Create bookmarks with Microsoft Designer

july 10, 2024

As an educator with almost two decades of experience, I’m passionate about transforming learning experiences to meet students’ evolving needs, and for new ways to connect with students. I love to put bookmarks out on my students' desk on their birthday, they love coloring them throughout the day and during breaks. It's just a little way to make them feel special. Microsoft Designer makes creating these special gifts really easy!

A bookmark that says "Happy birthday"

Get started with Microsoft Designer 

  1. Open Designer to start with a blank canvas, then select Modern Design and look for the resize option. Choose US letter landscape, then Resize and replace

  2. Start by adding a rectangle, and size it so three fit on the page. 

  3. Select a shape to change the color – I'm going with black and white so students can color theirs in.  

  4. Duplicate the rectangle and change the color to white, then place it inside of the other.  

That's the basic shape of the bookmark, but now the fun begins – adding graphics and visuals! 

3 cute "Happy birthday" bookmarks

Add graphics and visuals  

  1. Select Visuals from the editing tool menu. You can search for graphics to add to your bookmark. 

  2. Search for birthday visuals and choose what speaks to you! Have fun with it.  

  3. Add a banner so you can add text inside of that later. 

Once you get the images that you want to use, arrange them how you want, resize them, and move things around to suit your needs. And of course, if you think of something that you might want to add, you can just go back to your graphics and see what else you can find. With Microsoft Designer, you can even change the colors inside of images to be what you need – there's so many options.  

Add text 

  1. Select Text to add birthday well wishes (or whatever message you’d like). Since students are coloring these in, I’d like to use something that’s blank in the middle.  

  2. Easily resize your text by dragging the corner to make it larger or smaller – it's a lot quicker than just changing the font size manually.  

    A stylized 3D "Happy birthday" bookmark with a unicorn

    Duplicate and download 

  1. Once you’re satisfied with your creation, select everything on your bookmark and select Duplicate to create two more versions of it on the single page. When you print your bookmarks out, now you’ll be able to cut three from the same page.  

  2. Ready to print? Select Download, choose PDF, and select Print.  

Place them on your students’ desks so they start their birthday in your classroom with a bit of cheer. Ready to make your own bookmarks? Get started with free templates from Microsoft Designer today. 

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