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Font Frenzy: Popela Font

January 17, 2018

The Hungry Jpeg has a fun, cheerful Font named Popela by Suzuran for only $1 for a limited time only.


Popela font has 3 different styles, regular, clean & outline.and comes with a complete Commercial License.

 

Rainbow Connection: 2018 Key Color Palettes

January 16, 2018

 

Some Key Color Palettes of 2018 I found on the Internet this week:

 

 

Nuts and Bolts: Artist Interview Julia Bryant.

January 12, 2018

Nuts & Bolts – Artist Interview Julia Bryant

 

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.

 

We love the Fast Five Fun Facts!  Thanks for sharing, Julia!

 

Note: Read about the other rewards, in addition to bragging rights, of being a Design Challenge winner. 

 

The difference is made in the details!

 

Mindy
GCU Community Manager

Wanted New Cards: Thank You Decorator/Interior Designer.

January 11, 2018

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Wanted Cards – Thank You Decorator / Interior Designer
 
The touch of a professional may well be worth the money and worthy of many thanks!  For home decor, thank the professionals – a Decorator / Interior Designer.  From window coverings, wall colors, flooring choices, architectural changes or maybe just a few key placed pieces of art or perfectly placed accents pillows. Ultimately you’ll likely save time, money and result with that WOW factor. Voila, home sweet home!

 

This category is in need of cards:

 

We’d like you to create at least one card for these categories using the Stock Cards function (Bigstock) or your own graphic designs.

Remember, when you’re submitting your new card, add a little note about the intended category in your Notes to Reviewers. Be inventive,  be clever, be creative. Go for it!

Freebie Wednesday – Hammock Handmade Font

January 10, 2018

Freebie Wednesday:

The Hungry JPEG has a cute Freebie Handmade Font for your design arsenal. Hammock, by Kaesebart’s creations embodies the passion for traveling, surfing, nature and everything else made with love. To ensure variety, there are two alternative characters for each letter available (black style), additionally, there are three cuts with different texture levels which makes it possible to use however you want.

 

 

 

As usual this product comes with a complete commercial license.

Rainbow Connection: Apricot Carnation

January 9, 2018

 

Some Pattern Curator color forecasts for spring/summer 2018 I found on Pinterest this week:

 

Custom Corner: Choose JOY

January 5, 2018
Nuts & Bolts – Custom Corner:  Choose JOY

 

With the holidays underbelt GCU Co-Founder and Community Manager, Mindy Rosso-Gaemi, shares her family’s 2017 holiday card created by GCU artist Silvina De Vita.

 

I admire all of the lovely and creative Christmas cards on GCU pretty much all year long. You’d think that I would have my own card signed, sealed, and delivered come December 1st. Nope. I feel like the cobbler’s children (or wife) who find themselves with no shoes. But I have only myself to blame. I usually wait until the last minute which is when inspiration under pressure seems to kick in.

 

Still floating on vacation euphoria, having visited Sayulita, Mexico over Thanksgiving break the spirit of the tiny, sleepy but lively surf town became the theme of our card. The pops of color, color, and more color with the papel picado, pom poms, beaded artwork, bright painted buildings, inlaid stone designs and so many more wonderful surprises (don’t get me started on the fish tacos).
While looking for my victim, I mean artist, I contacted both of these GCU artists, Bense Garza and Silvina De Vita, whose designs captured the energy I had in mind.  Ben unfortunately had a family emergency that required him to travel. Thankfully, Silvina was up to the challenge and as of December 1st quickly began working my list of 101 desires into a 5×7 card with little to no time to spare.  Silvina’s GCU store has some darling characters, playful designs as well as Spanish cards which was a plus.
The front of the card took a few small iterations until we both concluded that simple was best (last version):

Our family had an action packed year with landmark birthdays, weddings, filled with special trips, opportunities and people. Feeling pretty darn fortunate and grateful as the year came to a close I felt an overwhelming feeling of joy. Joy for all things that happened in our year – big, little, good, and not so good. This provided fodder for the inside verse on choosing to find Joy. Plus featuring a photo of each family member doing something that brings them joy. I always have a lot to say, much more than what space permits on the inside, so the artist has to be very creative in shoe-horning it in.

For the inside we drew upon personalized papel picado designs like:

See the finished inside below which is a full bleed 10×7 image that I uploaded to the inside of the card just like any shopper can do with an image/photo. I adore the layout, colors and papel picado concept. Looks like I was a busy bee clipping each card with my little scissors!

A big thank you to Silvina for coming to my rescue this year and delighting our friends & family with this colorful design.

 

Silvina shares this about the design process: 
Mindy contacted me at the beginning of December to start designing a Mexican style Greeting card. We didn’t have much time so I thought it would be a great challenge. As Mindy had recently returned from a trip to Mexico she wanted to add some Mexican icons and drawings to the brilliant family photos that she had picked out. I came up with the idea of using Papel Picado, a kind of Mexican style of bunting. She loved that addition and we continued with that theme on the inside. We created a message like it was a big Papel Picado sheet. This was quite challenging as we had a lot of text to fit in, but it worked out in the end. We kept the front quite clean so as not to distract from the photo. It was great to work with Mindy and I’m very glad she was very happy with the final design.

 

Wanted New Cards: April Fool’s Day

January 4, 2018

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Wanted Cards – April Fools’ Day
 
This occasion in general could use some new cards to freshen up the choices for shoppers.  Additionally we have added many new subcategories in need of cards as well.  No fooling!

Consider relationship specific designs as well as From the Pet and for students Away at College.

NOTE: the proper holiday punctuation is April Fools’ Day. Please create designs accordingly.

 

 

We’d like you to create at least one card for these categories using the Stock Cards function (Bigstock) or your own graphic designs.

Remember, when you’re submitting your new card, add a little note about the intended category in your Notes to Reviewers. Be inventive,  be clever, be creative. Go for it!

Freebie Wednesday: Yeti – Free Scandinavian Font

January 3, 2018

Freebie Wednesday:

The Hungry JPEG has a super cute font family and 80+ Scandinavian style decorative elements on offer for the next 6 days.

Yeti by Juliya Kochkanyan comes with 50 elements and 22 patterns and is free for commercial use.

 

 

Nuts and Bolts: Dedicate yourself to the Details II

December 29, 2017

 

Nuts & Bolts – Dedicate yourself to the Details II

 

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.

 

GCU artist PamJarts made some refining edits to an already hot selling card making it even cuter for Valentine’s Day.  Great job, Pam!

 

Before:

 

After:

 

The difference is made in the details!

 

Mindy
GCU Community Manager