I first discovered Lauren Vardell‘s sticker art by total happenstance. While perusing the web, I stumbled across a giant sticker mandala that Mrs Grossman’s sticker factory had commissioned the artist to make for them. Honestly, WTF – this thing blew my socks off! The inspiration to make my own couldn’t have come at a better time as I was looking for more wall art for my son Quincy’s room. Making these sticker mandalas is so meditative and fun, I’ve since made more for friends and expectant mamas. And really, there’s nothing more nostalgic than receiving sheets upon sheets of stickers in the mail! For a few hours, I’m a kid once again.
You’ll need:
- stickers
- a large and sturdy piece of fine paper (I used a 22 x 30″ sheet of watercolor paper)
- a pencil
- a kneaded rubber eraser
- a ruler
- a yard stick
- a compass
- a protractor
Start by laying your paper down on a flat working surface. Using a yard stick, measure the middle of the length and width of the paper with a hash mark. Those intersecting points is the starting point to your mandala.
Open the compass to about an inch radius and draw a circle from the center point of the paper. Lay the middle of the protractor on the center point and make a hash mark every 30 degrees – so 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 & 180 degrees. Flip the protractor over and do the same on the other half.
Now you have a circle and 12 hash marks. Take the yard stick and connect the opposing hash marks with a long straight line through the center point of the paper.
Because most compasses don’t open very wide, you can tape your pencil to a 12 inch ruler and turn it into a large compass. I anchor the end of the ruler onto the center point and carefully rotate the ruler around to draw a large circle. Make sure to tape the pencil securely to the ruler, keeping it straight up and down. Now you should have about 4-5 concentric circles that are divided into 12 equal sections. This will work as your guide as you begin to add stickers.
It’s important to use stickers that are mirrored. Mrs. Grossman’s carries a good supply of these stickers. But make sure they are mirrored before your purchase them and that you are purchasing the correct amount of mirrored sets. Start with a small sticker in the middle of the paper. I like to use a round one here. Then using the lines as a guide, start building out from the center point.
Continue adding stickers. Mix tall ones with short ones. Some don’t even need to mirror as long as they are relatively symmetrical in shape.
Continue to add stickers and don’t worry about small gaps – those can be filled in later!
Keep adding and as you work towards the outermost circle, pick stickers that will keep the mandala within the perimeter.
Once you feel like the mandala is at a good shape and size, fill in any large holes with small stickers. Take a kneaded rubber eraser, or an eraser that doesn’t leave behind any residue, and carefully erase any exposed pencil markings. Make sure to dab, rather than rub, as to prevent peeling up any of the edges of the stickers.
A close up view . . .
Of course, the shape is totally up to you – it doesn’t have to be a perfect circle!
Make sure all stickers are stuck flat before framing.
Have fun!
(images by HonestlyWTF)
Omg what a wonderful idea. Looks so cute. Can’t wait to try it 😀
xx Mira
http://www.glamdevils.com
GREAT!!!!
Cute! I bet it would look good as an elipse, which can be draw with two pins and a string, as a headboard for the bed. I will have to find some more ‘grown up’ stickers, or at least a different color palette…
Great idea, like it so much!!!!
xoxo Iren
http://www.liakw.com
this made me smile, its so sweet love how it surprises you when you see close up its frogs and trucks lol
Lauren
livinginaboxx
Well, this I LOVED! So fun and colorful 😀
xx
http://selmasboble.blogg.no
This looks so effective. Great from a distance and full of lovely surprises close up. I fancy a go at this mandala!
Wow! I really like this. What a wonderful idea and piece 🙂
Check out the B.A.D blog… http://blogaboutdesign.com
How fun is this! I totally had a thing for stickers in the third grade and would love a way to revisit that obsession.
xo
Michaela
http://michaelajeanblog.com
This seriously blew my mind! I simply NEED to make one now!
Such a cool idea wow!
XO CHAMA FASHION
http://www.chamafashion.com
LAUREN! ERICA! THIS IS EVERYTHING! I’ve been dying to try this but had NO idea how. THANK YOU!!
