Nuts and Bolts: Artist Interview Sharon Dominick
Nuts & Bolts – Artist Interview Sharon Dominick
GCU will be getting to know some of our artists better with mini-interviews. These prove to be fun reads and a peek into their card designs and other endeavors.
Here is Getting to Know … Sharon Dominick interview.
Thank you, Sharon, for a great interview.
The difference is made in the details, artist by artist.
Mindy
GCU Community Manager
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Wanted New Cards: Pride Month
Wanted Cards – Pride Month
Hello, June and hello to Pride Month!
Please consider creating new cards celebrating, supporting, and raising awareness for the LGBTQ community in the month of June.
These cards should go here:Holidays > National & International Days Cards > Pride Month / Gay Pride / LGBTQ Pride Month
We’d like you to create at least one card for this category using the Stock Cards function 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”.
Be inventive, be clever, be creative. Go for it!
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Freebie Wednesday: Free Watercolor Wreaths
This pack of watercolor designed wreaths go well hand in hand with other floral themed projects while adding that gentle touch to it! All files come in PNG and PSD formats!
This wonderful freebie is brought to you by Mikibith Art! Only available on the Hungry Jpeg site for another 6 days. Don’t miss out!
This product comes with a commercial license.
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Hope everyone is enjoying better weather and is staying safe and healthy! Let’s kick off this month’s Stock Card Challenge!
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Theme: Chocolate
Requirements:
- Chocolate! Any occasion or holiday, chocolate in any form; cake, ice cream, candy, cocoa, etc.
- 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: Wednesday, June 30th
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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: June 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.
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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!
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!
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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!
- 9 Unexpected Occasions That Call for a Chocolate Gift Box
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Be inspired to create and learn something new!
By Doreen Erhardt @ Exclusive Creations
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Wanted New Cards: Chinese New Year 2022 / Year of the Tiger
Chinese New Year, celebrated in 2022 on January 1st, will come early as will the many sales during the busy Christmas holiday season. Get ready for Year of the Tiger now so you will be prepared for the winter holidays AND Chinese New Year. If you are anything like those born in the year of the tiger you’ll be brave and confident!
Please consider creating cards for 2022 – Year of the Tiger as well as the many new subcategories we will be adding:
Holidays >> Chinese New Year >> 2022 / Year of the Tiger
Series Review: if you plan to submit a design for a series please follow the Series Review Process by creating and having the first submission approved before proceeding with the balance of the series.
Update 2021 Designs: Year specific Chinese New Year cards should reflect the upcoming year (2022) however if your card is zodiac specific (2021 was Year of the Ox) these designs should be updated to the next Year of the Ox which is 2033.
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.
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 2021”, “year of ox 2021”.
We’d like you to create at least one card for these categories using the Stock Cards function 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 specific, be inventive, be clever, be creative. Go for it!
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Freebie Wednesday: Sweet Dream Font
Sweet Dream is a crafting typeface font, perfect for all your crafts, products, and projects for that dreamy touch! Files available in OTF, TTF, and WOFF formats!
This sweet freebie is brought to you by Graphicxell! Only available on the Hungry Jpeg site for a week!
This product comes with a commercial license.
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Nuts and Bolts: May Design Challenge Deadline
Nuts & Bolts – May Design Challenge Deadline
Plan ahead for May’s Design Challenge! The deadline is in one week, submissions due Monday, May 31st (Memorial Day). This means your card should be submitted AND approved prior to the deadline.
With the US Memorial Day holiday, the GCU office will be closed on Monday as well as the review team.
Theme: Fusion Design
Create a brand new design by choosing at least three objects from the list of eight objects below and creating a greeting card design. You may use more than three, all of them, or add additional items, including people and animals – but a minimum of three from the list must be clearly visible and important elements in the overall card design and message: a remote control – a mirror – a mailbox – an orange – a daisy – a beach towel – a bird – a coffee mug
Don’t wait until the last minute, this challenge requires a bit more thought and planning.
The difference is made in the details!
Mindy
GCU Community Manager
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Freebie Wednesday: Brandon Bromley Font
Brandon Bromley is a cute and quirky display font. It will add an incredibly joyful touch to your designs. Add this beautiful display font to each of your creative ideas and notice how it makes them stand out!
Available on the Creative Fabrica site for 4 more days. Don’t miss out!
This product comes with a commercial license.
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Wanted New Cards: Graduate >> Eagle Scout
Wanted Cards – Graduate >> Eagle Scout
Graduating high school is a time to celebrate for the grad and the grad’s family. Some grads have additional accolades like valedictorian, academic achievement, club affiliation, athletic honors; one of which is having attained the ranks of Eagle Scout. Some schools permit the Eagle Scout graduations to wear an Eagle Scout graduation honor cord of recognition.
These cards should go here:Occasions >> Congratulations >> Graduation >> Grade Level Specific >> High School >> Eagle Scout
Remember as of recent, Eagle Scouts can be male or female so consider designing accordingly as well as fortifying your metadata for gender.
NOTE: the following terms / phrases are trademark protected and should not be used in meta-data – BSA, Boy Scouts of America, Boy Scout, scouting
We’d like you to create at least one card for these categories using the Stock Cards function or your own graphic designs.
Where appropriate, in addition to standard designs, please consider custom front designs that allow the shopper to customize the name of the student.
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”.
Be inventive, be clever, be creative. Go for it!
GCU Community 