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Wanted New Cards: Installation / Induction Invitations

April 27, 2017
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Wanted Cards – Installation / Induction Invitations

 

This category is in need of general as well as position specific cards for Installation or Induction Invitations. Those designed with custom front text are encouraged as well as photo cards.

 

Invitations >> Installation / Induction

 

Offering subcategories all in need of cards:
>> Bishop
>> Deacon
>> Elder
>> Female Clergy
>> Minister
>> Monsignor
>> Pastor
>> Preacher
>> Priest
>> Rabbi
>> General
>> Other
>> Hall of Fame
>> Honor Society
>> Knights of Columbus
>> Masonic / Freemason

 

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!

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Font Frenzy: Georgia

April 26, 2017
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The Hungry Jpeg has a fantastic freebee on offer for you for the next 6 days.


Georgia is a super swirly font by Debut Studio and comes with a complete Commercial License.

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Nuts and Bolts: Watermark Regeneration Complete

April 21, 2017
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Nuts & Bolts – Watermark Regeneration Complete

 

In 2016 GCU made a change to simplify watermark settings making card images more marketable and increase sales exposure. The regeneration of all images on the site based on the new setting is complete.

 

Please see original Watermark Change posting.

 

Moving forward if you desire to change your Watermark Setting you can, in Global Preferences, and it will automatically be applied to your NEW cards.  If you change your setting and want the change applied to cards created prior to the change you must contact GCU to initiate your images to be regenerated.

 

As a reminder, GCU now only offers copyright watermark protection on Large images. See the original forum posting for more details.

 

If you see any images that do not abide by your store’s Copyright Watermark setting and feel the images were not regenerated properly, please contact us.

 

NOTE: Watermarked cards cannot be submitted to Google Shopping which is a fruitful source of sales for GCU.  If you choose to reset your large image watermark to “yes”, these cards will NOT be submitted to Google Shopping and will receive less exposure than non-watermarked cards. 

 

 

The difference is made in the details!

 

Mindy
GCU Community Manager

 

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Wanted New Cards: Congratulations on ATV / Quad / 4-wheeler / UTV

April 21, 2017
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Wanted Cards – Congratulations on ATV / Quad / 4-wheeler / UTV

 

It’s always exciting to get a new vehicle or motorized toy. We have a new category to congratulate new owners of an ATV (all-terrain vehicle) also known as a quad or 4-wheeler and now even UTV (utility task vehicle). These are on and off-road recreational vehicles as well as working utility / working vehicles.

 

Occasions >> Congratulations >> New Car / Vehicle >> ATV / Quad / 4-wheeler / UTV

 

Consider designs that address different usages and body styles.

 

 

TIP: with specific vehicle trademarks & copyright protection and identifying body lines protected by trade dress, please be sure not to model your designs after any manufacturer’s specific model or depicting telltale features.  This includes avoiding manufacture / model specific terms in metadata (title, artist notes, keywords).

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!

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from → Wanted: New Cards

Font Frenzy: Free Chattos Script

April 20, 2017
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The Hungry Jpeg has a fantastic freebee on offer for you for the next 6 days.


Chattos is a super swirly font designed by Joss Studios and comes with a complete Commercial License.

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from → Fonts

Rainbow Connection: Unique April Colors

April 19, 2017
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Here are some Unique April Colors I found on the internet this week:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Nuts and Bolts: Instagram Tips

April 14, 2017
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Nuts & Bolts – Instagram Tips

 

It was recently asked on the GCU Forum, we though it’s worth sharing here. We have found that if one artist has a question about something it is likely that other artists will benefit from the answer as well.

 

Question:
I’m trying to figure out how to get a GCU card image onto my Instagram account.  How do I do this?

 

Answer:

The best way is via your smartphone. On your smartphone via your browser go to the GCU website and find the card you want. You can capture the card image you want to post by a Save Image function of your phone. Via the iphone this is done by holding your finger on the image until the options popup (Save Image, Copy).  It should now be saved in your photo / camera roll.  We like to use the 3D card image from the product details page.

Go to your Instagram app on your smartphone and per usual, use the plus sign at the bottom to start a post and choose an image. The default should be Library which points to your photo / camera roll.  Find the photo you want and proceed per usual creating a instagram post.

