Freebie Wednesday: Vervelle Script
Freebie Wednesday:
Vervelle Cript Font (by Astageni std.) feels charming and vibrant and will turn any design project into a true standout. Get inspired by its unique charm! It’s free at Creative Fabrica so be sure to check it out.
This product comes with a complete commercial license.
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Nuts and Bolts: Fortifying Meta-data – Animals & Breeds
People love their pets, and they enjoy receiving cards with the type of pet they own. I am going
to share what I have discovered as an animal artist, a person who shows dogs in conformation,
and a writer who is a member of both the Dog Writers of America Association and the Cat
Writers Association. Much of what I will share applies to dogs and cats but also is true for any
other animals. People have an affinity to animals, and it can be a particular breed of dog or cat or
a distinct animal or reptile.
First, it is good to know some of the nuances and structure of a particular breed. For dogs, an
excellent place to check out information is AKC.org. They list the various breeds, giving a
wealth of information on each AKC recognized breed that you can use as keywords. They also
describe the nature of dogs, which is helpful if you are trying to depict the temperament of a dog
in your card.
information on the internet. In addition, each breed has local clubs that can also be useful.
You can find the various colors that each breed comes in. You might consider making a
Dachshund card as a long-haired, short-haired, or wire-haired. Also, consider the variation of the
dachshund colors. Using my breed, the Saluki, they come in a variety of colors, including black
and tan, cream, fawn, parti, red, tri-color, and Grizzle, people have favorite colors. They want to
find their breed but also their breed coloration. Some breeds have Merle colors.
specific name of the breed, most people looking for a specific dog will search the breed name.
List the color. Note things like toy dog if it is in the Toy group or herding dog if it is a Corgi or
Border Collie. AKC.org lists each breed by their group. It the dog hunts birds, include bird dog,
or gundog. If it is a hound and/or sighthound as the Greyhound, utilize those keywords.
Most us of do not realize that cats come in a variety of breeds, and like dogs cat people are very
in sync with their breed of cat. There are approximately 71 breeds of cats. For more information,
check out the Cat Fanciers Association or The International Cat Association or google cat breeds.
are several categories, including Seal Point, Blue Point, Chocolate Point, and Lilac Point. People
will search for these particulars, so use them in your keywords and titles.
cats, short-haired or long-haired cats. These suggestions will help narrow down a cat card buyers
search and hopefully help you get sales.
Siamese Cat: Seal Point, Siamese, Siamese Cat, Seal Point Siamese Cat, Cat.
Like dogs and cats, we want to narrow our options down, especially when a category has lots of
animals. For example, on GCU, if you use elephant, you will find 73 blank cards, but perhaps we
want to be more specific. There are two distinct types of elephants, the African and the Asian.
We can further narrow it down to 18 subspecies. Maybe you want to consider the Indian
elephant. In giraffes, there are four types to consider. We all know there are different types of
monkeys, so use those types in your keywords.
keywords.
up with those in your keywords, especially when your card is listed in a competitive category.
GCU Community Manager
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Freebie Wednesday: Aire Family Font.
Freebie Wednesday:
Aire Family Font (by Lian Types). Aire was designed to be playful yet formal: While none of its alternates are activated it can be useful for short to medium length texts; and when the user chooses to make use of its open-type decorative glyphs, it can be useful for headlines with dazzling results. It’s free for the next 5 days at Creative Fabrica so be sure to check it out.
This product comes with a complete commercial license.
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Wanted New Cards: Baby’s 1st Tooth.
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. Good luck!
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Rainbow Connection: 2020 Color Trends.
Some lovely 2020 Color Trends I spotted on Pinterest this week:
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Dash of Inspiration: Big Stock ONLY Design Challenge FEBRUARY 2020
Congratulations to all those whose wonderful creations received Founders’ Choice awards! GCU is such a fun place to create! So let’s get started with this year’s first Stock Card challenge!
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Theme: Wild About You
Requirements:
- ONLY Big Stock cards will be accepted in this challenge.
- Write your own verse, be creative with a message that includes Wild About You in some form and ties the imagery of choice with the category choice and challenge theme – 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: Saturday, 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: Any 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: 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.
- 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 57,000 followers, now THAT’S exposure!
- The winning card will be Design of the Day following the announcement of the winners (within 48-hours).
- The winning card will be added to the Greeting Card Universe Design Challenge Winners Pinterest Board – currently GCU’s Pinterest Page followers: 4K!
- 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 6,800 followers and counting!
- 10 free greeting card credits added to your GCU account. Apply them at checkout and they never expire.
- A Design Challenge GCU digital award!
2nd Place:
- Your submission will be Design of the Day the following week of announcing the Challenge winners (within 7-days).
- 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 6,800 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!
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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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Nuts and Bolts: Corrections for St. Patrick’s Day
GCU Community Manager
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Wanted New Cards: Galentine’s Day Photo Cards.
Remember, before creating your new card please make sure it’s different than current cards offered in the category.
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Freebie Wednesday: Chilla Font.
Freebie Wednesday:
Chilla (by Dani) is a gorgeous script font with an incredibly playful vibe. Its modern and classy look is perfect for logos, branding, invitations, social media posts and every other design that needs that special handwritten touch. It’s free for the next 5 days at Creative Fabrica so be sure to check it out.
This product comes with a complete commercial license.
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Rainbow Connection: Pantone Color of the Year 2020 Color Palettes.
10 lovely Pantone Color Palettes showcasing Pantone Color of the Year 2020: Classic Blue. To see all of them visit the Paper Heart Design site.
GCU Community 