A Fabulous New Blog

There's a new blog on the block that's going to knock your socks off!  :)  It's kind of an extension of the Greeting Card Universe (which I shared with you in my last post).  This new blog: GCUCommunity is an online newsletter created by Corrie Kuipers which supplements GCU in a lot of wonderful ways, but my favorite way is how it summarizes the absolutely best topics/talents/news from GCU into very nice, reader-friendly morsels.  We (the GCU artists) are kept up-to-date by Corrie on everything we need to know to succeed with our work at GCU.

Furthermore, through the GCUCommunity, we are inspired and encouraged to learn new tips and techniques for making high-quality greeting cards, and to share the love with our fellow artists.  :)

So with that, I'd like to extend my first "share the love" posting and link to three especially impressive cards and their respective artists.  The first is a Happy Mother's Day card by John H Johnson (he was my first blog follower, so he gets this special shout out. :)  Hey John!).  The second is from Tanya at Moonlake Designs (who happened to be my second blog follower). Oh, and when you visit Tanya's blog, notice her excellent choice in blog background designs (at the time of this writing, it's the same as mine - lol!).  I've never met Tanya, but I feel like I'm in really good company when I find that the blog design I selected (many months ago) is identical to that of someone who has as much talent as Tanya does (air fistbump, Tanya!).  :)  Anyhow, last (but definitely not least) is a lovely card by Rycky Creations (the GCU Community's current Design Spotlight Artist).  As an 11+ year cancer survivor myself, I'm honored and humbled to highlight this one:

So enjoy their cards and check back often, because I'll share other gems in the future.

Greeting Cards Galore

In addition to switching to a Silhouette cutting machine (as I mentioned in my last post), I'm also focusing more on the ins and outs of making greeting cards.  And even more to the point, I'll be focusing less on die-cutting techniques/tips and more on finding tutorials that help with creating artwork in Inkscape (an excellent free, open source art program).  I use Inkscape for the designs in many of my greeting cards.  And a couple of weeks ago I discovered Greeting Card Universe (GCU)--a wonderful avenue for artists of all ranges of talents to build their own online greeting card stores.  For example, here's mine: ilovecuttables greeting cards.  I only have a few cards (as of today) that have made it through the approval process (a "thinking of you" card, a "Mother's Day" card, a "thank you" card and a "Get Well" (from all of us) card).  It takes time, but more are on the way.  :)

In the meantime, check 'em out.  The cards are printed on high quality cardstock in matte or glossy finish and they are out of this world (but still within the Greeting Card Universe - lol!)!

Silhouette

I haven't posted lately because I've been preoccupied with my (temporary & seasonal) job in the tax preparation service.  But I'm back now.  :)  Alas, with some not-so-great news.

ProvoCraft (maker of the Cricut) has filed a lawsuit against my two favorite cutting programs: Make-the-Cut & Sure-Cuts-A-Lot.  The lawsuit with MtC was settled, but unsatisfactorily for most of us MtC users.

After following Jin's wonderful blogging (Underacherrytree) detailing her experiences with (and a review of) a new Silhouette, I've decided to get one.  And I won't be posting Cricut-related topics anymore.

C'est la vie.