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/

Happy New Year!!!

This, like the link in my Christmas Day post, is the New Year's Eve Google Doodle, followed by the New Year's Day Google Doodle! :)

https://www.google.com/logos/2011/newyearseve-2011-hp.jpg

https://www.google.com/logos/2012/newyearsday-2012-hp.jpg

Merry Christmas from Google Doodles!

A sweet Christmas light show by Google.

Nene Adams, Author

I feel very privileged to introduce to visitors of this blog, an author of mystery--and one whom I admire a great deal: Nene Adams. Here are some of her wonderful creations.

YouTube Inkscape Tutorials

Cut an object away from the background By T3hTechi3s
Creating with Lines (supercool!) By Aussie Carolyn
Radial Tiled Clones By Aussie Carolyn
Create a Lightsaber By HeathenX
Vectorize Scanned Images in Inkscape By Ben Wolf
Text Effects & Adding Snow By LittleWebHut
Changing A Stencil Font Using Linked Offset By Aussie Carolyn
Make Your Own Font By CleverSomeday

Speaking of Winter...

There is a "Let it Snow" greeting card design contest at the GCUCommunity Website, and I'd be grateful for any votes I get (hint, hint if you're reading this, click here and scroll down). :) Here's my card (a snow family having an ironic and playful snowball fight - lol), and it's number 10 in the list of entries. Thanks!!! :)

Time to Update My Blog. :)

I saw the first three pictures in this slideshow of the Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting, and I thought I'd share them in case anyone else missed them. Very pretty, and since I'm a greeting card artist, I noticed that some of the photos would make lovely greeting cards. :) Capital Christmas Tree Lighting.

It's Small Business Saturday!!!

My daughter, Megan, and I have been working hard to get our stores filled with some neat items that we think you'll like. Here are links to our stores so you can browse and hopefully find something that would be perfect for you--or we can design special orders if you contact us at ilovecuttables @ gmail . com

I Love Cuttables at Greeting Card Universe (this was our very first store that got the ball rolling)
Cardtoons at Greeting Card Universe (this one is where Mike and I come up with funny cards)
Megan and Friends at Greeting Card Universe (this one was specifically created with all profits going to Megan's grad school tuition fees - it doesn't have many cards in it yet because Megan has been working on our Zazzle store)

Our I Love Cuttables Zazzle Store (where Megan has been hard at work creating fantastic products)

and Our CafePress Store (where I've added a few items like jewelry, jewelry boxes, mousepads, and laptop skins)

Today is the perfect day to show Megan your support for her becoming a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University by buying a single item (or more, if you’d like) from any one of our online stores. Megan has been working very hard to design items to sell, so today is the day to let her know her efforts are paying off.

Pictured above is a Flower on Brown Shirt by ilovecuttables
See other Flower T-Shirts

Another Item Up for Sale

The iPhone 4 Slider Case I designed on CafePress.com I created this Case today at Cafe Press. :) It would be the perfect Christmas gift for a young lady you know that has an iPhone 4.

Small Business Saturday is November 26th!

The second annual "Small Business Saturday" is coming up on November 26th! It is the day after Black Friday when shoppers are encouraged to support their favorite small businesses with their patronage. I opened my first online greeting card store (ilovecuttables) in April of this year, so this will actually be my first "Small Biz Sat." A couple of weeks ago my brilliant and beautiful daughter, Megan, agreed to become my partner and she is handling all of the Zazzle products (http://www.zazzle.com/ilovecuttables). Over the next few days, she and I will be posting some of our personal favorite items that we have created (we'll post them here and on our blogs); and we hope you will consider making a purchase (or two) from any of our stores on Nov 26th. Also, we would be happy to work directly with you if you would like cards or gifts personalized with artwork specifically created for you (perfect for Christmas gifts!). We'd love to hear from you. :) Thanks! (Pictured above are some adorable plaid shoes Megan designed on Zazzle. Plaid Shoes by ilovecuttables. Build your own shoes)

Amazing Week!

So many fantastic things have been happening to me over the past week, and it's a bit overwhelming (but in a good way - lol).

First, I got a new new small business counselor (Mike) and last Thursday we had our first meeting. We got more done in that one meeting than 3 months of back & forth with my first counselor. Mike thinks I'm definitely on the road to being approved for my request for assistance for my business, but even more importantly, he has given me some excellent ideas on various ways to move forward productively. :)

Then my son came home for a visit on Friday and told me he just got signed up for a glass-blowing class for his next quarter at college! Glass-blowing is something that has always intrigued me and had I not been disabled, I would have loved to learn glass-blowing, myself. So guess who's going to be the one of the main recipients of his classwork? Me. :) I LOVE blown glass art!!

So I was really psyched about that, then Sri Devi, a truly beautiful person in every way, spotlighted me on the Well-Wishers Group Website, and what a wonderful honor it is! I feel a strong spiritual connection to Sri and am very grateful to her for letting me talk about myself, and for shining the light on me. :) Thank you so much, Sri!

Then my daughter told us she got accepted to Carnegie Mellon University (among the top 25 in the nation & dubbed one of the "New Ivies")! How awesome is that, to have a child accepted to such a prestigious university? Quite awesome! And by the way, I home-schooled her for 10 years when she was young, so that makes me feel like I did a pretty good job. :)

And finally, my "Congrats on Donating Your Hair" card received the GCU Design of the Day honor on Sunday (11/6/11)!! Thanks, GCU!

What a whirlwind of wonderfulness!