Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer...

I'm a HUGE Elton John fan.

As you know, for much of my childhood, we didn't have a TV, and so Casey Kasem was my connection to the world beyond my neighborhood. I LOVED the radio. I still love the radio - and it's on all day while I work.

My brother used to use me as some sort of circus performer when I was little, as a matter of fact, because I knew ALL the words to EVERY Beatles song and could recite them on demand.

I never understood why stupid stuff like chemistry and statistics were not set to music - I might have had a chance at remembering molality and molarity if that had been the case.

But I loved Elton and Billy Joel the most. I got to see them together here in Austin once and they were fantastic.

We also had this - a beautiful little music box with a tiny, twirling dancer in it that I love(d).

I totally thought Elton John had one of these or maybe knew about ours.

It made the "tiny dancer" phrase make complete sense in my warped child brain.

Please note - I also for a brief time thought that all the bands playing the music on the Casey Kasem countdown were actually INSIDE my radio, so my theories at that time left a little to be desired in terms of realism.

But I'm just being honest.

So when I saw the Talented Trio stamp set in the new catalog and this sweet little ballerina, what jumped into my head was the song Tiny Dancer.

What's hilarious about this is that when I Instagrammed my work in progress on this image, Stampin' Up! totally called it:

I'm guessing Chad and I must be about the same age :)

So what I did with her is stamp her on black Canson Mi Teintes pastel paper with Whisper White ink, and then colored her with Luminance Pencils.

There's definitely a technique to these pencils, which I cover in the video. I love them soooooo much. They really remind me of pastels, but without the mess.

Pencils used: 037, 585, 876, 171, 242, 046, 906, 571, 866, 872, 083, 069, 350, 077

Brush used: Royal Crafter's Choice
Reusable DIY Stamp Wipes

Here's a little video of the process - it's the whole thing but I've sped up the coloring so you don't die of boredom.

And remember - if you want this stamp set - order $25 or more in my store in June and you'll get a bonus PDF of this month's class projects, which I never publish online. 

The pencils are so dramatic and, well - LUMINOUS on darker paper. I haven't been able to move to lighter papers because I got so hooked on the greys and blacks when I started working with them.

They are spendy pencils, but the good news is you can purchase them in open stock and try them out if you want. 

I hope you do - I love the heck out of them!

And, for your daily music fix - here's the video of Sir Elton.

Loveyameanitbye.