Approval for review of submitted cards as stated on the FAQ on-site says "Once your card is submitted, we will review it and notify you of its status, usually within 14 days."
As we all have seen over and over that sometimes this does not happen and may not be possible due to many factors of which I'm pointing no fingers.  With the new reviewers onboard perhaps approval times will change. But, we seem to be ever growing here and something for the artist to keep in mind, in my opinion, is the time frame of which we submit our cards.  Don't submit weeks or even a month before a holiday, especially a major one. Give lots of time for approval/corrections and stay ahead of the holidays.  
I don't know how you GCU folks review cards. If it is by order submitted or category/holiday or however. But I would think your job is overwhelming.  So, I decided to try to get myself on a better schedule for submitting cards and try to break it down allowing for more time before a holiday in the range of seasons hoping to spread the load so to speak.
 
Spring- Feb - May Holidays     } Sept thru Nov  
Summer- Jun - Aug Holidays  } Dec thru March  
Fall  - Sept- Nov Holidays       } April thru Jun  
Christmas/January Holidays   } July thru Oct  
 
Same rule would apply to everyday occasions. For example wedding season! June is a huge wedding month. Submit them by March/mid April. See what I am getting at? Leave plenty of time and submit 'em and forget 'em..or should I say submit 'em and sell 'em!!!    
 
Just thought I would share and hope it helps everyone in some small way.

I agree.  I'm fairly new but quickly figured out at the time I can spend on cards (since I work full time) and the time to go through the process, that I need to allow at least 2 months.
I think your schedule is even better. Thank you for laying it out so clearly.

Thanks for the wise and very practical suggestion, Maryanne. If we all submit far in advance of a holiday it will save a lot of frustration for everyone.
I guess what makes it difficult for me to make cards well in advance of a particular holiday, is that I am using the "freebie" part of Picnik that offers seasonal clip art and stickers for only a short time during a holiday. Once that holiday is past, they start charging. For example, I made a cute (not-yet-submitted) card of one of my squirrels, surrounding him with free clip-art "nuts". When I went to use the same "sticker" after Christmas, it was no longer available unless I paid for it.
Being on a tight budget, I use all the free stuff I can, but using seasonal free-art cuts it very close.
I going to have to rethink this. Thanks again for your practical advice.
Ramelle

Though I agree with your theory Maryann, IMO the back up seems nearly endless. I have no idea how many cards are submitted vs how many reviewers there are, what a reviewer goes through, or who has to sign off on it etc. Nor do I really need to. All I see is a snowballing effect. If I start submitting my Halloween cards now, that holds up people with Easter Cards.
 
This is not a matter of home security. It is not a matter of safety. I can get a passport quicker. Seriously. I could probably get to talk to the pope quicker. I know of national ad campaigns that move more quickly from concept to street.  
 
It becomes particularly annoying when I can go all over this site and see mistakes everywhere. In titles of cards, in what's said on the front... from spelling errors to blatant grammatical mistakes. There have been numerous postings to these forums about cards being bounced back because a reviewer thinks something is wrong when it isn't. At least not according to reliable dictionaries. The illusion that every t is crossed and every i dotted & checked is ridiculous.  
 
I'm not perfect - I make mistakes too  - and I appreciate it when someone catches it, but this makes it really hard for me to recommend the site to my artist friends. And why would I? If we all had more people come on board, things will slow down even more!
 
Common sense says that when the line goes out the door and you never get a leg up on making it shorter and the line simply gets longer and longer, the time comes when some improvements have to be made to the system. Better, more efficient training, more reviewers, quotas on how many per week or day an artist can upload. Maybe even thought given to changing the policy on every-single-name or every-single-age or every-single- anniversary. Maybe things like that should be made "Customizable." That just has to bog down the process.  
Maybe there needs to be an actual deadline for artists AND reviewers. EX: no cards for Easter will be looked at after April 1st & will be approved by April 15. Or Halloween cards need to be submitted by Oct 1st and will be approved by Oct 15. Maybe reviewers or admins need to say - lets put holidays that are closest on a fast track. A sorting/trafficking system.  
 
I don't exactly know what's fair, or what will work best, but this way really doesn't work.
 
 

Quote from SunAtNight_145914 on Mar 15^th, 2011, 4:59pm:

 
That's actually true. But mostly because they have to make the catalogues and go to the Stationery shows. And the way things are going around here - something to seriously concider.
 
The problem here, from what I can ascertain, is that all cards are treated pretty democratically. There are no priorities or deadlines or windows given for submissions. My cards that say Happy Easter have the same priority given to them that Christmas cards or 75 years worth of Anniversaries submitted on the same day are given.

Quote from Doreen_137017 on Mar 15^th, 2011, 4:36pm:

 
Doreen,
I feel like putting that in my kitchen as a reminder for my kids!!
 
On the subject of this thread I am a convert to 'Christmas in July' (thank you Doreen ) I just think, 'it is what it is' as far as review times nowadays, and don't stress it. I am happy they do review as I think it raises the bar on the product we have at GCU and that will keep shoppers coming back and that benefits all of us.
 
Maryann has a great plan and attitude My experience has been that cards I made even a couple of months ahead of a holiday did not get much traffic the first year. It was not until the next year that they seemed to be on the map, so to speak, and sell.  
I thought when I started that my cards would sell immediately    but I have learned that this is no quick enterprise it is developed over time.
 
A year goes by really fast and I may even do Christmas in May
 
Susan. If on my travels here I find a card with an error I have in the past sent a note to the reviewers and they have been very appreciative, at one time there was a thread for misplaced cards but I haven't seen much activity on that for a while.
 
Pamela
 

Quote from Karen_150884 on Mar 16^th, 2011, 12:25am:

 
You can move cards around where ever you want them on your page whether they be featured or just your regular card stream. I'm not going to say it's easy peasy, (featured has one method of rearranging - the drag & drop; and regular cards need to be renumbered) but you don't have to show Christmas in July if you don't want to. Which reminds me - I have to move stuff around.
Also if you don't want them "featured" right now don't check the box when you submit.
 
I do completely understand the "load & forget" attitude & am trying to adopt it myself, but I still think it's absurd that it takes forever. It's discouraging frankly. When I first started here - less than a year ago, it was about 7-8 days. It got longer in October and now that has ballooned to 3 - 5 weeks for some people.
 
I'm not insinuating I have an emergency but something needs to change. Perhaps as I suggested there should be revised submission policies that are fair for everyone including the reviewers. Deadlines for holiday submissions (with the promise of approvals in time for said holiday), upload limits per day or per week for artists. Perhaps a Trafficker is needed to sort priorities.  
 
I don't think any of these suggestions are unreasonable. If I know that I have a limit of 50 cards a week, with a guarantee that they will be approved in 7-8 days. That's worth the limitation. Let's be honest, even if I'm uploading cards with 99-years worth of anniversaries is it going to be such-a-big-deal if 1-50 is uploaded this week & 51-99 is uploaded next week? The limitations encourage artists to get their priorities in order and assures that the reviewers don't get overloaded. Everyone's happy because everyone knows what the expectations are.

Excellent thinking, Maryann.  It's always better to be early, and if cards are approved well ahead of time, all the more exposure to be had.  Writers know that if you want to publish for a holiday, the story has to be in 9 months to a year ahead of time (different reason but same planning).  Thanks for the good-sense thoughts!
 
Carol