Mash-Up Fun!

Corrie has come up with a fun 'mash-up' idea for GCU artists to participate in via their blogs. We choose a favorite card by another artist and explain why we love it. The only bad part is that we are limited to one. So I began looking through my 'favorite' cards at GCU (I have almost 100!) and I realized that most of them are beautiful works of art OR cartoons . . . the kind of artwork or styles I'd love to be able to emulate. A few of them were stunning photographic works . . . but I'll never be a good photographer, so I'll leave those to someone else. And lastly, I have a few favorited cards that are just plain funny! Because of all my disabilities, humor is the one thing I can count on to keep me going when I've hit a rough patch in my life. I'm actually going through one of those rough patches right now, so I've decided to choose a card that is making me feel better both emotionally and physically (because laughter is the best medicine) while providing me with the ideal material to participate in this mash-up. :)

The card I've selected as my current favorite is this delightfully funny wedding greeter card by Ramelle Richardson. When I first saw it, I thought it would be hilarious to have a wedding greeter who would greet the guests while making a similar funny face at THEM. That would be one crazy-funny wedding! Then I thought about the wedding from the greeter's perspective. If I was asked to be a greeter at a wedding with this card, I would say "yes" without hesitation; because anyone who asks someone to be their greeter with this card, obviously will have a great sense of humor and will also probably have an unforgettable wedding. :)

But in addition to making me laugh whenever I look at the card, I also reminisce back to a happy time in my life when I was a bridesmaid (1978). The harmonious vintage look of the card with its '70s photo and sepia background, plus the jovial feeling it provokes, makes this an all-around perfect design in my book. :)

Speaking of Hearts . . .

I realized I haven't updated my blog since the "I Heart You" contest at GCUCommunity.com, so it's time.

Corrie Kuipers has introduced us to a fantastic new greeting card artist, Sue Shepard, and I want to carry that introduction a little further, here. :) I was bowled over with Sue's technique of turning images that look like letters and specific shapes (that she photographs) into greeting cards.

So since it's nearly Valentine's Day, I'd like to share this "Happy Heart Day" card that Sue created, so you can see her impressive and inspiring style for yourselves. :)

Welcome to GCU, Sue! :)

I HEART You! Contest

Corrie is having another fun greeting card contest at GCUCommunity.com called "I Heart You!" and I'd love it if you would vote for my card. :)

Mine is #6, "You + Me" with two hearts linked together. :) If you click on the picture of my card, it takes you to the card in my store...but to vote for it in the contest, click here. It's open for voting until January 17th, and the prize is a $15 Amazon gift card. :)

Thank you!!!! :)

Creating Decorative Typeface

I want to spend more of my artistic time learning how to make decorative typeface. I've done practically none up to this point, so it really IS time.

Here is a Vectortuts tutorial that I think is a good place to start:
How to Add Decorative Glamour to Your Ordinary Script Font

And another that shows How to Create a Trendy Retro Type Treatment

This website has links to 50 Stunning Photoshop Text Effect Tutorials, but I don't have Photoshop yet.

This link has eleven more at Speckyboy.com.

And another one that has links to 40 Must Learn Text Effect Tutorials (although some are the same ones from the above compilation).

I also found this cool tutorial on how to Create a Remarkable Poster with Decorative Elements. I'm including it in this post because I'm sure I'll come back to it in time (even though I don't have Illustrator yet, either). Anyhow, sometimes you can figure out how to do or make something comparable in Inkscape. :)

I admit it, I'm a political junkie

It's my dark side. :) I can't help it, and when I find something as hilarious as this "Funny or Die" video parody of the GOP debates (with a sexy rebuttal by an Obama impersonator at the end), I'm in humor heaven. Sorry it's not for kids, but it's really funny if you are the type of person who likes Saturday Night Live (which I am). See the people (or rather, impersonators of them) who are vying to take President Obama's job in 2012.

http://news.yahoo.com/cyber-debate-parody-funny-or-die/