Whether you’re into scrapbooking, stationery design, or crafting digital prints, learning how to design digital paper can be a game-changer. The great news? You don’t need to be a seasoned graphic designer to create stunning digital paper. With the help of Canva and some fantastic resources from Creative Fabrica, you can easily create gorgeous designs, even if you’ve never picked up a design tool before!
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In this step-by-step guide, I’ll walk you through the basics of creating your own digital paper in Canva, using elements from Creative Fabrica to bring your ideas to life.
What You’ll Need:
- Canva: A free, easy-to-use design tool that’s perfect for beginners.
- Creative Fabrica Account: A subscription to Creative Fabrica will give you access to thousands of design elements like patterns, textures, and illustrations that you can use in your digital paper designs.
How to Design Digital Paper in Canva
- Go to Canva and log in (or create a free account if you don’t have one yet).
- Click on Create a Design and choose the dimensions you need for your digital paper. A common size for digital paper is 12 x 12 inches (or 3600px x 3600px) for crafting and scrapbooking projects.
- You’ll see a blank canvas where you’ll start adding your elements.
Add Illustrations
- Next, you can go to the Elements tab in Canva and search for shapes, patterns, or illustrations that you want to use in your design. Canva offers a range of free options, but if you’re looking for something specific or premium, Creative Fabrica is your go-to.
- Head over to Creative Fabrica and search for elements. For this example I’ve used some fall and winter clipart. I’ve linked them both for you so you can follow along if you’d like. You can get them free with a Creative Fabrica all access membership or you can sign up for a free trial and get them that way too.
- Once you’ve downloaded the elements, upload them to Canva by going to Uploads, then dragging the design elements onto your canvas. Resize and position them as you like!
Customize Your Design
- Play around with layering. You can adjust the opacity of your elements, add a subtle transparent layer, or create repeating patterns to make your design flow.
- Add a background color to your digital paper. Use Canva’s color picker tool to pull out some shades from your elements and then adjust the shades so your elements stand out against the background.
Design Tip:
- To make seamless repeating patterns for your digital paper you’ll want to use the Canva alignment feature. Simply drag the element to be exactly half way off the page. For example, pull the element to the top of the page and look for the little red line to show you it is exactly halfway off the page.
- Duplicate the element then pull it to the bottom of the page and use the guide to make sure it is exactly halfway off the page.
- Then you can select each element and align them using the alignment tool. When you do this, the pattern will be seamless at the top and bottom of the page. You can repeat this on the right and left of the page as well for a completely seamless design.
Save and Export Your Digital Paper
- Once you’re happy with your design, it’s time to save your work! Click on the Download button in the top right corner of Canva and select your preferred file type. PNG or JPG is best for digital paper.
- Choose High Quality or Transparent Background (if your design has transparent areas) for the best result.
- Hit Download, and your digital paper is ready to be used!
And that’s it! You’ve just designed your very own digital paper using Canva and Creative Fabrica. The possibilities are endless—whether you’re creating stationery, scrapbooking elements, or simply experimenting with design.
The more you play around with the tools, the more confident you’ll become in your design skills. So, dive in, get creative, and start using your new digital paper designs in your projects. And don’t forget to share your creations with others – there’s always something inspiring about seeing others’ designs!