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

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:

Greeting Card Universe Round Robin: Cancer

Yesterday's post was part of a "Lightning Round" challenge with greeting card artists and their blogs or Squidoo lenses within the Greeting Card Universe community. The subject this month: Cancer, in  honor of October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month. There are several wonderful stories  I hope you'll check out. Here is a list of the participants and their individual blogs along with a wonderful selection of  cards related to cancer from GCU:

Breast Cancer Awareness and Pink Ribbon Cards & Gifts
“Believe in the power of the pink ribbon…”
TANITU, Creative Paradise

Breast Cancer Awareness Month
“I cannot remember a time when when there wasn’t a dear friend or family member battling cancer…”
Cards from the Heart, Lisa Charlton

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
“My mother had breast cancer as well as lung cancer…”
Eliz Designs, Elizabeth Eells

Ways to be Supportive, Helpful and Encouraging for Cancer Patients
“This post is in honor of our friends, colleagues and family members who are currently battling this dreadful disease…”
Heart to Art, Sri Devi

Breast Cancer Awareness
“There are several things you should look for when doing a self exam…”
Sheryl Kasper Card Store, Sheryl Kasper

Barbara’s Story
“Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Barbara has battled breast cancer since 1997, what better time to tell Barbara’s story?”
Rycky Creations, Robin Chaffin

Breast Cancer Awareness Month
“Most advanced breast cancer cases are found in women over age 50…”
Janet Lee Designs, Janet Palaggi

Cancer Bummer
“I was diagnosed with cancer about 12 years ago.”
I Love Cuttables, Cindy Johns

October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month
“Cancer is cruel, cancer makes no exceptions…”
At Sparky’s, Antoinette Van Kleef

Canine & Feline Cancer
“I’ve seen much too much cancer in the lives of my beloved pets over the years…”
Salon of Art, Doreen Erhardt

A Sobering Subject
“I think, today, how cancer has impacted my life…”
Warm Traditions, Candace J. Hardy

Always double-check your text: Best Dog of the World Potato!

I enjoy writing for greeting cards and creating designs that include text because I love words and images. So I'm an illustrator. I love what I do. And I think my work loves me back because I bring humor to it. Humor's important and almost always welcome. Together, we create a happy environment for working.

Take translation of another language for example. Unless you are fluent in another language, translating your native language into that other is tricky business. I can laugh at myself pretty easily so it wasn't too embarassing today when I realized I had made a little mistake in a few designs I'd translated from English to Spanish. As in, "Best dog of the world potato!" Here's what I did.

I used a Google translation widget (word monkey)

exclusively for expanding some of my father's day designs to Spanish speaking people. What's funny is that when I typed in the phrase that I wanted to translate such as, "World's Best Dog Dad", I received "mejor perro del mundo papa". Okay. However, when I cross-checked it today (wish I'd thought of it earlier!) and put that spanish phrase in to translate into english, it morphed into something nonsensical, or "world's best dog potato!" 

I took one year of Spanish in school and I have a copy of Spanish for Gringos, but even that high level of preparation for tackling a second language is no substitute for careful double-checking of text when you design :) I had the designs for exceptional dog potatoes up on Zazzle for several days before I thought to go back and cross check the spanish into english, so I'm sure there were a couple of people at least who had a good chuckle. That's not a bad thing.

If you know of any dog potatoes out there, I've got t-shirts!