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Wanted New Cards: Easter for Great Great Granddaughter / Great Great Grandson

February 29, 2024

Wanted Cards – Easter for Great Great Granddaughter / Great Great Grandson


Easter is near and early this year on March 31st.  Please consider creating new cards for Easter to a Great Great Grandson and Great Great Granddaughter. 

Remember great great grandchildren come in all ages, just not littles. Create designs accordingly as well as fortify your meta-data for age range:

New cards should go here accordingly:

Holidays >> Easter >> For Family Relation Specific >> Great Great Granddaughter  cid#37932

and

Holidays >> Easter >> For Family Relation Specific >> Great Great Granddaughter  cid#37934

Note: cid# is the speed entry method of adding a category to your card via category id number (cid#) vs using search terms or click and hunt. See here on the blog:

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”. 


Consider using Stock Card Creations to create new cards quickly. These cards are automatically set for expedited review so no need to Fast Track. Remember, when you’re submitting your new stock 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: Free English Tea Set Collection

February 28, 2024


Discover the essence of English elegance with our exquisite English Tea Set Watercolor Collection. Elevate your designs with 24 high-resolution JPEG and PNG files featuring delicate tea cups, vintage tea pots, floral patterns, and more. Perfect for invitations, stationery, and home decor projects, this charming bundle brings the timeless charm of tea time to life in stunning watercolor illustrations. Experience the beauty today at TheHungryJPEG.com!

Available for free download for 6 more days, so don’t miss out!

Comes with complete commercial license.

Nuts & Bolts: Reminder February 2024 Design Challenge

February 23, 2024

Nuts & Bolts – Reminder February 2024 Design Challenge
 
 
An extra day in the challenge this month!  Thursday, February 29th, leap day, is the last day to submit your entries for February’s Stock Card Design Challenge.
 
 
Theme: Mother’s Day for first time Grandma

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The difference is made in the details!

Mindy

GCU Community Manager

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Wanted New Cards: Birthday for Esthetician

February 22, 2024

Wanted Cards – Birthday for Esthetician


Pamper someone who pampers you!  One special service is a skin care professional; an esthetician.

Please consider creating cards for this new sub-category. These cards should go here:

Birthday >> Occupation Specific >> Esthetician  cid#37902

Note: cid# is the speed entry method of adding a category to your card via category id number (cid#) vs using search terms or click and hunt. See here on the blog:

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”. 


Consider using Stock Card Creations to create new cards quickly. These cards are automatically set for expedited review so no need to Fast Track. Remember, when you’re submitting your new stock card, add a little note about the intended category in your Notes to Reviewers.


Be inventive, be clever, be creative. Go for it!

 
 

Nuts & Bolts: Best of 2023 Feature Page

February 16, 2024

Nuts & Bolts – Best of 2023 Feature Page

 

GCU proudly announced the Best of 2023 Founders’ Choice Award winners!  See all the winners here on their very own landing page which is linked from GCU’s homepage.

Best of 2023 Founders’ Choice Award Winners

best_of_2023-large

 

This is GCU’s annual “Best of” awards as part of the monthly Design Challenge series.  Be sure to check each month’s challenge as it may be a perfect opportunity for you to submit a design that’s been on your mind, or something totally new, getting you outside of your comfort zone or overcoming an artist’s block.

Design Challenges are run each month and announced on both the GCU community blog and GCU Design Challenge forum board.  There is still some time to enter February’s challenge, see details here.

Tip: for a design challenge, and any new card for that matter, take a look at what is currently offered in the category and do a little brainstorming to offer something DIFFERENT not just more of the same. This will help your card stand out from the crowd and offer shoppers more choices, and ultimately sales!

 

Here are some Design Challenge Tips from GCU artist Betsy Bush.

 

The difference is made in the details!

Mindy

GCU Community Manager

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Wanted New Cards: Paintball Bachelor Party Invitation

February 15, 2024

Wanted Cards – Paintball Bachelor Party Invitation


A themed bachelor party adds to the fun and what better “clean” fun than a paintball themed bachelor party offering bonding and a relatively safe adrenaline rush.

These Invitations should go here:

Invitations >> Bachelor Party >> Paintball   cid#37900

Note: cid# is the speed entry method of adding a category to your card via category id number (cid#) vs using search terms or click and hunt. See here on the blog:

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”. 


Consider using Stock Card Creations to create new cards quickly. These cards are automatically set for expedited review so no need to Fast Track. Remember, when you’re submitting your new stock card, add a little note about the intended category in your Notes to Reviewers.


Be inventive, be clever, be creative. Go for it!

 
 

Nuts & Bolts: Re-run Designer’s Schedule

February 9, 2024

Nuts & Bolts – Re-run Designer’s Schedule
 
 
We are still getting our feet wet in the new year. This is a great reminder on the lead times of designing greeting cards.  This post is 11 years old yet still applies to the basics of how far in advance to design for dated holidays and occasions that have a season.
 

Please reflect back on Designer’s Schedule

 

 

The difference is made in the details!

Mindy

GCU Community Manager

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Freebie Wednesday: Free Pink Coquette

February 9, 2024


This week’s freebie on the Hungry Jpeg site is Pink Coquette, 20 Jpegs

Available for free download for 4 more days, so don’t miss out!

Comes with complete commercial license.

Wanted New Cards: New Photo Studio Congrats

February 8, 2024

Wanted Cards – New Photo Studio Congrats

For a small business owner, opening their own official location and moving out of that home space is a big accomplishment.  Consider creating cards to Congratulate a photographer who has opened their own photo studio. 

These cards should go here:

Occasions >> Congratulations >> New Business / Grand Opening / Business Venture  cid#37892

Note: cid# is the speed entry method of adding a category to your card via category id number (cid#) vs using search terms or click and hunt. See here on the blog:

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”. 

Consider using Stock Card Creations to create new cards quickly. These cards are automatically set for expedited review so no need to Fast Track. Remember, when you’re submitting your new stock card, add a little note about the intended category in your Notes to Reviewers.


Be inventive, be clever, be creative. Go for it!

 
 

Dash of Inspiration: February 2024 STOCK Design Challenge

February 1, 2024

DashInspirationBanner_2015

Let’s roll …

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Theme: Mother’s Day Cards For First Time Grandma

Requirements:

  • Create a new stock card for the New Grandma on Mother’s Day – any variation of Grandma is accepted; Abuela, Mamaw, Nana, etc.
  • ONLY Big Stock cards will be accepted 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: Thursday, February 29th

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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:

Holidays > Mother’s Day Cards > For Grandmother > New / 1st / First Time Grandma / Grandmother

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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: 12.9K!
  • 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 2024!

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 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 10.8k 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 2024!

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Tips:

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

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Be inspired to create and learn something new!

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By Doreen Erhardt at Exclusive Creations