Hello Darlings!

It’s been a while since I did a Tips & Tricks post and since it’s something that got me nominated to Book Blogger Awards I think I should make one to celebrate that!

Also, I wanted to do this post for a while now!

1. Basics
2. Background
   1. Photos from Canva
   2. Backgrounds from Canva
   3. Your Sent Files and where to get photos legally
3. Elements
   1. Basic elements to make a cool featured image
   2. Editing elements
4. Text
5. Example images (& blanks you can use)

First of all, you need to choose the size of your featured images. For me, it’s 1200 x 675 px.

Once you do that (and make a canva account) click ‘Create a design’ –> ‘Custom dimensions’ and write in your chosen width and height. Then click ‘Create new design’

You’ll be welcomed with the big white space & templates you can choose from

I’ll be showing you how to do things from a blank but you can make your life easier and find a template you like.

Now, to make a background, you can:

• just click on the blank and you’ll see background colour icon — click it and choose your background colour
• upload your file and use it as a background
• use photos from canva as a background
• use backgrounds from canva

(forgive my shitty arrows, I was lazy and made it in Paint)

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Photos from Canva

Photos are basically images with A Thing on them (a person, an animal, a book…) Also, they can be dropped into The Field you’ll learn about in the Elements section.

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Backgrounds from Canva

Backgrounds are basically an empty space that is not blank? And they can be only dropped into the whole image.

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Your Sent Files and where to get photos legally

If canva’s photos and backgrounds are not enough for you, you can add your own. As you can see, I mostly add book covers so I can make specific review featured images but also other pretty images that can be used as backgrounds or whatever. They can be dropped into The Field as well.

You can also find free photos on:

• Unsplash
• pixabay
• StockSnap.io
• Pexels

Elements are a wide category from icons to shapes. But basically, elements will make your images look pretty.

THE FIELD: If the element has an image of this nice field it means you can drag another image into it and it will appear in the shape the field was in.

Fields are useful for making your book covers the same size or some crazier more complex ideas you have.

Now, let’s talk about editing elements:

(from left to right)

• some elements enable you to edit colours and the first four boxes are for this exactly
• crop is self-explanatory
• so is flip
• position enables you to switch what is above and what is below between images, elements, text…
• the roll means ‘copy style’ so you can e.g. copy the style of the element and apply it to the background which will make it the same colour scheme
• the fading icon changes transparency of an image/element
• next you have link
• the lock locks element/text/… in one place
• duplicate copies element/text/…
• the trash can deletes the thing

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Some useful elements to search for:

• line
• dots
• circle/round
• frame
• florals
• torn
• background
• snow
• book/books
• paper
• note

Now, to create your text you can either use font combinations available (and then edit them to your liking) or create your own from scratch.

(from left to right)

• font
• font size
• font colour
• bold
• italics
• allignment
• list
• spacing between the letters and/or lines
• effects (shadow, lift, hollow, splice, echo, glitch, neon)
• underline
• uppercase
• position (enables you to switch what is above and what is below between images, elements, text…)
• the roll means ‘copy style’ so you can e.g. copy the style of the element and apply it to the background which will make it the same colour scheme
• the fading icon changes transparency of an image/element
• link
• the lock locks element/text/… in one place
• duplicate copies element/text/…
• the trash can deletes the thing

Now I have something to get you inspired.

It will be also available on my canva account here where you hopefully will be able to copy the elements if you like my designs.

PLEASE! Credit me if you use my designs & link to this post.

I will be probably making more designs when I’m bored so the folder stays fresh.

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