Surtex is just a couple of days away! The Montage Licensing team is already en route to NY, representing the work of 16 artists, (including mine). Surtex, the international marketplace for original art and design, is in its 26th year. Montage Licensing, owned and operated by veteran licensed artist Kimberly Montgomery, is at Booth 464, so be sure to stop by and meet Kimberly and Heather!

Kimberly has been a small business owner for 20 years and a successful licensed artist whose work has been featured on hundreds of products, so she brings years of experience as an artist working with manufacturers and their needs to the job of  promoting and supporting other artists looking to license their work. Kimberly also offers consulting and portfolio review for artists who are looking at licensing as a next step. She's also one of the nicest people you'll ever meet!


I am not going to Surtex this year, but will follow the excitement over the next few days from a few of the artists represented by Kimberly in their popular blogs: The Moon From My Attic, by Alex Colombo, Joan Beiriger's Licensing, Tamara Holland's Bean Up the Nose Art, and Marilyn MacGregor's Artsmarttalk.

Good designs inspire me: Betsy Bush at GCU

Betsy complimented me this morning by blogging about my cards at GCU-for a design challenge Corrie Kuipers created on behalf of GCU and its artists. It was such a nice gesture and I had not noticed this challenge yet, so I wanted to genuinely thank Betsy in my own blog because I have been a fan of her designs as well.

I visited Betsy's Dragonfire Graphics shop a month or so ago and found a series of designs I loved. I'm always inspired by good designs and Betsy's birthday series is one of my favorites. It's a challenge to edit your ideas when you're designing cards--when you are specifically trying to express feelings from one person to another, the purpose of cards, you just want to fill the design with all of the wonderful things that come to heart and mind, but the sentiment and thoughts do have to be clear and not cluttered. I think these designs, 3 of her birthday series and two from other collections, are so good because they are simple, clear, and lovely.

      

There are a lot of artists on GCU and I think half a million or so cards--something for everyone!

sharon

Blessing Art Cards receives Design of the Day

My Christmas card, Season's Greetings Christmas Trees with Lights in Snow won Design of the Day on Greeting Card Universe today: 

At Greeting Card Universe, "Over 400,000 cards, 4,000 artists,  10,000 categories = lots of happy customers"

Round Robin: Great Pumpkin

Another fun lightning round in the Greeting Card Universecommunity--this time it's for Halloween! Be sure to visit these great posts from greeting card artists:


Plus I won the random drawing for a gift certificate to Amazon! I knew Halloween was my favorite holiday :)

It's Halloween or Howl-oween!
"I love Halloween..."
Blessing Art Cards, Sharon Fernleaf

Countdown to Halloween
"Halloween, a day of fantasy and fun..."
Che Bella Nota, Teri Nelson Kuster

The Big Pumpkin
“I”m born in Hong Kong, so Halloween for me is the most unusual holiday…"
Painted Cottage, Judith Cheng

Twisted Rainbows: It’s Halloween!
“It’s the time of year when ghosts and ghouls like to frolic in the streets…”
Reel Cards, R.P. Bulanadi

Happy Halloween
“Boo! Did I scare you?”
Tanitu, Creative Paradise

Colors of Halloween
“I have made two color palettes that scream the fall colors of the Halloween season…”
Dragonfire Graphics, Betsy Bush

Grumpy Halloween
“Help yourself to a little sweet orange treat…”
Naquiaya’s Cards, Naquaiya

Oh, Great Pumpkin, Where Are You?
“Cute, scary, on the doorstep or in food, I love pumpkins!”
What Dreams May Come, Maryann Nolan

Ooh… Candy Corn!
“20 million pounds of candy corn are sold annually...”
Hand-Me-Downz, Richard Skelley

Halloween Memories
“Happy Halloween, everyone!”
Warm Traditions, Candace J. Hardy

Free Holiday Card from Blessing Art Animals and Zazzle!

Christmas Tree Take Down, Cat by BlessingArtAnimals


Free Holiday Greeting Card from Blessing Art Animals and Zazzle! This design was an Editor's Choice on Kate Harper's Greeting Card Designer blog. Shop for Christmas gifts, funny Christmas cards, and more at Zazzle! Use the promo code RRETEYGCPISR to get one free holiday card printed with the design above. Limit one per customer. 
Spread the word!


100% of card net sale price (excluding shipping and taxes) is deducted when qualifying http://www.zazzle.com/137198299855420179 greeting card is purchased from http://www.zazzle.com/BlessingArtAnimals and the coupon code RRETEYGCPISR is applied at checkout. Offer does not apply to create your own cards. Offer does not apply to card orders of two or more. Buyer is responsible for shipping and handling and sales tax charges. Failure to comply with promotional offer conditions may result in order cancellation. Offer is valid through November 24, 2011 at 11:59pm PT. Offer does not apply to past purchases and may not be combined with any other Zazzle promotional or volume discount offers. If a volume discount applies to your order, you will receive either the discount set forth in this offer or the standard volume discount, whichever is greater. Offer valid on Zazzle.com only.

It's Halloween or Howl-oween!

I love Halloween! When I was a kid, I couldn't wait to finish dinner and dishes and put on my costume, run around the neighborhood at night and come home with goodies. In those days, (was it THAT long ago?), people were not afraid to let their children receive homemade treats like caramel apples, popcorn balls, brownies or cookies. It was a different time, but Halloween is still fun for kids. And big kids, like me :) And Halloween cards are fun to send or receive, like the ones I found below, from Greeting Card Universe:

October 22 is National Pitbull Awareness Day

Today is National Pit Bull Awareness Day! I have known Pit Bulls through friends and a family member and they have all been sweet, loving animals. I'm glad to see that there is a campaign to help change the unfair image they have. When they are raised with love and discipline, like any puppy, they grow into balanced, loving, disciplined adult dogs. It is the person raising the puppy who determines that. When they are raised to be mean, they will be mean. So will children.

Here are some cards on Greeting Card Universe that show what a sweet and beautiful animal the Pit Bull is:
(You can click on the card image to be taken to the card shop and artist offering the card)

Remember to love the dog. We can change the Pit Bull image one dog at a time.