Nuts & Bolts: Artist Interview Trudy Wilkerson
One of the many perks of being a GCU Design Challenge winner is an interview. These mini-interviews are fun reads and a peek into the makings of the winning card.
Here is September 2022 Design Challenge winner, Trudy Wilkerson, interview.
Congratulations to Trudy on her winning design.
The difference is made in the details!
Mindy
GCU Community Manager
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Wanted New Cards: Baby Dedication African American
Wanted Cards – Baby Dedication African American
Serving a variety of audiences, ethnicity shown via skin and hair color is one way to help shoppers find the perfect card.
Please consider creating new cards here:
Occasions >> Congratulations >> Baby Dedication >> General cid#5698
Occasions >> Congratulations >> Baby Dedication >> Boy cid#5696
Occasions >> Congratulations >> Baby Dedication >> Girl cid#5697
Note: cid# is the speed entry method of adding a category to your card via category id number (cid#) vs using search terms or click and hunt. See here on the blog:
https://gcucommunity.com/2022/06/10/nuts-and-bolts-new-artist-enhancements/
To expedite the review of these cards, please check Fast Track Review on the card image details page when you create your card and add a Note for Reviewers like “for BLOG– Wanted Cards”. (stock cards are automatically fast tracked).
Consider using Stock Card Creations to create new cards quickly. These cards are automatically set for expedited review so no need to Fast Track. Remember, when you’re submitting your new stock card, add a little note about the intended category in your Notes to Reviewers.
Be inventive, be clever, be creative. Go for it!
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Freebie Wednesday: Floral Creator
Freebie of the Week this time around is a really cute Floral Creator!
What will you get in this pack?
- 106 Floral Elements in EPS and PNG Format.
BONUS:
- 6 Wreaths in EPS and PNG Format.
- 6 Ribbons with 2 colors in EPS and PNG Format.
What are the file specifications?
- EPS files are vector based and can be scaled to any size.
- PNG files are transparent and easy to use! (300dpi, Smallest file at 2480px x 2480 px)
Only available on the Hungry Jpeg site for another 6 days, so don’t miss out.
Comes with complete License.
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Dash of Inspiration: February 2023 Design Challenge
Well – I’m off to a late start this year it seems! My sincere apologies for letting January blast right by without a design challenge. I didn’t remember until last week and the funny thing is, no one reminded me! We must all be off buried in our design studios creating as I’ve been. 🙂
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Theme: Pantone Color of the Year 2023 – Viva Magenta Magentaverse
Requirements:
- Create a new design using the 2023 Pantone color: Viva Magenta
- Any category which your card speaks to.
- No Stock card creations will be accepted.
- Blank verse will not be considered for entry in this challenge.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Please do NOT use trademarked terms “Pantone”,Magentaverse” or “Viva Magenta” in your meta-data. You can however use individual terms like: magenta,color of the year, etc.
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Entry Deadline: Tuesday, February 28th
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How to Enter: Post the PID (card number) and the URL (public storefront link – please WAIT for the card to be available in the public marketplace, please DO NOT post a link to your Manage Cards area) as a post in the challenge blog. We’ll forward your entry to the jury.
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Category:
Any
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Rules:
- Submission must meet GCU’s Submission Guidelines and be Approved through the usual Review Cycle– Fast Track your submission with this in the Notes to Reviewer: Febuary Design Challenge Submission here is the link to the blog post: (include THIS blog post URL)
- Only ONE card per artist per challenge.
- Submissions must be NEW, no existing designs.
- Your entry must meet the Challenge Requirements and Theme or it will not be included in the challenge.
- Stock Card Creations entries will not be accepted.
- Your designs should differ from those already offered in the category of your choice to offer shoppers a variety of choices, not more of the same.
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BLIND Judging: We hope each of you enters every month. Entries are submitted anonymously for judging by the GCU Challenge Jury which means that before and during the challenge, judges do not have any way of knowing what artist is behind each entry. This eliminates any and all concerns with ‘favoritism’. Results will post on the Community Blog. The jury will judge the entries on the following criteria:
- How well the card meets the Challenge Requirements and Theme.
- How well the card speaks to the Category the artist chooses for the card submission.
- Creativity, Execution and Marketability.
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Winners: 1st Place:
- The winning designer’s card and store will be featured on the GCU Public Blog – the blog which customers view and follow.
- As well as featured on the GCU Public Facebook Page – nearly 58,000 followers, now THAT’S exposure!
- The winning card will be Design of the Day following the announcement of the winners (within 48-hours).
EXCEPTION: Horizontal (landscape) cards may not be featured as DOD due to GCU Home Page space restrictions. In these cases, GCU will choose a different vertically oriented card from your store to feature as DOD. Thank you for your understanding and apologies for this limitation.
- The winning card will be added to the Greeting Card Universe Design Challenge Winners Pinterest Board – currently GCU’s Pinterest Page followers: 5.36K!
- The winning card, should the artist choose, may be referenced in a new series by the winning artist and he/she may Fast Track all cards in the new series (being sure to give the Challenge URL and winning card PID in your Notes to Reviewer for each card in this series).
- Winning card will be included in a marketing email to over 100,000 customers!
- GCU will create a Meet the Team board for the winning artist under the Pinterest GCU account where the winning artist will be able to pin and promote her own storefront and all that makes them a unique card designer and one of GCU’s artistic community team member.
