organizing had to be boring?

DIY crafters use so many different materials and supplies to embellish their projects. Stickers are a fun way to add to those crafts! Adding stickers to greeting cards, envelopes, and scrapbook pages, and even adding a little flair to photo frames to enhance the ambiance or scenery, are all fun ways to add stickers to your next craft project.

Crafting has also branched out into creating home decor stickers that are applied to accent walls, or doors. Large stickers with loving sayings are placed in living rooms to bring attention to the space as opposed to having a blank wall staring at you. Such types of decor offer bursts of inspiration and emotion to draw you into the space.

Water bottles are seen as a blank canvas. Stickers play a very exciting role in covering that canvas! Some people will cover their water bottles with stickers from places they have visited, brands they love, or stickers that speak to them on some level. Once you collect a bunch of stickers, it becomes a type of game, too, to figure out where the next sticker will go, and when to cover one sticker with another.

Stickers lend beautifully to personalization, including luggage, wallets, storage boxes, sports equipment, and even lockers. When you add stickers to personalize items like this, you not only share your own personal expression through your sticker choices, but you also make items easily identifiable as yours. Anyone who has traveled can understand the need to be able to quickly spot your black suitcase amongst a sea of black suitcases!

Some phone and laptop cases come with very decorative designs and a lot of color. Some are simply one color, providing a perfect backdrop to begin your sticker collection. Stickers on items such as laptops and phone covers also allow the user to change their style often when using removable stickers or removable vinyl to decorate these pieces.

But the fun doesn’t have to stop with the cases! Some people prefer not to cover their electronic devices, and dressing them up with stickers is a great form of personal expression. Sticker graffiti is a very popular form of expression these days and allows all sides of your personality to shine through.

With so many electronics throughout a home these days, there are many different items to place stickers on, bringing a little more personality and self-expression into the home. Video game systems, modems, video game controllers, remote controls, and even homepods are candidates for creative sticker placement throughout your home and personal space.

Home offices are nothing new, and sometimes you need just a little extra flair in your workspace. Enter stickers. Any type of sticker can fill that big space, and most desks I have seen covered with stickers have signified more of a journey than anything else. Showcasing places of importance, and stickers that represent a piece of the person.

Words of affirmation on a bathroom mirror are a fantastic way to start any day, and dressers are another fantastic blank canvas for any teen to start placing stickers that show what they are interested in and expressing themselves. Another fun place to add stickers is on household appliances. I have seen some pretty creative bakers dress their mixers up in stickers, adding a little extra pop of expression to the home.

How about creating a sticker wall in your home? Choose a dedicated space where family members can add stickers that represent them and make an art wall out of it. Not only will it be fun to watch the wall grow over time, but it will also be a fun way to watch as each person grows through different stages of their life.

We have already mentioned how stickers have become a means of personal expression. While bumper stickers might not be as popular as they once were, car decals have become a way for vehicle owners to express themselves in many ways. From quippy sayings to showing pride in sports teams or culture, to creating a sticker to cover entire windows, modes of transportation have benefited from the sticker craze. Bicycles, skateboards, scooters, and even motorcycles are adorned with stickers.

With modes of transportation, naturally, come helmets. Helmets are a requirement in most places these days for those who ride bicycles, motorcycles, scooters, even roller skates and skateboards. With stickers, a person can easily express their style and personality. The best part is if you love freedom of expression, using removable vinyl to make your sticker allows you to change out your stickers with ease!

Branding is a very individual, and very important, piece of marketing for businesses. Not just big businesses, either! Branding is important for any person who is trying to make a name for themselves. Stickers are a fun way to add to that branding and to emphasize the company’s attitude. 

Stickers can go on everything from envelopes to product packaging, and can even be added to packages as a fun freebie with purchase. Who doesn’t love something for free?

When we think of stickers as something that is special to us, personal to us, and unique to us, we can begin to see the uses of stickers in our everyday lives. It doesn’t have to stop with simple organization, branding, or covering surfaces. Here are some other ways to use stickers.

Stickers have a way of evoking emotion. When you look at a sticker of a yellow smiley face, you smile. When you see a sticker with a funny phrase on it, you laugh. When you come across a sticker that reminds you of a place or a person, you feel happy. 

You could spend all day playing with stickers with so many different ways to use them in your day-to-day lives. I cannot wait to see how you choose to incorporate stickers into your next project. Be sure to come back and let us know how you chose to use stickers!