Rainbow Connection: Holiday Hues II.
December 3, 2019
Get into the season’s spirit with these Holiday hues:
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Nuts and Bolts: November Design Challenge Deadline.
November 29, 2019
Nuts & Bolts – November Design Challenge Deadline
Don’t miss the last design challenge of 2019! With the Thanksgiving holiday this week it may sneak by you. Or maybe you’ll find some time to be inspired.
FUSION – create a brand new design by choosing at least two objects from the list of eight objects below and creating a greeting card design:
a musical instrument – a fishbowl – a book – eyeglasses/sunglasses – a feather – a seashell – a mask – a piece of fruit
Get out of the kitchen or push yourself away from that extra slice of pie to finish up your submission. Maybe query your friends and family while feasting for ideas on the items.
Submission Deadline is Saturday November 30.
Please note the review team will NOT be reviewing cards Wed 27 – Fri 29. Reviewing will resume on Monday, December 2nd. As long as your submission’s submit date is prior to 12/1/19 you are eligible.
See November’s Design Challenge details.
The difference is made in the details!
Mindy
GCU Community Manager
GCU Community Manager
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Wanted New Cards: Christmas to Grandparents Variations.
November 28, 2019
Wanted Cards – Christmas to Grandparents Variations
Nicknames are fun and sometimes oh so fitting. A wonderful surprise is to see what grandchildren call their grandparents – mumum & paw, grams & poppi, bubs & mimi. There are as many possibilities as there are grandparents!
Please consider different name combinations for grandparents on Christmas other than
the traditional grandparents, grandma & grandpa, grandmother & grandfather.
GCU has a specific request for:
Grandma and Papa
Granny and Papa
We have subcategories for the following variations:
>> Mawmaw & Pawpaw
>> Nana & Papa
All other variations should go here:
NOTE: Also a good idea to consider creating them as custom front text cards so the shopper can customize as needed! Be sure to add a note to the Artist’s Notes that says something like “custom front cards allow you to customize the relationship on the cover to anything you like”
Create at least one card for these categories using the Stock Cards function (Bigstock) or your own graphic designs. 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”. For standard front designs, consider using Stock Card Creations to create new cards quickly. These cards are automatically set for expedited review so no need to Fast Track.
Please remember the GCU card review team will NOT be reviewing 11/27 – 11/29 in observation of the Thanksgiving holiday.
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Freebie Wednesday: Mistletoes Font
November 27, 2019
Freebie Wednesday:
Mistletoes by dmletter31 is the ideal crafting font for everything Christmas. This handwritten brush font is available for free download on the Creative Fabrica site for the next 5 days.
This product comes with a complete commercial license.
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Rainbow Connection: The Colors of November.
November 26, 2019
Nuts and Bolts: Update Chinese New Year YEAR specific cards.
November 22, 2019
Nuts & Bolts – Update Chinese New Year YEAR specific cards
No time to rest on your winter holiday laurels, Chinese New Year will be celebrated on January 25, 2020. The year of the Rat will really sneak up on us! That means most sales will be happening in December.
Do you offer Year Specific designs? Be sure not to miss out on sales or worse, have your card taken offline because you’ve neglected to update it for the new year.
Not only should images be updated but also card titles, keywords and artist notes. This even applies to custom front designs to make them more marketable and avoid shopper errors.
Please take the time now to update your designs before 12/1. After 12/1/19, GCU will take any outdated cards offline.
Year specific Chinese New Year cards should reflect the upcoming year (2020) however if your card is zodiac specific (2019 was Year of the Pig) these designs should be updated to the next Year of the Pig which is 2031.
Be sure to review the Chinese New Year specific rules on Change or New Submission.
TIP: A quick way to pinpoint the bulk of your related cards is to search your storefront entering in the search box “<holiday name year>” ie: “chinese new year 2019”, “year of pig 2019”.
There are still many subcategories for Year of the Rat in need of cards, consider submitting new designs per this earlier request:
The difference is made in the details!
Mindy
GCU Community Manager
GCU Community Manager
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Wanted New Cards: Christmas Mondy Enclosed Grandson.
November 21, 2019
Wanted Cards – Christmas Mondy Enclosed Grandson
Just recently artists created some great new additions for >> Money / Gift Card Enclosed.
GCU now has a request for Grandson Christmas specific cards.
Please consider creating new designs for Grandson here:
While you’re at it, consider other relations like granddaughter, nephew, niece, godson, goddaughter, daughter, son, etc.
Here was the original Wanted Cards – Money / Gift Card Enclosed request.
NOTE: please be sure to include a note like the following in your Artist’s Notes that serves as a product description and properly sets the shoppers’ expectations: “A regular card with no interior flap but which will still hold a monetary enclosure”.
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Freebie Wednesday: Rose Gold Foil Alphabet.
November 20, 2019
Freebie Wednesday:
Check out the freebie of this week. This Rose Gold Foil Alphabet (by PeDeDesigns) consists of 80 PNG files (300 dpi). It’s available for free for another 6 days on the Hungry Jpeg site, so don’t miss out!
This product comes with a complete commercial license.
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Rainbow Connection: Fall/Thanksgiving Color Inspiration.
November 19, 2019
Get inspired by these lovely Fall/Thanksgiving images I found on Pinterest this week:
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Nuts and Bolts: Dedicate yourself to the Details.
November 15, 2019
Nuts & Bolts – Dedicate yourself to the Details
Dedicate yourself to the details. Strive for quality. Create a design and work it a few different ways to see what looks best. The same goes for a verse. Let the words flow and take it a few different ways, then boil it down to one that resonates best with the image and occasion.
As GCU continues with the sitewide re-evaluations announced back in 2012, don’t despair when you have older cards that get declined. Often the reviewer will return the card for edits, or if declined and you feel it’s a strong selling card you can send an email summarizing top sellers that you’d like reconsidered for reinstatement. Note: Strong sales = substantial, recent, frequent and relevant
If you have the opportunity to edit an older card that is returned to you or up for reinstatement after being declined, go for it!
Here is a wonderful example of a re-worked card by artist Cori Solomon of Cori’s Pawtraits:
Original Image:
Reviewer’s request after card declined for these reasons:
IMAGE QUALITY – Lighting, IMAGE QUALITY – Color / Contrast, COMPOSITION – Professionalism
Thank you for your edits, the image color and clarity is improved however unfortunately the placement is less than ideal. If you are able to adjust the image and include all of the ears (avoiding them being cropped) in the design we would be happy to re-review. Unfortunately changing the orientation of the image would not work, vertical actually serves this image best. it is the cropping of the ears that is the issue. Thank you for your understanding.
Artist’s Reply:
I will create the top of the ears. That will not be a problem. The original drawing is created with the cropped ears. Let me see what I can do and we can go from there.
New Image:
Cori worked her magic and completed this handsome shepherd, ears and all to be approved. Thank you, Cori, for your patience and handy work!
The difference is made in the details!
Mindy
GCU Community Manager
GCU Community Manager