Wow! This turned out great. Thanks for sharing; I love this idea!
DW | http://www.daundra.com/blog
I love this DIY!!! *-*
amazing!
xxxx
http://www.dominiquecandido.com
I LOVE THIS–but how much did it cost?!?! I imagine it was so expensive!!
@Sarah, I probably spent about $75 on stickers but I ordered way more than I needed and more than enough leftover to make 3 more mandalas.
I was just eyeing some beautiful stickers online, but thought: What. would I do with them?? Now I have a reason. Thanks for this inspiration.
This is gorgeous, I love how intricate it is and would never have guessed from far away that it’s just stickers! Sometimes you can find big sticker packs at the dollar store (especially around back-to-school time)…those might bring down the materials cost a little bit.
this is amazingly beautiful!! now i must start a sticker collection
I love all the COLOR!!
https://www.etsy.com/listing/190647987/fashion-illustration-original-print?
Love this project. I will try one myself.
Thank you for posting about my work! I love your version. I think the extra white space is great, and it looks beautiful on a white background.
One thing I would point out to sticker buyers is that you need to make sure you have eight total of each design–four facing left and four facing right. Not all of Mrs. Grossman’s designs are arranged like that. I learned that the hard way. 🙂
Great blog, BTW!
–Lauren Venell
This absolutely blew my socks off!
WOW! Beautiful mandala! Congrats!!!
XX
Miri
http://currentlywearing.com
This looks amazing! Will be giving it a go!
The Velvet Black // UK Style, Beauty & Lifestyle Blog
That is seriously so cool! Who knew giraffe stickers could be so beautiful!
I absolutely LOVE this idea! Seems like it can make any sticker gorgeous. Can’t wait to try it and hang it above the desk in my dorm!
Cute idea!
This is my favourite thing ever! I saw the original sticker art a long time ago, too, and never thought in a million years to do it myself, but why not?! So so so beautiful. I have to make one for my daughter!
So cool! I have to try. Do you happen to know any other sites where we can get mirrored stickers besides Mrs. Grossman’s??
That’s amazing! You’re so creative 😀
http://carinasaysbradshaw.blogspot.pt
So I never gave up collecting stickers… I’d just like to think I got more sophisticated in my sticker choices. But I don’t do that much with them. NOW I KNOW WHAT TO MAKE. This is great!
Thank you so much for sharing.
I am soooo doing this! (spent the afternoon buying cute stickers)
Hi, how are you?I live in Brasil and think sou you are very inteligen, thanks for sharing!i know siverals blogs about Diy, but your blog is awesome, beautyfull.Sorry because my english is sou sou.thanks for all, kisses.
Wow I didn’t think it would look as great as it does! Great idea.
Well, after waiting for what seemed like an age for all my stickers to arrive in the mail, I finally made my very own sticker mandala! It turned out fantabulous, thanks to your great instructions.
The next one I make, I’ll make marks every 15 degrees for more guidelines.
Thanks, I’m getting tons of compliments!
Always have a problem with sticking things in line so this guide is super helpful! Will def mention it on mu DIY blog hapinesswherever.wordpress.com
Hi Erica,
I’m interested in posting a photo or two of this project on my blog in a mandala series that I’m hosting called, the “100 Mandalas Challenge.” I’ve created a couple of sticker mandalas inspired by yours and want to show this example with a link to this blog post. As a courtesy, I wanted to reach out to you to let you know I’m interested in doing this. I’m scheduled to post this on February 23, 2015. To learn more about the 100 Mandalas Challenge see: http://www.100mandalas.org. Love this sticker mandala! The two I made are very simple and I bring in some other mixed media. What fun! ~ Kathryn Costa, Collage Diva and Creative Dabbler
Wow, this is beautiful! I really like how detailed it is, and I would never have known from far away that it’s made only with stickers! Sometimes you can find large packs of stickers at the dollar store, especially during back-to-school season. Those might help reduce the cost of materials a bit.