~ I love making die cuts for scrapbooks and greeting cards, and now I love making digital art for cards, too ~
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.
Spirit Orbs with Whiskers
“As the days grow shorter and the nights cool…”
Bud & Tony, Betty Matsumoto-Schuch
Halloween Blog Carnival
“Halloween isn’t the pagan holiday that many think it is…”
I Love Cuttables, Cindy Johns
Ghost Time
“To be honest, I’m not into scary experiences…”
Aura2000, Aura 2000
We Only Thought We Wanted a Séance
“When my twin brother and I were younger, we did a lot of crazy things…”
DB Visual Arts, Denise Beverly
Ghosts and Goblins and Witches, Oh My!
“There’s a chilly wind blowing…”
Hand-Me-Downz, Richard Skelley
Haunted House Halloween Party Invitations
“Lost, we creep along a dark road toward a lighted porch…”
It’s a Beautiful World, Catherine Sherman
The Haunting of Parnell House
“I saw a dark red puddle at the foot of the stairs…”
Janet Lee Designs, Janet Palaggi
Monster in My Woods
“We heard the distinctive sound of a woman being mauled…”
Dragonfire Graphics, Betsy Bush
The Proposal
“The place is said to be haunted…”
Reel Cards, Robert Bulanadi
Our family went up north for nearly a week and when we came home I had a hard time recuperating from the journey, so I haven't posted in awhile. But I'm back now. :) Before I left, there was a Critique Clinic at gcucommunity.com and I had one of my cards critiqued. Here is the updated card. I want to thank each and every GCU artist who offered me their good advice, so I'm including a card from each at the very end of this post.
Peggy, of DogBreedz, helped me deal with my grief over the recent loss of my cat, Missy. Without Peggy’s kindness and ability to help me through it, I’d probably still be stuck in a very unhappy place. Thank you, Peggy.
Something else that caused me some grief recently was trying to figure out setting up a business page on Facebook. Now that I’m committed to learning more about FB, I'm glad to have had the good fortune of finding someone who was willing to help me find my way. Tracie, of Photography TK Designs has created a terrific resource for GCU artists on Facebook called Greetings & Gifts Resource Center. It offers an excellent promotional opportunity for artists and online greeting card storefront owners, who might be starting out or are not yet getting the visitors that they’d like, to get exposure. I’m pleased that GCUCommunity brought this resource to my attention recently, and I’m grateful to Tracie for creating and maintaining it--and especially for helping me break through the hurdle of the FB promotions and go all in. Thank you, Tracie!
Finally, since I mentioned GCUCommunity, I want to pay homage to Corrie Kuipers, the creator of this incredible resource. Corrie is a veritable fountain of knowledge when it comes to making one’s way through Greeting Card Universe and creating marketable cards. She understands the ins and outs, and helps others do the same with her Nuts & Bolts articles, her Critique Clinic, and her efficient advice and examples (also, here's a quick "shout out" to Shelley for helping with a critique of my card recently). Corrie also keeps artists updated with what’s hot and what’s not in colors and style, and she’s quite intuitive in foreseeing what newbies (like me) need. And when it comes to finding the best guest bloggers out there, Corrie is an expert. So thank you, Corrie; and thank you, EVERYBODY (artists, reviewers, bloggers, admin, etc) who’s working and contributing to make GCU the best supplier of greeting cards on the net.
There's a lightning round contest at GCUCommunity.com, and the topic is Monkeys! The top banana over there, Corrie Kuipers, shared a card which she created (left) that totally reminded me of a two-page scrapbook layout that I made (years ago) for my son, who was certainly a little monkey when he was young (he's an adult now, but still likes to monkey around a lot). 