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Winning card will be posted on GCU’s Instagram with 2,000 followers and counting!
- GCU will create a Meet the Team board for the winning artist under the Pinterest GCU account where the winning artist will be able to pin and promote her own storefront and all that makes them a unique card designer and one of GCU’s artistic community team member.
- 10 free greeting card credits added to your GCU account. Apply them at checkout and they never expire.
- A Design Challenge GCU digital award for 2023!
2nd Place:
- Your submission will be Design of the Day the following week of announcing the Challenge winners (within 7-days).
EXCEPTION: Horizontal (landscape) cards may not be featured as DOD due to GCU Home Page space restrictions. In these cases, GCU will choose a different vertically oriented card from your store to feature as DOD. Thank you for your understanding and apologies for this limitation.
- Your card will be added to the Greeting Card Universe Design Challenge Winners Pinterest Board.
- Winning card will be included in a marketing email to over 100,000 customers!
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Winning card will be posted on GCU’s Instagram with 2,000 followers and counting!
- 5 free greeting card credits added to your GCU account. Apply them at checkout and they never expire.
- A Design Challenge GCU digital award for 2023!
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Tips:
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Be inspired to create and learn something new!
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Nuts & Bolts: Menorah Usage
Nuts & Bolts – Menorah Usage
Covering so many different occasions, cultures, hobbies, etc., here at GCU we honestly learn something every day. Perhaps this is new and helpful for you too.
The menorah remains one of the most widely used symbols in Judaism. There are actually two different representations which are not interchangeable in their usage.
Menorah – 7 branches
The difference is made in the details!
GCU Community Manager
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Wanted New Cards: Zebra Cards
Wanted Cards – Zebra Cards
Calling all zebras! A shopper is looking for more choices of zebra cards – Christmas, Valentines, St. Patrick’s, Easter, Halloween and Birthday.
These cards will go in the >> Animals / Pets subcategory accordingly.
Consider using Stock Card Creations to create new cards quickly. These cards are automatically set for expedited review so no need to Fast Track. Remember, when you’re submitting your new stock card, add a little note about the intended category in your Notes to Reviewers.
Be inventive, be clever, be creative. Go for it!
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Freebie Wednesday: Give Me A Hug Cute Animals Set.
Give Me a Hug Cute Animals Set By Pencil Twist for this week’s freebie. Create decoration for children’s parties, design cards, invitations, labels, apparel, or make lovely nursery wall decor.
What will you get in this pack?
- 30 vector illustrations of animals in AI, EPS, JPEG and PNG Format
- 4 patterns in AI, EPS, JPEG and PNG Format
- 14 hand written phrases in AI, EPS, JPEG and PNG Format
- 9 bonus elements (party hats, crowns and bows) in AI, EPS, JPEG and PNG Format
Only available on the Hungry Jpeg site for another 6 days, so don’t miss out.
Comes with complete License.
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Nuts & Bolts: 2023 Tradeshows
A few new things in the making for 2023. I will be attending a couple of trade shows this year to be the eyes and ears of GCU, meeting new artists, possibly meeting existing GCU artists, and always valuable education and networking opportunities.
This is a great chance to take in new trends, colors, and design happenings across many consumer markets including of course paper goods/stationery for greeting cards. I will be certain to report back with a trip report for our artist community.
Additionally, as an experiment, GCU has submitted 3 cards of my own to the Greeting Card Association’s (GCA) Louie Awards. Finalists are announced in February, and then winners announced at NOTED in April. After our observation of the entry and judging process, GCU is looking to add this “Louie Award submission” as a reward to 3 select winners in the GCU Founders’ Choice Awards (FCA) (entry fee is $125 per entry).
The difference is made in the details!
GCU Community Manager
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Wanted New Cards: Birthday Cycling Class Instructor
Wanted Cards – Birthday Cycling Class Instructor
We have detached retina cards but nothing for torn retina. Please consider creating cards for this new sub-category in need of cards.
Birthdays >> Occupation Specific >> Cycle Class / Indoor Cycling Instructor cid#37386
Note: please do NOT use the trademarked terms Spin or Spinning
Note: cid# is the speed entry method of adding a category to your card via category id number (cid#) vs using search terms or click and hunt. See here on the blog:
https://gcucommunity.com/2022/06/10/nuts-and-bolts-new-artist-enhancements
Consider using Stock Card Creations to create new cards quickly. These cards are automatically set for expedited review so no need to Fast Track. Remember, when you’re submitting your new stock card, add a little note about the intended category in your Notes to Reviewers.
Be inventive, be clever, be creative. Go for it!
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Freebie Wednesday: Cornflowers
Cornflower Collection by HappyWatercolorShop
This collection includes separated PNG files, transparent background:
– 10 floral bouquets, size approx. 3000×3000 px./10×10”/25×25 cm)
– 20 floral elements, size approx. 1000×4000 px./3.3×13.3”/8.5×34 cm)
– 2 seamless patterns, size 5000×5000/16.66×16.66”
– 26 letters, & and 10 numbers with cornflowers, size approx. 2500×2500 px. (8.3×8.3 inches)
High quality illustration of 300 dpi, RGB. All files can be reduced without loss of quality.
It can be used for Sublimation design, printing on fabrics, t-shirts, mugs, paper, pillows and much more.
Only available on the Hungry Jpeg site for another 6 days, so don’t miss out.
Comes with complete License.
GCU Community 