April 2017 - #Atozchallenge - Eventually E

E is for Sir Elton John.  We were able to see him when he was doing the Face to Face Tour with Billy Joel.  Our original tickets were for November of 2009 but Elton John got sick and they had to cancel our part of the tour.  Fortunately they rescheduled the show so we saw them in February 2010.

This was an interesting show in which both performers were on stage to start the show, then Billy Joel left and Elton did a solo spot.  He played hit after hit, but with very little interaction with the crowd.

The big screen that they used was more like a series of lights so the pictures did not come out crisp and clear but that night it was impressive.


Without a significant break, Billy Joel then came out and did a set of his tunes.  He was more talkative and told some stories about the songs and joked about how long he's been singing.


I wanted to add a music note to one of the pictures so I used the MISTI (Most Incredible Stamping Tool Invented) to help me get the placement right on the picture.

There are several versions of this handy tool out now but it really does make it easier to do stamping since you can stamp in the same spot more than once if it doesn't come out as dark as you would like or if you want to stamp multiple things the same way such as invitations or Christmas cards. 

Finally, Elton John came back out and the two of them did the finale together.  Piano Man was a perfect choice to end the concert with.  For this layout I used the overlays again.  They come with a plain white background but I changed the paper to a blue instead.   I think the piano keys work really well.  

 Rather than just focus on the performers, I tried to get the song images, like the ballerina in "Tiny Dancer," and the Yellow Brick Road.  Funnily, when Billy Joel sang "We Didn't Start the Fire" and the verse came up about "England's got a new Queen," a picture of Elton John was flashed.  There was a really good write up about the show by Jim Harrington of the San Jose Mercury, which I printed and added to the last pages.

In 2012 I read that Billy Joel did not want to do the Face to Face tours anymore because he said it "restricted his set list."  Sir Elton had another reason for not wanting to tour with Billy Joel, stating that he was drinking a little too much.  Last I read, though, they had "patched things up" and were friends again, although no touring together planned.

There is "E."  Have you ever seen Sir Elton or Billy Joel?  Used a MISTI?  Love to hear comments!

You can click over to the main A to Z Challenge page to see what other participants have come up with for this letter, and come back to see what F has for us!

Fancy-Free February - 2017

February 3 - I like to find snappy titles for my months.  It makes it more fun for me and also easier to search if I need to find something I posted.  This month was a tough one but I think I've found something that will work well - Fancy-Free February. 

As in "footloose and fancy-free," having no responsibilities, free to imagine or fancy.  I do have responsibilities, don't get me wrong, it's just that with so much political turmoil going on around, I'd like to step back into a time when things seemed less pressing.  Free to imagine or fancy sounds right up my alley! 

So, first up in our Fancy-Free February (which is already three days old!) are the pictures from the 365 Picture project:

#31 is actually the top of this picture, which shows my 4-meal cooking plan.  I'm finding that if I make four dinners at a time it is much easier for me to stay on track with my weight loss.  As of now I've lost 31 pounds.  Still a way to go but this is definitely helping.  

The bottom part of this picture shows what I've decided to do in the journal I'm keeping for the 365 pictures.  By using these calendar cards I can keep track of the pictures in case I need to find one and can't remember when I took it.  Plus, it will help me with keeping the numbers consecutive.  At the beginning of the month I always want to start with 1!

#32 is my word for this year, Believe.  I colored this and it is hanging in my craft room.  

#33 - Powdered peanut butter!  What will they think of next?  Two tablespoons of this has only 45 calories compared to Jif at 190!  I can believe it's real peanut butter.  (See what I did there?)

#34 - Super stamping.  One of my cool new tools is this MISTI stamper.  You can stamp with several stamps at once and/or keep stamping in the exact same spot every time if you are making something like Christmas cards or invitations.  It is also good if you are using layered stamps and adding dimension to a project.

This one is the original MISTI (Most Incredible Stamp Tool Invented), but I also have the WR Memory Keepers Precision Press because, although it is smaller, it does not have an edge on one side so I can use it for bigger pieces of paper.  Tim Holtz has designed one as well and it has different properties too but I can't justify having 3 of them.  Maybe if I hadn't gotten the Precision Press I would have gotten the one by Tim Holtz but oh well.  

Okay, that's a recap for now and a start to this Fancy-Free February.  Sunday is the big Super Bowl and although I'm not a big football fan, I like to watch the half-time show and we go to some friend's house and it is nice to visit. 

How about you?  Tired of all the negativity? Ready for some Footloose and Fancy-Free?  Super Bowl plans?  Love to hear about it.