Small-business product labels on a home sticker printer

Who this is for

Small makers and shop owners labelling short runs: candles, soaps, jam jars, packaging seals and thank-you stickers. Liene pitches the PixCut S1 for exactly this, saying printed labels are “perfect for handmade goods like candles, soaps, and jars of jam” and that “You can batch print these labels and stick them on envelopes, boxes, or tissue paper” (Liene blog).

Sticker printer or label printer?

Cricut draws the line itself: “While you can make labels using Cricut StickerPix machines, they are not technically label printers.” It adds that “Label printers are built for text — shipping labels, barcodes, and organization — and usually print in one or two colors on plain label stock” (Cricut blog). So use a sticker printer for full-colour branded labels and seals, and a label printer for shipping labels and barcodes.

Which machine and supply fit

• Any shape, including round and logo-shaped labels: StickerPix Print + Cut or PixCut S1 on 4 × 7 in sticker sheets, kiss-cut (Cricut shop (US); Liene blog).
• Standard round, square or rectangular labels: StickerPix Print pre-cut sheets in 1.5 in circles, 1 × 2.6 in rectangles and 1.5 in squares (Cricut shop (US) pre-cut refill). Cricut describes them as for “full-color stickers and labels” (Cricut shop (US) pre-cut refill).
• Canon SELPHY CP1500: no cutter, with card-size (2.1 × 3.4 in) and square label (2.1 × 2.1 in) formats (Canon spec sheet). The KC-18IF full-page label set works out to about $0.83 per label sheet (our calculation: $14.99 ÷ 18) (Canon U.S.A. shop (KC-18IF)).

Label sizes, and how many fit on a sheet

A 1.5 in round seal gives 8 per 4×7 sheet; 2 in rounds drop to 3. Rectangles go further than squares of the same width: 9 labels of 2 × 1 in fit on a sheet.

What a batch costs in supplies

Both makers sell 72-sheet sticker refills (Cricut shop (US) refill; Liene shop), and each print uses a full ribbon panel however much of the sheet you fill (Kerri Crafts It). So plan runs in whole sheets:

Durability claims, and what is out of scope

• Cricut: laminated sheets “become fade-, water-, and scratch-resistant” (Cricut shop (US) refill). Liene: its sticker paper is “designed to be waterproof, fade-resistant, and scratch-resistant, ensuring that your labels remain vibrant and intact over time” (Liene blog). These are the makers’ claims; the laptop and bottle guide lists what neither publishes.
• Food contact: neither maker describes its stickers as food-safe. Put labels on the outside of jars, tins and bags.
• Heat: no heat rating is published, so keep labels away from a candle’s flame and hot wax.
• Regulatory text is outside this guide. Ingredient lists, allergen warnings, net quantity, cosmetics or candle safety wording depend on your product and country. Check the rules with your regulator; a sticker printer guide can’t tell you what a label must say.

Design and file tips for labels

• Work at 300 DPI. 1 in = 300 px, so a 1 in sticker is 300 px, 1.5 in is 450 px and 2 in is 600 px. A full sheet is 1200 × 2100 px for 4 × 7 in, or 1200 × 1800 px for 4 × 6 in.
• Use transparent PNGs for shaped stickers. Liene says transparent PNGs are especially useful for the PixCut S1’s automatic outline cutting (Liene product page). The sheet maker’s white border then follows the artwork’s outline instead of a rectangle.
• Add a white border and keep gaps. The sheet maker’s default border is 1/16 in, and it keeps 0.125 in between stickers so borders never touch.
• Stay inside the printable area. Liene publishes 3.9 × 6.7 in on its 4 × 7 in paper (Liene tech specs). Cricut has not published one for StickerPix, so the sheet maker’s general preset assumes a 0.15 in margin.
• Make text readable at arm’s length. Liene’s guide says “Font size, color contrast, and layout must support fast recognition” (Liene blog). Check the smallest text on the printed test sheet at actual size.
• Keep one master file. Reprints match better when you reuse the same PNG at the same size, rather than re-exporting each time.
• Print one test sheet first. Liene’s own advice is to “Run a test print and cut before committing to a batch” (Liene materials guide).

Untested: whether Cricut Design Space cuts each sticker on a combined sheet PNG separately, or only around the outer outline, is unknown. We have not been able to test it on a StickerPix yet. See how to upload your own designs.

Questions

More ideas by use

• Planner and journal stickers: Icon, header and photo sticker sizes, and what fits on a 4×7 sheet.
• Laptop and water bottle stickers: What Cricut and Liene actually claim about water, and what they don’t.
• Reward stickers for kids and classrooms: Cost per 100 reward stickers and the cheapest sheet layouts.

Comparing machines first? See the sticker printer buying guide and cost per sheet calculator.