How To Use Canva For Beginners? Create Beautiful Designs For Your Etsy Store And Social Media

In this article, we will talk about how to use Canva for beginners, aimed at professional miniaturists who would like to make their online presence a bit prettier.

Therefore, we will deviate a bit from dollhouses and miniatures, but still, I find this interesting to talk about if you are a seller of minis or dollhouses.

Because by using Canva, you can create pretty designed images for your Etsy store, Instagram page, Facebook page, and of course your website, if you have one.

As this blog is all about helping you out in every way with this hobby, I thought I’d mention it.

If this topic is not applicable to you, feel free to check out my other blog posts, thanks 😉

Also, check out this online tutorial on Canva by Domestika.org. Apply my discount code EVERYTHINGVERYSMALL for 10% OFF.

But first: what is Canva and what is Canva mainly used for?

Canva is an online design platform where you can create your own graphics for social media, prepare presentations and design things like logos and headers for your website.

You can use this tool on different devices to access your designs anytime and anywhere because it is completely online.

These are the things that you can do with it :

1 – Graphics for social media

This is the main reason why people use Canva and it has been proven very useful in recent years, to create high-quality graphics.

In one day’s work, you can create enough graphics for several weeks or even months, once you get the hang of it!

2 – Presentations

Not a lot of people know this about Canva, but you can also create presentations and slideshows with this software, ideal for when you don’t want to use Powerpoint.

As this tool is online, you can access it always on any device, isn’t that great?

You can use these slideshows for an online course, for example, or even create a Youtube video just by “gluing pictures” of the progress of your work together.

3 – Logos and house styles

Your company can be great, but if your house style and logo are not inviting, this might have an influence on your image.

Designing your logo in Canva can also be totally worth it , there are plenty of icons and fonts you can start with easily.

After creating the logo, you can go on developing your creations by using colors and fonts for your own house style.

4 – Resumes, pamphlets, and much more.

With the help of Canva, you can also produce files such as PDFs, resumes, pamphlets that you can print out, etc.

This can be very useful for your business (creating a business card, for example), but personal use is also interesting.

Also, check out this online tutorial on Canva by Domestika.org. Apply my discount code EVERYTHINGVERYSMALL for 10% OFF.

My personal journey with Canva

When I first started working with Canva, it was because I wanted the headers of my blog posts to be more attractive, and I wanted the main picture to tell the story of what was to be seen in my blog posts.

Well, I can tell you, it was a struggle at first, I’m not going to deny that!

But is Canva good for beginners like me? Yes, it is!

You might have noticed that my latest blog posts have several adapted header images, but not for a very long time yet.

But once you get the hang of it, you will start to create better and better pictures!

And you know what the best thing is, Canva is totally free and gets you far with the things that are available for free!

If you would like to sell your miniatures by the way and get regular updates on how to sell your stuff, feel free to join my Facebook group on buying and selling your miniatures.

What I can personally now do well on Canva is:

• Create “presentations” in the right size for the headers of my blog posts
• create Youtube/Pinterest videos with picture slides and/or videos
• create a Logo
• create cover photos for Facebook
• create Pinterest pins/pin ideas/Pinterest videos

All of this, without having to pay anything so far, unless there is a pre-fabricated design that I really adore and absolutely desire it!

On my homepage, you can see the Logo and Header with the picture in it of me and one of my fairy houses.

I know that my logo needs some adjustments in size and I’m not quite happy about it yet, but I might correct it while writing this blog post, this is a good occasion for it haha!

While I wrote this, I actually decided to go for it in this blog post, down below 😉

How To Start With Canva?

• Signing up for Canva.com is FREE, and you have immediate access to all the formats for different platforms and an abundance of templates.
  
  Not only does Canva make it easy for you to create a design, but it can definitely inspire you as well to make other creations.
  
  ==> Use Canva for FREE.
  
  
• Although you CAN use Canva for free for a very long time, and I have so far, I can imagine that you would like to use it a lot more in-depth after a while, just because of the extra possibilities and gorgeous designs.
  
  Also, there are templates on Canva all ready and finished by the Canva design team. Most of those are for pro members only, but there are a few free ones.
  

But I wouldn’t advise starting with a paid account at all at the start, only if you are looking for that “extra touch”.

What I did find very helpful though, is following this online tutorial on how to use Canva more into-depth.

So, you just need to create an account with an email address, log in, and then you can see all the different templates that you can work with, like in the picture below.

Everything that you will start to create from now on, will always be saved automatically, so you can go back to it at any time.

When you are on the homepage, you can now see all the different things that you can create with Canva.

You just need to use the right button and you immediately get the right size for each design.

You can choose between flyers, Instagram pictures, presentations, and so much more, it really can be very detailed and it would be quite impossible to explain them all in one blog post!

But below, you can follow my struggle with creating a new logo for my website lol.

How to Proceed with Canva?

Now that you have an account with Canva, you can go ahead and choose a document on which you would like to work on.

When you choose a certain type of document, you can see that there are already predesigned documents available as well, which can be handy if you are in a hurry.

For the headings of my blog posts, I use the “presentation” option, for example.

I prefer to make my own designs for the latter, as I assemble something with my own pictures.

When choosing “presentation”, the picture should be in the right size for the header of a blog post, and the same goes for other designs for your socials and more.

This is what I just created for this blog post, for free!

So now you can go ahead and create your own design and start with a blank template and customize it to your liking.

