6 DIY Teachers' Day Card Ideas Using Printed Photos

Created by: PrintForFun. Reviewed and updated by the KT Colour team, October 2026.

The short answer: the cards teachers keep are the ones with the class in them. Any of the six ideas below works, from a ten-minute marbled card to a scrapbook the whole class signs, and each one is better with a few small prints: squares, Instax-size retro prints or 2R wallet prints, which cost under a dollar each and fit the pockets and panels of a handmade card.

Teachers' Day in Singapore is usually celebrated on the first Friday of September, and in some years on the last Friday of August, so check the school calendar. Here are six cards worth making.

1. Quilled card

Quilling is rolling thin strips of paper into coils and shaping them into flowers, letters or borders, then gluing them to the card. It looks far harder than it is: a slotted quilling tool costs a few dollars, and a first flower takes about twenty minutes. Put a small photo of the class in the centre and quill a border around it. Good for a card from one child.

2. Class scrapbook

The gift that gets kept. One page per child, or one spread per term, with a photo and a handwritten note. Print one square or 3R photo per child and let each of them decorate their page. A 4R album with 120 slots works as a ready-made scrapbook if you would rather not bind one, and our photobooks are the no-glue version: upload the photos and notes, and we print and bind it.

3. Paper embroidery card

Prick a simple outline into the card front with a pin, then stitch along it with embroidery thread. A heart, a star, or the teacher's initial. Stitch a frame and glue a 2R print inside it. It is slow, calm work and good for older children.

4. Mini-envelope message card

Glue a row of small envelopes to a card base, one per pupil, each holding a folded note and a tiny photo. The teacher opens them one at a time. Instax Mini size prints (5.4 x 8.6 cm) fit a small coin envelope exactly. For a class of forty, make it a concertina so it folds down to A5.

5. Squash card

A squash card is a square card that springs open into a cross of panels, each with a pocket. Fold three squares of card diagonally and straight, nest them, and glue the corners. Perfect Square prints fit the pockets, and the card closes with a ribbon. This is the one in the photo above.

6. Marbled card

Spread a layer of foam shaving cream on a tray, drop watercolour or food colouring on it, swirl with a skewer, press a piece of card onto the surface, lift and scrape off the foam. The pattern underneath is marbled paper. Let it dry, fold it, and stick a photo on the front. Messy, quick, and no two are alike. Good for a whole class doing them at once.