GCU Community

Honorable Mentions Best Overall New Card:

Betsy Bush of Dragonfire Graphics – PID 1606850

and Sandra Rose Designs – PID 1583424

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3. Hottest Seller – CHRISTMAS:

Doreen Erhardt of SalonOfArt  –  PID 1643332

Honorable Mentions CHRISTMAS Hottest Seller:

Michelle Lanoue of Illustrations by Michelle – PID 1654418

and Mindy Pierce – PID 1641868

3a. Hottest Seller – CHINESE NEW YEAR:

Doreen Erhardt of Salon Of Art –  PID 1655578

Honorable Mentions CHINESE NEW YEAR Hottest Seller:

Teri Nelson Kuster of Che Bella Nota – PID 1631938

and Tanya Hall of Moonlake Greetings – PID 1647954

3b. Hottest Seller – BIRTHDAY:

Sharon Dominick Photography – PID 1606092

Honorable Mentions BIRTHDAY Hottest Seller:

Sharon Dominick Photography – PID 1606764

and Mike Baldwin of Cornered – PID 1619538

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4. Best Custom Front (Text):

Annie Lang of Annie Thing’s Possible – PID 1654068

Honorable Mention Best Custom Front (Text):

Teri Nelson Kuster of Che Bella Nota – PID 1607434

and Sharon Dominick Photography –  PID 1616652

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5. Best Custom Front (Image):

Mindy Pierce – PID 1595122

Honorable Mention Best Custom Front (Image):

Teri Francis of Squirrel Hugger Greeting Cards – PID 1637246

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6. Best Business Logo/Name: Ramelle Richardson of Eloquence by Ramelle PID 1661672

and Mindy Pierce – PID 1659080

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7. Funniest Card: Pamela Jorgensen of PAMJARTS – PID 1606400

Honorable Mentions Funniest Card:

Sharon Dominick Photography – PID 1606842

and Greetings from Anne – PID 1608834

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8. Most Creative Stock Card Creation (BigStock):

Doreen Erhardt of Exclusive Creations – PID 1629578

Honorable Mention Most Creative Stock Card Creation (BigStock):

Pamela Jorgensen of PAMJARTS – PID 1607394

and Stacia Gorge of Good Things by Gorge – PID 1600176

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9. Rising Star:

Cynthia Shatzel – PID 1655706

Honorable Mention Rising Star:

 SABIVO Design – PID 1628468

and Carol Kearns – PID 1607722

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10. Custom Request – Nailed it:

Cisillia Tay – PID 1599676

Honorable Mentions Custom Request – Nailed it:

Alda Monteschio of Heart Tugs – PID 1629032

and Cards by Gail Pepin –  PID 1650618

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11. Best Uncommon Card:

Teri Nelson Kuster of Che Bella Nota – PID 1611190

Honorable Mention best Uncommon Card:

Kate Taylor – PID 1611504

and Joy Ellaga of Creating with Joy – PID 1616408

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12. Best Design Challenge Submission:

Sharon Dominick Photography – PID 1657904

Honorable Mention Best Design Challenge Submission:

Simply Put by Robin – PID 1608578

and Liz Van Steenburgh of Starstock Greetings – PID 1598400

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13. Simply Clever:

Greetings by Anne – PID 1606408

Honorable Mention Simply Clever:

 Kathleen Johnson of Encouragers for Christ – PID 1610332

and Stephanie Laird – PID 1608180

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14. Reviewers’ Choice:

Fiona, Reviewer #825 – Joyce Geleynse of JoyfulArt Cards – PID 1658192

Ella, Reviewer #758 – Colleen Kong-Savage of Konga Line – PID 1641880

Mackenzie, Reviewer #528 –Nancy Mink – PID 1636422

Desiree, Reviewer #121 – Christie Black Creations from the Heart – PID 1653948

Phoebe, Reviewer #443 – M. M. Anderson Art – PID 1663764

John, Reviewer #233 – Mindy Pierce – PID 1641868

Catherine, Reviewer #871 – Christine Quimby Art – PID 1662694

Victor, Reviewer #992 – Ron Magnes – PID 1641216

Sue, Reviewer #120 – Cher Jiang – PID 1658182

Jessica Renee, Reviewer #937 – Randy Burns – PID 1621834

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So there you have it, a true reflection of 2020 chronicling the ups and downs of the year. Your creative works continue to exceed shoppers’ expectations and chronicle the landscape of their lives. Thank you to our amazing community of artists for your endless creativity, support, and your resilience during a very challenging year once again making Greeting Card Universe the go to site for Any Card Imaginable. 

Mindy

GCU Community Manager 

Happy February, everyone! Time to hop to it and have some fun with a bunny themed stock card creation.

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Theme: Bunny – Bunnies

Requirements:

• One bunny, many bunnies – your choice. Imagery must support the theme.
• ONLY Big Stock cards will be accepted in this challenge.
• Write your own verse, be creative with this will be extremely important in this challenge.
• The judges will be looking for professional quality text layout, typography placement and font combinations in addition to a unique and captivating message that tells the story of the stock image you choose. Your added value needs to wow the judges!

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Entry Deadline: Sunday, February 28^th

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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.

NOTE: Submissions will appear immediately in your Private gallery as they await review.  If approved, the reviewer will move them to the public gallery – they will then become ‘live’ in the marketplace within 24-hours or so just like regular submissions. Be patient and wait.

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Category:

Any category which suits your message, recipient and imagery.

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Rules:

• Submission must meet GCU’s Submission Guidelines and be Approved through the usual Review Cycle. Big Stock creations are automatically identified as Fast Track – please add in the Notes to Reviewer: February 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.
• Big Stock Card Creations ONLY will be accepted.
• Your designs should differ from those already offered in the categories above to offer shoppers a variety of choices, not more of the same.
• No BLANK cards will be accepted.

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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. Your overall ‘added value’ determines this.

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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.
• 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 2021!

2^nd 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!
• 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 2021!

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Tips:

• Visit all the available tips, tricks and guidelines offered on the Big Stock Creation blog page!by By

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Be inspired to create and learn something new!

By Doreen Erhardt @ Exclusive Creations