Teacher Appreciation Bookmarks: The Perfect DIY Gift Idea
It’s that time of year again! Teachers are gearing up for a new school year, and parents are starting to think about teacher appreciation gifts.
If you’re looking for a simple, affordable, and meaningful gift idea, look no further than teacher appreciation bookmarks!
This is a quick and easy DIY project that anyone can do! In just a few simple steps, you can create a one-of-a-kind bookmark that will show a teacher how much they are appreciated. Let’s get started!
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3 Easy To Make DIY Teacher Appreciation Bookmarks
The 3 designs we are going to make are:
- Colouring bookmark
- Teacher bookmark
- Keep calm and teach bookmark
All three of the DIY teacher appreciation bookmarks that we are going to make will be created using a free online graphic design tool called Canva.
Creating a free account on Canva.com is quick and easy and will only take you a few minutes.
Create A Design
Once you’re logged in to Canva, click on the create a design button in the top-right corner of the screen.
From there, select Bookmark from the list of design options. This will create a blank bookmark template that is 2 inches wide and 6 inches high.
If you want to create a bookmark in a different size then instead of selecting the bookmark template you can instead click on custom size and type in the size you require.
Customise Your Designs
Canva has a lot of pre-made bookmark design templates for you to use, but we are going to create something 100% personal and unique so we want to start with a blank document.
Design 1 – Personalised Colouring Bookmark
First, let’s add some text by clicking on text on the left-hand menu and then clicking on the add a heading button.
Once the text shows on your bookmark document simply type whatever text you want.
My teacher appreciation bookmark is going to read “Thank you Miss Foster for being a great teacher”. This will appear in the default text font which is currently Canva Sans.
If you need some inspiration for your bookmarks, check out these 90 Best teacher appreciation quotes.
To change the font simply click on your text and then on the left-hand side menu you will see a list of font choices appear with a search bar at the top.
If you know the font you want to use then just type it into the search bar.
The font I’m going to use for my design is called Malibu.
It’s worth mentioning here that if you have a free Canva account you do not have access to everything.
So if you see a small crown icon on any of the fonts or design elements then it means they are only available to people with a paid Canva Pro account.
Now it’s time to add the colouring elements. As I am a Canva Pro user, I have access to all the features so I will be using a pro element for my colouring design.
Click on Elements in the left-hand menu and type in “line art” and see if you like anything that shows up. If you know what you want then you can be more specific with your search term.
I’m going to search for “floral line art” and choose something from the selection that appears.
Now you may want to choose a different colouring design so instead of the word “floral”, simply switch it to something else but keep the phrase “line art” at the end.
Once you have found the line art elements that you like, all you have to do is click on them or drag and drop them onto your bookmark document and adjust them however you wish.
Design 2 – Teacher Bookmark
Underneath your first bookmark design, click on the button that says Add Page to create a new blank bookmark. This next design is a little bit trickier than the first one.
First, click on Elements on the left-hand menu and scroll down until you get to Frames. Click on frames and then scroll down again until you find letters of the alphabet.
Drop each letter onto your blank bookmark to spell the word teacher vertically. You will need to resize each letter and move it into place.
Next, you will need to search for a pattern design, I went with polka dots, and drag and drop them into each letter.
Finally, add text around each capital letter to make the following words:
- Terrific
- IncrEdible
- SpeciAl
- Caring
- CHeerful
- AwEsome
- InspiRing
You may also want to change the font style. I went with a font called ABeeZee.
Design 3 – Keep Calm And Teach Bookmark
Our third and final design will be a quick and easy one to create. Add another blank bookmark and add text.
I’m going to type “Keep Calm and Teach Art”, but feel free to change this to match whatever subject the teacher in question teaches. The font I’m going to use is called Fredoka One.
Next, click anywhere on the white space on your bookmark and then change the background colour to whatever you like. I’m going to choose red.
Finally, click on Elements and in the search bar type in “crown” and add the one that you like to your design.
Download & Print
Once you’re happy with your designs then all you have to do is print them, cut them out and then your teacher appreciation bookmarks are ready to give away as gifts.
Tips On Printing Your teacher appreciation bookmarks
You do not want to simply download your designs straight from Canva as a pdf document and try to print them out, as the size of the bookmarks will be all wrong.
Instead, you have to take a few extra steps in order for them to print them out correctly.
First, click the “Share” button in the far top right-hand corner of the screen and then you will see the option to download your design.
Click the “Download” button and select file type “JPG” and then hit the download button again. This will download all your bookmark designs together as a zip file. Extract the files and save them
Then upload your bookmark jpg images into Canva by clicking on “Uploads” on the left-hand menu. This will show an “Upload files” button under the search bar.
Click on upload jpg files and locate the bookmark images you want to import into Canva.
Finally, you need to add your bookmark designs to your blank bookmark template printable, which will allow you to print up to 4 bookmarks in the right size on a single sheet of paper.
Conclusion
There are lots of different ways that you can show your appreciation for a teacher and giving them a homemade gift is a great way to do it.
These teacher appreciation bookmarks are easy to make and can be done at home with a free Canva account, some cardstock and a printer.
So get creative and show your teacher how much you appreciate them with a unique and personalised gift.
If you’re looking for more DIY printable bookmark ideas then you may enjoy these tutorials:
