Dash of Inspiration: October 2020 Design Challenge
Hard to believe October is already here! Hoping you all are well and safe as we kick off our next Design Challenge.
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Theme: Angels
Requirements:
- One angel, many angels – your choice. Imagery must support the theme.
- Any category which your card speaks to.
- No Stock card creations will be accepted.
- Blank verse will not be considered for entry in this challenge.
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Entry Deadline: Saturday, October 31st
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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.
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Category:
Any category your Angel themed card fits.
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Rules:
- Submission must meet GCU’s Submission Guidelines and be Approved through the usual Review Cycle– Fast Track your submission with this in the Notes to Reviewer: October 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.
- Stock Card Creations entries will not be accepted.
- Your designs should differ from those already offered in the category of your choice to offer shoppers a variety of choices, not more of the same.
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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.
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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 56,000 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: 2K!
- 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!
- NEW starting this month, 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.
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!
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Tips:
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Be inspired to create and learn something new!
Freebie Wednesday: Charlie.
Freebie Wednesday:
Charlie is a modern calligraphy font, perfect for branding, logos, wedding invites, and every other design which needs a handwritten romantic touch. Set this decorative, handwritten creative style script font for your new projects. With multi-language support and lots of stylistic alternates. Comes in OTF and TTF Formats!
This beautiful freebie is brought to you by Zainstudio. Only available for a week on the Hungry Jpeg site!




This product comes with a commercial license.
Wanted New Cards: Granddaughter Car Christmas

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”.
Sounds like this granddaughter is on the Nice list!
Nuts and Bolts: Artist Interview Melinda Pritzel

Here is July 2020 Design Challenge winner, Melinda Pritzel of Yowzers, Interview.
Congratulations to Melinda of Yowzers on her winning card

The difference is made in the details!
GCU Community Manager
Wanted New Cards: Halloween Invitations.

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”.
Look on the bright side, it IS the season when wearing a mask is expected!
Freebie Wednesday: My Shine (font)
Freebie Wednesday:
My Shine is a stunning handwritten font carefully created with a touch of elegance. This font is PUA encoded which means you can access all of the beautiful glyphs and swashes with ease! Avaiable for download on the Creative Fabrica site.





This product comes with a commercial license.
Nuts and Bolts: Artist Interview Pamela Jorgensen.

Here is May 2020 Design Challenge winner, Pamela Jorgensen of PamJArts Interview.
Happiness is … congratulating Pamela of PamJarts on her winning card.

The difference is made in the details!
GCU Community Manager
Wanted New Cards: Thanksgiving Relation Specific.

Note: for like image series, please be sure to add a Note to Reviewer like “this card is based on prior approved card pid#XXXXX”.
Freebie Wednesday: Rainbow Dreams Font.
Freebie Wednesday:
Rainbow Dreams is a bouncy handwritten font with extra font doodles! Includes a doodle font – Rainbow Dreams Extras – with 52 decorative doodles! This font is perfect for quotes, branding, ornaments, shirts, mugs, headings, blogs, logos, invitations and more!
This beautiful freebie is brought to you by KA Designs! Only available for a week on the Hungry Jpeg site, make sure to download it ASAP!




This product comes with a complete commercial license.
Nuts and Bolts: Holiday Custom Request Design Change.


Resulting Card:



Big holiday kudos to both of these artists for delighting these shoppers and helping them get the perfect holiday card ordered early!
The difference is made in the details!
GCU Community Manager