Instagram is one of those applications that you can view and interact with via your desktop computer but you can only upload / post via the app.

A few tips … 
1. in instagram you can pinch to adjust the image size and add more that one image per posting
2. portrait cards tend to translate best
3. sometimes we edit/crop our photos first to “square” format before uploading, instagram seems to like this
4. be sure to use these hashtags and more that are relevant to your card: #greetingcards #greetingcard #anycardimaginable #greetingcarduniverse 
5. be sure to tag us @GreetingCardUniverse 

 

NOTE: If you want to get great exposure to your art and greeting cards you should have your instagram account set to PUBLIC not private.  It’s a good idea to have one account for your personal social media life and one for your professional artist life.  You can manage two instagram accounts from the same app so you don’t have to logout and login each time but instead toggle between accounts.

 

We are having fun following many of our artists!

 

Please see this related posting on Getting Social on Instagram.
The difference is made in the details!

 

Mindy
GCU Community Manager
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Wanted New Cards: Get Well Deviated Septum Surgery

April 13, 2017
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Wanted Cards – Get Well Deviated Septum Surgery

 

GCU offers cards for pretty much any kind of injury, ailment or surgery addressing the human body from literally head to toe!  We’ve added a new category for Deviated Septum surgery.

 

Occasions >> Get Well / Feel Better >> Deviated Septum / Septoplasty Surgery

 

There is currently one card in this category.

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!

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from → Wanted: New Cards

Nuts and Bolts: Creative Tips for Stock Card Creations

April 10, 2017
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Nuts & Bolts – Creative Tips for Stock Card Creations

 

Creating cards using GCU’s Stock Card Creations (Bigstock) is a quick and easy way to create cards. The tool is fairly simple and has some limitations but with your creative ideas the possibilities are endless.

 

Below are a few things to consider when creating your cards to make them appeal to both the reviews and shoppers:

 

1. When searching for an image try a few different search terms/phrases to find what you are looking for and scroll beyond the first page of results to find something unique and underused. There are millions of images, don’t settle for the first image you find.

 

2. Consider deviating from the default image size. You can expand the images and move them around. This allows you to cropout elements on the fringe you don’t want or focus in a certain element and even position or expand an unobstructed area to add your text.

3. Consider different orientation (portrait vs landscape) to see which best suits the image and your desired cover text.

 

image with background added & changed card orientation:

4. Think outside of the box, borders don’t have to be on all four sides and equal width. Use the background colors creatively for an eye pleasing composition that highlights your image and text.

 

5. Play with multiple text blocks to add variety.  Unlike GCU’s Custom Front cards which do not allow text blocks to touch, overlapping text blocks is not an issue with Stock Card Creations. You can add multiple text blocks and move them around which gives you flexibility with font style, size, color and placement.
Example of variety with text achieved but using more than one text block:

 

6. Get creative with images and text placement to make it look intentional, like a perfect marriage, not an ill fitting afterthought. See these A+ examples:
7. Just like with traditionally created cards, if you’ve come up with a great design and one that seems to be selling well consider using the same image to create a like image series (age specific, relation specific, etc). Be sure to include a reference to the original pid# and your intent to create a like image series in the Note to Reviewers to speed things along.
Play around and have fun with it!

 

 

Tip: to see all of the Stock Card Creations cards search for “cuff” or view category Collections >> Off the Cuff

 

The difference is made in the details!

 

Mindy
GCU Community Manager

 

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Wanted New Cards: Mother’s Day from…

April 7, 2017
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Wanted Cards – Mother’s Day from …

 

Some say birth order plays a big part in peoples’ personalities. Parents may be aware of this and certainly the fact that all their can be very different from one another. Create a special Mother’s Day message from the unique relationships like the first born, middle child, only child, baby of the family, the cherished “favorite child”, only daughter or only son.

 

Holidays >> Mother’s Day >> For Mom / Mother …

 

>> From 1st / First Born
>> From Favorite Child
>> From Last Born / Baby of the Family
>> From Middle Child
>> From Only Child
>> From Only Daughter
>> From Only Son

 

Tip: consider the same for Father’s Day >> For Dad / Father.

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!

Leave a comment
from → Wanted: New Cards
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