Scrapbook And Paper Crafters! Way Cool Clever Ideas & Tutorial Inspiration From Graphic 45!

Wow, I just adore this blog I found and its oh so clever amazingly fun papercrafting ideas! Today's post with a gorgeous altered art journal and a cool circus parade cart tutorial are a blast!

Clever Ideas & Tutorial Inspiration From Graphic 45!

New Yanni Truth of Touch CD: My Review of some great music

I have always loved classical music. Perhaps it's my background in piano lessons as a little girl where I practiced the Minuet, and then continuing on the guitar years later. I have usually listened to something like Mozart or Vivaldi as a means to relax.I also enjoy jazz, not to mention many other kinds of music.
     I'd never had the opportunity to listen to Yanni's music. But now that I have heard his "Truth of Touch" studio album CD, his music will definitely be on my listening list for relaxation not to mention other moods. I recommend it!
     Most of this album is purely instrumental. Though some of his songs make me think of the classics by the old masters, they are each brand new and unique. Yanni has an amazing style and his songs are bound to be seen as clasxics themselves someday.
     Some of the tracks are gentle and relaxing, while others have catchy rhythms to energize, inmcluding some with an exciting tone reminiscent of a jungle beat. A couple of the tracks feature hauntingly romantic and beautiful female vocals that are wonderful. One features Yanni singing in his his native tongue.
     I've never had the pleasure of seeing Yanni in concert, but I can tell from this CD as well as a commercial I saw on TV that I would love to hear his creations in concert someday;. Meanwhile, his CD will at times help me relax, at others rejuenate me and at others serve as romantic background music.
     On March 22, Yanni launched a 40-date tour of the US. The tour will take him through theaters in major cities across the US including Radio City Music Hall in NYC and the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.

This is Yanni's first instrumental release of original compositions in over eight years and is a return to the genre Yanni helped create and advance.
     “I work the rhythms in this album,” explains Yanni about the new material. “There is a beautiful complexity in these rhythms, a new sound design. I think the melodic content is very strong and very memorable. I was having fun with this album and that’s going to become apparent.”
     It is! Thanks One2One Network for letting me review his album!

Norah Jones' ...Featuring" Album Has Some Classic Updated Gems Mostly Suitable for Family Listening, With a Couple Exceptions

I've been reviewing the CD, "...Featuring Norah Jones" because I'm part of the One2One Network. "...Featuring" is a star-studded collection of Norah Jones' collaborations spanning her entire career. The result serves as a kind of parallel history to her four albums, which have sold over 40 million copies worldwide. I love this album! Sweet, romantic, good stuff from through the years.  See what I think of each song below: Check out the song list and my thoughts:  (if you click the amazon link below you can hear samples of all of them) 1. Love Me - The Little Willies (I love the Country twang and blues old-fashionedness of this song, along with the familiar tune of course. Norah's great voice does it justice.) 2. Virginia Moon - Foo Fighters featuring Norah Jones (This is a Romantic celestial song sung as a duet, this time Norah features her breathy voice making it seem soft and perfect as a romantic lullabye to eachother.) 3. Turn Them - Sean Bones featuring Norah Jones (This ballad begins with Sean and a guitar. Norah chimes in bringing up the tempo. Together they make it very appealing and upbeat. Fun song. 4. Baby It's Cold Outside - Willie Nelson featuring Norah Jones  (I've always loved this classic song, and this version is wonderful. Norah uses a cute voice reminscent of the past in this one, it's amazing how versatile she is._ 5. Bull Rider - Norah Jones and Sasha Dobson (Of course this is a country song. Norah sounds county for it with that chameleon voice of hers that suits any style she sings, just right. Fun song. Yee hah!_ 6. Ruler Of My Heart - Dirty Dozen Brass Band featuring Norah Jones (Great slow romantic song. Norah's more breathy for this one. Big band sound backs her up. Like this one too.) 7. The Best Part - El Madmo (This one kind of makes me think of "Black Magic Woman" sound-wise. Kinda spooky background, cool weird singing. Hauntingly appealing.) 8. Take Off Your Cool - Outkast featuring Norah Jones (What better to say than this song is cool too? lol I love the guitar picking. 9. Life Is Better - Q-Tip featuring Norah Jones 10. Soon The New Day - Talib Kweli featuring Norah Jones (Catchy beat, more avant-garde voice to sing this one, also good. Let's dance.) 11. Little Lou, Prophet Jack, Ugly John - Belle & Sebastian featuring Norah Jones Guess it's tough to find an album without some rapping nowadays. I'm not against rapping. I think it's fine as long as the message is positive and family friendly: but here one of the rappers (not Norah) mentions sex and waking up in a stranger's bed, etc. Norah still has a sweet voice, but not my favorite song at all. Wouldn't want my kids hearing this one. 12. Here We Go Again - Ray Charles featuring Norah Jones (I've always liked this country song too. She sounds just like one of the famous country singers. And Ray Charles is always super.) 13. Loretta - Norah Jones featuring Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (Nice country song.  Catchy) 14. Dear John - Ryan Adams featuring Norah Jones (This is a ballad duet falling out of love song. I saw Bryan Adams forever ago in concert,he's really good as is Norah.  they both have nice voices Also talks about being lovers, and being able to stay til the milkman comes, adult stuff..) 15. Creepin' In - Norah Jones featuring Dolly Parton (Love this song. Very catchy country tune. Norah and Dolly together are great. Makes you want to sing along. And learn to play guitar (again.) 16. Court & Spark - Herbie Hancock featuring Norah Jones (Begins as slow wistful piano solo, Norah then sings in bluesy jazz fashion, and it features modern jazz wind instrumental solos too. Cool. 17. More Than This - Charlie Hunter featuring Norah Jones (Kinda makes me think of the breathy songs with maraca and light instrumental backgrounds of songs of the 70s or so. I like this one, I've heard it before. Romantic. 18. Blue Bayou - Norah Jones featuring M. Ward  Maybe it's because I've visited New Orleans so often, but I've always loved this song anyway. This seems a slower version than the one I'm used to, but it's still  one of my favorites. The two together and the music makes it seem like they're sitting on the porch overlooking the swamp or something or maybe in one of those boats with one of the long poles they use in the bayou. Fun) Norah Jones 'Featuring' Video Vignettes! Each day, a new Norah video vignette will premiere spotlighting each collaboration from '... FEATURING'. They'll be posting the different links here, so check back daily! http://www.norahjones.com/index.php

Says Norah about her album:
“A lot of the people on this record are people I've worshiped since I was a kid, and some of them are younger and more my contemporaries,” says Norah. “Even though the musicians are so varied, the vibe of the songs makes sense when we put them all together.”"

Click here for more info on how you can get the music in CD, vinyl, MP3, etc::
Featuring Norah Jones Items

or here:
It's on sale right now for allmost half-off right now! Woohoo! (See link below)

For a limited time, buy Norah Jones's ...Featuring Norah Jones at their  already low price and then save an extra $1.50 on a second and third copy (limited to a total of three copies per customer).