Also, check out this online tutorial on Canva by Domestika.org. Apply my discount code EVERYTHINGVERYSMALL for 10% OFF.

Let me walk you through one example of how to go further by creating a new logo for my website:

Creating A New Logo for my website on Canva, showing you right through it step by step

So I decided right here and right now to show you the process of creating a new logo for my website because I am tired of this one, and it just seems like it isn’t the right size at all for my theme, especially on mobile.

So that needs to change!

What I did first is look up the necessary size for a logo, suitable for my theme.

As I use Generate press, a lightweight theme for my website (you probably have another theme), it seems that the actual size for a logo doesn’t matter, but it is being displayed at roughly 250px x 50px.

So, what I did on Canva is :

• go to: create a design
• click on Logo
• go to custom size
• insert 250 px width and 50 px height
• press create a new design

After this, I clicked the “elements” button on the left, and looked up “houses”, as in a little image that could represent a dollhouse. There were lots of free choices, as seen below.

After that, I had a look at my homepage, to see if the little house and the color would fit into my homepage, and I would advise you to do the same for your own website.

Every little house or image that you tried so far, can easily be deleted again just by using the delete button on your keyboard.

What I also did was change the white background to pink, to adjust to my website color. I can still change that afterward.

And then I chose just one house, the prettiest one in my opinion haha.

I ended up keeping two houses, and added a simple text “dollhouses and miniatures”, BUT…

NOW, I was left with the question: isn’t this logo too BIG to be put on my website? And how would it look on mobile, and started to doubt what I was doing!

*SIGH*

So, I just downloaded it ==> share, download, (used a PGN file), and tried it out!

Well, no, that wasn’t nice, at all, especially on mobile. So back to the drawing table!

Creating a better logo on Canva

So, let’s start all over, this time I will just use the “logo-button” from Canva itself and go from there, which is probably better anyway!

What I did then is just look for templates of little houses, adjusted the background, added a few more mini items (just play around with this, there are so many of them!), downloaded this as a PGN and there you go, my new logo 🙂

I might still change some things because, on my Facebook group, people told me that it would be better to change the colors of the letters (more contrast) and someone else said that my website could get confusing because people might think it is a website that sells garden furniture for kids..

Point taken haha!

Also, check out this online tutorial on Canva by Domestika.org. Apply my discount code EVERYTHINGVERYSMALL for 10% OFF.

How to use Canva for beginners: does Canva have a tutorial?

Yes, Canva does have a tutorial and I have used and will review this tutorial, which goes way more into depth on how to use Canva than I did.

Although my own short tutorial above might help you along your path, this course has a lot more to offer and explains to you a lot more than I could ever do.

But first, who is the teacher of this online course?

The teacher in this course is Claudia Cánovas, who is a designer, social media manager, and educator from Spain.

In this Domestika course, she will learn you how to create professional designs with Canva.

Starting by talking about her training, her work in a studio and her career path, and her influences and trends, she takes you all the way through everything you need to know about working with Canva.

You can see her work on her website and Instagram page.

What will you learn in this expanded online course on how to use Canva for beginners?

In this order:

• Introduction on who is the teacher/her influences/career, etc
  
  
• Introduction to Canva ( about a 5 min long video )
  
  
• How to customize the Canva desktop and arrange folders, so that we can work more easily with our documents ( 3 minutes and a half video)
  
  
• a lesson on how to create documents in Canva ( 3 minutes, 20 seconds )
  
  
• How to use the tools in Canva:
  
  – Starting with showing you what the main tools are of Canva and how to design the cover and table of contents for the style guide ( a lesson of almost 18 minutes long).
  This includes all the possibilities, including making videos!
  
  
• How to use graphic and image resources and how to transfer your materials from Illustrator to Canva. (18 minutes and a half long )
  
  
• How to use and choose fonts and customization and how to apply tools for a more professional look ( 10 minutes )
  
  
• How to use all the options available for the use and editing of photography and video in Canva. ( 12 minutes )
  
  
• How to create and publish a webpage with Canva, divided into several lessons, about 30 minutes in total:
  
  -Gathering ideas and inspiration
  -How to build a website
  -Design and publication of the webpage part 1
  -Design and publication of the webpage part 2
  
  
•  three ways to create models or mock-ups of our design work (5 min)
  
  
•  how to share documents with clients or with the team and the different external application options available. ( 5 min )
  
  
• how to create a video for Instagram Reels. You will see how to get the most out of video editing in Canva.
  
  
• you can share your final project on the platform
  

A little Review of this online course on how to use Canva for beginners

Let’s look at a few pros and cons of this online tutorial on Canva

The Good.

• This is a very expanded tutorial and contains everything you need to know about how to use Canva for beginners, and more!
• Affordable course, check out the price below
• unlimited access forever
• online and at your own pace
• level: beginners
• has 23 additional resources (10 files)

The Bad.

• The audio is in Spanish, but the subtitles are good
• the course sometimes is aimed more at professional designers instead of amateurs

Check out the price and more details about this online tutorial on Canva here. You can also use my discount code of 10% OFF! EVERYTHINGVERYSMALL

My Final Conclusion

I hope that you liked this little tutorial and review on how to use Canva for beginners.

If you have any more questions on this topic, please feel free to ask them below in the comment section or join me on my social media pages or Facebook group.

I wish you a happy design!

Kind regards,

Lizzy

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