Hark the Herald Angels Sing

This week's holiday card prompt is all about MUSIC ... you might incorporate sheet music, musical instruments, music-themed stamps ... or even make a card inspired by your favorite Christmas Carol. Just make sure you let us know what your MUSICAL elements are.

Here's how the music moved us this week:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "I scanned in a piece of vintage Christmas Music from my collection and sized it down to fit on my card front.  I combined it with velvet ribbon, some holiday flair, Eyelet Outlet Champagne Bling and Authentique papers with this week's Retro Sketch."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I chose this lovely older 6x6 patterned paper by My Mind's Eye because its pre-made collage had a bit of sheet music in it. Then I added some chipboard letters made by fusing vintage sheet music to thin chipboard (with my Xyron) and diecutting with Provocraft's "Tag Sale" alphabet. The poinsettia diecuts were leftover from a 'Christmas In July and August' class I taught at my LSS... all I had to do was choose a few different patterns which went well together and load the whole deal onto a couple of mats. Easy, peasy!

And now it's your turn to select your favorite MUSICAL elements, use them to create a brand new holiday card, and link it up here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, September 7th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:16:18.

An InLinkz Link-up

Red Letter Day

It's always a happy occasion when our readers' gallery is chock full of gorgeous cards, and the "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" link-up is very nice indeed, so be sure to scroll down and check it out! Meanwhile here are three crimson creations that made us feel especially well red this fortnight!

Diane W of All I Need is Paper and Ink...

...reminds us all that the guy who rocks the red best of all is --and always will be-- Santa!

Robyn Oliver of Waterlily Cards

...not only impressed us with her purely monochromatic aesthetic, she did it in one gloriously elegant layer!

Julene of Julene by Design

...made this sonnet in scarlet as part of a THIRTY CARD MARATHON at a recent crop!!! (Our minds *boggle* at this... but in a very very good way!)

Many thanks to everyone who played along, we ALWAYS love to see what you will make! We'll be back at midnight with a brand new prompt we hope will put a song in your heart! ♥

Even Stop Lights Blink a Bright RED

And although a "red card" is a penalty in some sporting events, here at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ the red cards in the current readers' gallery are definitely cause for celebration, so we hope you'll scroll down to the original post (just below this one) for inspiration before you link up your own gorgeous RED creation!

Here's what we made this week:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "The last couple of years many online crafting stores have had a "Christmas in July" event, so it's now a bit of a tradition for me to do a bit of summertime shopping. This card mixes a few of my new (RED!) goodies with a bit of older (RED!) stash, I love a good "all ages" fusion design, lol. I've used the current --very excellent-- Sketch Saturday sketch to guide my layout."

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "No one wears RED better than the jolly old man himself ... Santa Claus (this Avery Elle Santa always makes me smile).  I paired him with three different red papers and some sequin snow using this week's Sketch Saturday Layout too ... Lauren & I must have been on the same paper sketchy wavelength this week."

Rudolph the RED Nosed Reindeer

This fortnight's prompt is called "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" BUT... it's not the critter, it's the COLOR we'd like to see on your holiday cards this week, Jingle Belles! In fact we'd like to see cards that are predominantly red. Does that mean you can't use any other colors? Certainly not. But your card should be, if not MOSTLY red, at least definitely, decidedly and noticeably red. Other than that you can do anything you like... including add an absolutely optional reindeer if you so desire!

Here's what we made:

Stephanie's Card

Stephanie says, "This is one of my favorite shades of red ... Ranger Archival Vermillion.  When it is combined with an awesome Artistic Outpost image, you don't need much more (although I did add a few coordinating pearls on the corner & some foam tape for dimension)."

Lauren's Card

Lauren says, "I based my design around this older chipboard embellishment I found lurking in my Xmas stash. I fell in love with this week's Sketch Saturday layout, because it had a prominent circle that allowed me to accent the tag really well, while still staying firmly in the category of 'mostly red' in terms of palette." 

And now it's your turn to ransack your RED stash, whether you choose Carmine or Crimson, Cranberry or Carnelian... or even all of the above if you're feeling particularly well red! Link up here by 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, August 24th. Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:16:17.

An InLinkz Link-up

Tremendous Trios

We loved seeing the gallery full of fabulous triple-play creations. Here are a few that did the *number 3* very well.

LeAnne

of

Wee Inklings

shared this fantastic holiday trio with fantastic winter hats ... and such a fun layout too.

Martina

of

Fraulein Erdbeerli

turned a three-letter sentiment into a magnificent holiday design ...

the holly leaves & touches of glitter are perfection.

Paper Pleasure

created a trio of wreaths in wonderful holiday colors ... love the bows.

Join us at midnight for another prompt filled with some *colorful* fun.

Holiday Trio

We're still creating in groups of three this week ... here are our holiday trio creations:

Lauren's Other Card

Lauren says, "This week my trio is a collection of blinged up baubles leftover from other projects. I tried combining them with several different backgrounds in various colors, but rather to my surprise, this is the combination I liked best. I'm not sure I've ever made a holiday card that was mostly black before... but I think I like it! My layout comes from the current Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge." 

Stephanie's Other Card

Stephanie says, "My card features a trio of mondo poinsettias, a trio of leaf clusters and a three-word sentiment ... a trio of trios."

Remember you have until 6pm (EST) on Wednesday, August 10th to link up on the original post (just below this one). Keyword for galleries and Flickr is JB:16:16.