Jingle Belles Rock - Caroling

This week's challenge over at Jingle Belles Rock is Caroling! We were asked to "make a card inspired by any holiday song ... it might be one that evokes childhood memories ... or a more modern tune ... just let us know which holiday song you find inspiring."

I actually don't have a favorite or inspiring Christmas song (not my holiday), but I can tell you I break into song every time I use this stamp:

I love this stamp (from Rubber Cottage), and so do my customers, since I sell out of these cards every year. :) I made four of these today - well, I actually made a bunch more than four, but four survived the massacre - two in white and then two in vanilla:

Massacre? Oh, yes. Every year I make these and every year I destroy as many as survive. This is a simple stamp - you stamp it once, color it, done. But nooooo, I need to emboss it, so I have that I can mess up, and I do. Yes, I use the embossing buddy to minimize the extra unwanted flecks, but some always sneak in. Then there's the opportunity to stamp it so close to the edge of the card stock that the die doesn't fit. Stamping is HARD, people, HARD!

Then there's the coloring. When you emboss an image, you aren't supposed to use alcohol markers to color it since the alcohol reacts with the embossing and makes a mess. (Who said you wouldn't need HS chemistry in real life?) Every year I try to remember what I used to color the windows, and every year I forget and start over. This year I tried schmearing Pool Party on an acrylic block and using my blender pen to color the windows. Color was too green and too dark. One dead. Then I tried Bashful Blue. Two dead.

I'm pretty sure I used Copics last year, because I remember being so proud I didn't mess it up. So I used I think B000 to color one white and one vanilla, and they came out okay. But then ... well, look at this one:

See the tree branches I drew in an attempt to make it look like I meant to do that? That was an attempt to cover up the schmeared black all over that window:

You can see it in a few other spots, too. THIS is why you don't use alcohol markers with embossing. Sigh.

But the red glitter pen I used to color their bows works fine. :)

So are you singing now? I am. :)

Do you know this is week 42 of 48 for the Jingle Belles? How many Christmas cards have YOU made this year? I have close to 60! I will say that making one a week is a most-excellent and painless way to get 48+ cards made BEFORE DECEMBER. And if you need more, I'm sure at least one of the ones you've made over the past 10 MONTHS will be mass-producible. :)

Fa-la-la-la-la ... oh, I have another idea for a card. Please excuse me while I go make it.

Thanks for stopping by!