Gimp Tutorial: How to Easily Create a Realistic Balloon

I am not sure where I learned this technique but I have used it many times over the past 2 years. Here are the steps I take: 

Open a new file. I set the size to 400 x 400.

Make a new transparent layer.

Use the ellipse tool to make a circle 

Go to menu> select > to path

Select the forground and background color tool and choose the color of your choice- the foreground color needs to be several shades lighter than the background color.

Pick the blend tool and set the shape to radial. Starting in slightly from the upper left portion of the circle, drag the gradient to the lower right just past the center.

From the menu pick filters> distorts> curve bend. Use these settings:

To finish, use the ellipse tool to make a small oval on the bottom side of the balloon. Fill it in with the darker color. To give it a softer, smoother look, go to menu> filters> blur> Gaussian blur and set the blur radius to 2. 

CafePress.com: My First Sales

My first sale at CafePress...this design sold 3 times in less than a week. I started uploading some of my designs about 2 or 3 weeks ago.  

In case you are wondering... yes I am excited. I'm sure you've heard it before..it's not so much the money, it's the idea that someone actually paid me for my art. 

                                            My first sale at CafePress

Greeting Card Universe Review: My First Card Sale

I signed up to be an artist at Greeting Card Universe back in June this year. I really didn't do anything with it at first, but I finally submitted a few cards.

I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly my first card sold. Needless to say, I am quite excited about this opportunity. I believe it's a way for me to learn about card design, hone my designing skills and take careful note of what sells and what doesn't.   

My first card sale 

I was also happy with the feedback they gave me for a card that was not accepted- they told me exactly what to do to bring it up to par.

It's completely free to join and they take care of all the details- printing, e-commerce etc. You can earn up to 56 cents a card.  If you are interested in creating cards to sell, maybe this is a way to get started. 

Update: The commission structure has since been changed- artists get half of what we used to, unless we earn a certain amount of money in each quarter.  To meet this quota, I've been told we need to sell 428 cards for each of quarters 1-3 and 857 cards for the 4th quarter.

If you don't want to create cards, you can also make money by selling them. You get a 12% commission.

My enthusiasm may be a bit premature since I have not been with them very long but so far I really like this company.