Dash of Inspiration: November Design Challenge
The winners of last month’s challenge, “Paint the Town … Red” will be announced mid-week and a HUGE THANK YOU to all for giving October’s Challenge a go and participating. We had a good turn out and many, many wonderful cards were created!
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This month, it’s time for romance and with Valentine’s Day coming in February, should you choose to design for this category choice, your cards will be done right on time for the customers purchasing in the ‘Month of Love’. Many of the categories at GCU have a Love and Romance sub-category and that is the theme for November. So let’s get to our challenge …
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November Design Challenge
Theme: Love is in the Air
Requirements:
- There must be a couple obviously enamored with each other in the imagery – two people, two animals, two zombies or two aliens, it matters not … it just needs to be a couple showing closeness and affection.
- Though the verse does not have to say “Love is in the air”, it should speak to love and romance.
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Entry Deadline: Monday, November 30th, 2015
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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 Category / Any Occasion where Love and Romance is the theme.
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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: November 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.
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BLIND Judging: We hope each of you enter 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 beyond each entry. This eliminates any and all concerns with ‘favoritism’. Results will post on the Community Blog – by December 2nd. 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 – over 22,000 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 can not be 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: 1.2K!
- 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!
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 can not be 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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Tips:
Check out these tips, tricks, freebies, and tutorials from our own GCU Community Blog which might be helpful in this month’s Challenge.
Dash of Inspiration: Tips from Professional Digital Artists
Nuts and Bolts: How to Write Greeting Card Verse
Dash of Inspiration: Working with Color
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ENJOY and JOIN in the Challenge Fun!
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/holiday-cards/valentines-day-cards/love-romance/valentines-day-two-labradors-snuggling-1408636
Hi Cisillia – your entry has been received, thank you! Good luck!
Thank you, Doreen!
Hi Doreen, I had such fun with last month’s entry that I thought I’d give it a go again. Here is my entry pid#1408986. http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/love-and-romance-cards/general-love-and-romance/love-romance-love-is-1408986
Good luck Cisillia and to all who participate. Take care, Laurie
Thank you Laurie, and good luck to you too!
Great to hear you had such fun last month, Laurie! We’d love to have you join in the fun every month! Your entry has been received, good luck!
Thank you, Doreen! Hugs, Laurie
I have a series of card called ‘Love is Forever’ and thought this would be perfect for them. They are all silhouettes, so I went a little off norm with this one. Here’s my entry: PID 1409116 http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/holiday-cards/valentines-day-cards/love-romance/couple-embracing-for-love-is-1409116?aid=269112
Good luck to everyone!!
Julia
Glad to have you back in a ‘challenge state of mind’ this month, Julia! Your entry has been received – Good Luck!
Hi Doreen,
Again, a great theme. I found it very inspiring.
I have this thing with cats and birds – I like to draw/paint them.
Here is my entry
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/anniversary-wedding-cards/for-spouse-general/general/greeting-card-1409348
Beautiful cards, Julia, Laurie and Cisillia. Good luck to everyone.
🙂 Barbara
Hi Barbara – great to hear you were once again inspired to create with our monthly challenge! Your entry has been received. Good luck!
Thanks Barbara! I love your card 🙂
Yours is real stylish! 🙂
Thank you Barbara, and good luck to you!
Thank you Barbara and good luck to you too, your card is so cute! Take care, Laurie
Thank you, Laurie 🙂
Thanks, Laurie – your birds are sweet. I just love birds … don’t know why, guess because they have such fluffy feathers…
Hi all, I love the entries so far! Looks like another fun challenge gearing up! Glad to see you back in the running, Julia! I am pleased to see you again too, Laurie! Barbara, your cats are so fun! And Cisilla, who doesn’t love precious doggies! Here is my entry.
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/holiday-cards/valentines-day-cards/animals-pets/fish-sea-life/happy-valentines-day-two-kissing-1409640?aid=145102
Thank you, Betsy – Your fish are fun, too! 🙂
Thank you! Love your entry too! Good luck, Laurie
Thanks Betsy! Really cute card! 🙂
Always nice to have you, Betsy. Your entry has been received, good luck!
Thanks Betsy, all the best!
Thanks, Barbara, Laurie, Julia, and Doreen!
I really enjoyed the theme so I thought I would take a shot. Already some great cards here!
My entry is PID 1409954
Link:
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/holiday-cards/valentines-day-cards/animals-pets/birds/lucky-duck-happy-valentines-day-1409954?aid=131374
Great to have you join us, Tam! Your entry has been received. Good luck!
Thank you!
What a really sweet card 🙂
Aw- thank you! I enjoy participating when time allows. Always cool to see what everyone does with the same theme.
Great entries all!
Such cute cards so far! Here is my entry: PID #1410316
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/holiday-cards/valentines-day-cards/love-romance/loving-couple-under-pink-umbrella-1410316?aid=133634
Nice to see you joining the fun, Liz. Entry received and good luck!
Hello! I’m really new to GCU – but thought I’d give it a go! I’d like to enter my card, PID #1410136. Thank you!
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/holiday-cards/valentines-day-cards/love-romance/valentines-day-dancing-penguins-1410136?aid=325920
Hi Michelle – so glad to have you at GCU and participating here in the challenge fun! Your entry has been received. Good luck!
Hello! I’m new to GCU (and having a great time!) . . . so I hope I’ve understood correctly that I post my entry here as a comment. My card for the ‘love is in the air’ challenge is PID 1410660. The URL is http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/holiday-cards/valentines-day-cards/love-romance/music-and-romance-1410660?aid=332846. Thanks so much! (This is fun!)
Hello, Elise! Welcome to GCU and our fun monthly challenge! We are so sorry, but your submission does not meet the Challenge Requirements (stated above in the rules) of:
There must be a couple obviously enamored with each other in the imagery – two people, two animals, two zombies or two aliens, it matters not … it just needs to be a couple showing closeness and affection.
The good news is however, there is still time for you to create a card for this challenge as the deadline is not until November 30th! We’d love to have you participate, but to be fair to all the other entries, the Requirements of each challenge must be met in order to enter. Try again? Please!
Hi Doreen, I love everyone’s cards. It is fun to see all the GCU artists come together and make so many different options for card shoppers! Here is my entry for this months design. Thank you
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/holiday-cards/valentines-day-cards/love-romance/ewe-are-so-beautiful-my-1410824?aid=276330
Great to have you join us again, Michelle! Your entry has been received. Good luck!
I had fun last month so I thought I’d give it another go.
PID: 1410876
http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/holiday-cards/valentines-day-cards/animals-pets/birds/birds-hugging-valentines-day-1410876?aid=196382
Great to hear you had fun and decided to join us again, Ron! Your entry has been received, good luck!
Hello! Here’s my new card – hopefully this time it will work! http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/holiday-cards/valentines-day-cards/animals-pets/cats/cuddly-cats-valentines-day-card-1411608?aid=332846
Product ID: 1411608
(There’s a problem loading the page, but I’ve already contacted Techsupport.)
Thanks!
Elise
Hi Elise – there is no need to contact tech support. It can take up to 24-hours for a newly approved card to be available in the public marketplace. We will have to wait until that is the case before we can enter your card – and now you know for the future that you have to tap your fingers on the desk for a while before you can actually SEE your card … hahaha!
I’ll post here when your card is entered. Glad you gave it another try!
Okay, Elise – just checked and your card is in the public marketplace and has been officially entered in the challenge. Good luck! We’re really happy to see another newbie join in the fun. We have these challenges every month, so we hope you’ll join us again!
Thanks so much! And thanks for all the friendly explanations!