there's a place on ocean avenue...

ohmygod i loooooooved that yellowcard song, haha. anyway sea bright is literally off ocean avenue and it was so lovely! the slightly cooler weather was perfect, getting there later in the day was perfect, rick & jose were perfect beach buddies and the sunset was totally perfect.


there are not many things that are better than sitting on an un-crowded beach, reading the newest issue of "nylon" (ohemgee 90210!!!) and laying in the sand drinking white wine out of a sprite bottle (we are way stealth, haha).

... and an even earlier christmas!

i fell in love with this little hero sparkle clear set at cha and was really psyched that it was one of their give-aways. i'm even more psyched that as our holiday paper is filtering in i got to take some time to play with it today. the paper is american crafts and i stamped it with brilliance dew drops (gotta love that shimmer!) in "rocket red" & "gamma green" love how those colors just happened to work out to be so space-y and robot appropriate, haha. yeah, i am a nerd-o!

sooooooo last night i played with a little bit of sassafras and a ton of the basic grey "ambrosia" and came up with 5 layouts for next month's layout class. i so can't wait to teach them. i drew inspiration from some of my past layouts and came up with a a new trick or two and i think they're really rad. it's pretty challenging teaching layout classes. layouts are so personal and it's can be hard to come up with layouts that are my style, but could be used for anything. i really dig how next months class samples turned out, i think i managed to bridge the gap and i really can't wait to share them with people!

i just realized today how out of the loop i am on the new tv season that's coming up! as we speak, kinda, i'm watching gossip girls' season 1 finale and i know that season 2 starts on the 9th or something...(?) and i just spotted a preview for the new antm, but i haven't read any of the new fall preview magazines! when are all the networks starting their new seasons? are there any new shows i need to check out? what's the deal with lost and heroes? what are y'all psyched on? what do i need to watch? help!

anyway, i'm finishing my gossip girl, playing with some paper & stamps and then heading to bed, where i get to sleep late, lazily get ready and then head to the beach for the afternoon/night. you know you love me. xoxo morgan girl (haha)

an early boo!

yay! maya road came and i got to make my class sample last night! it's filled with all my fave halloween papers from cosmo cricket, making memories, that one glitz paper (haha) and scenic route. i love the pop-up book feel with the wired bats flying out of the chimney and the monster arms reaching out!!! sorry, but i'm pretty psyched on this one, can't wait to teach it!

alright, i'm off to try to figure out wether i'm going to force myself to get into the shower before i head out tonight of if i just go with the ponytail.

3 more!

i watched "december boys" (really like it) and a little bit of "dexter: season 2" (love that sassy little socio) this morning and then had myself a scrappy little day. 3 more layouts from this lady.

the first one is the mix i made for last weekend. a little sassafras and some new basic grey "ambrosia" plus some pretty old bits of scrappy stuff that i've been holding onto for a long time, like those ghost stars with a little bit of staz on on the edges, that chipboard turntable & those lovely metal wings.

second is the layout i was talking about making in my last post; a layout of a text conversation rick and i had yesterday; he's decided that if we are both still single by june 2010 we're getting married and making "hot kids" haha. whatevs, what could beat marrying your best guy friend? haha. used the new "offbeat" collection from basic grey on this one with a little bit of glossy accents on that little pear. those "offbeat cardstock stickers" are totally killer. i can already tell that i'll be using every single sticker on that 12 x 12 sheet!

lastly i had myself a little bit of scrap therapy and got some thoughts from saturday night (and life in general) out of my system through a little bit of typing and some paper pushing. i actually really love how it turned out, especially considering it only took about 15 minutes.

thug life!

the party saturday was pretty ridiculous, but we had a lot of fun, despite the fact that the bar was seemingly stocked by a 13 year old (3 different flavored vodkas, tequila, a handle of watered down rum and 1 bottle of red wine, with either grape "drink" or mountain dew, haha) but we took a ton of pictures, avoided fights, made new friends and enjoyed a generally awesome debaucherous night in a crazy part of philly. we stayed over saturday night and i finally got more than 5 hours sleep in a night. then, after the obligatory stop for smart water & a buttered roll at the halfyway point quik-chek on the way home, i pretty much spent sunday as a total couch potato recovering and catching up with some internet.

monday was a busy day at work, i put out bunches of new stuff i'm really excited about and then scrapped with some of my ladies when i got home. once i had really started i guess i couldn't really stop, so i pretty much spent all day tuesday scrapping too. today was a cleaning, laundry, dishes type of day, but i'm feeling some more scrappy time tommorow. i had a really hilarious text message conversation with my friend rick the other day, and now that i finally have a rick approved picture of us i'm so scrapping it. in the meantime though, here's a no frills list-y of my scrappy creations over the past couple of days. : )

first came "jenny" my sassafras lovliness ode to one of my fave singing ladies; jenny lewis. finally stopped hoarding and started using the vintage woodgrain dymo tape! (but not before going to evil wally world on my way home to buy an actual dymo label maker, because i was so not wasting any of this precious woodgrain on the around the block label maker that has a tendency to eat a little tape.)

then came "thug life". rick, ryan & and i went to see "pineapple express" a week or so ago and we keep saying "thug life" at the most appropriate of times, including during the aforementioned philly house party. and i had a ton of pictures from the night that i wanted to use, and so this bit of cheesy paper piecing was born.

then i took a little break for some correspondence (the real mail kind i.e. my fave) and rediscovered this quote i had fallen in love with on a card that i was sending out; "friend you are a divine mingle mangle of guts and stardust" and i wanted to keep it hanging around for me too, and not just in my random notes book, like so many other quotes, so i made a little hanging with a shaped page i had leftover from a prima clear acrylic album. it was so fun to make that i ressurected another quote from the random notes book; "if you're quiet, you're not living. you've got to be noisy, colorful and lively." and made a little hanging for that one too (not pictured).

last, i started adding journaling and pictures to my "summer fun '08" acrylic album. i taught a couple of sessions last week and i figured it would be easier for people to use it as a sample without pictures. i do love how it's looking with the squares of square pictures and woodgrain tags on each page. now that i've started using the woodgrain tape, i can't stop. i'm a little scared to open the back of the label maker and see how little is probably left! there are still two blank spots in the book, so it looks like i'm going to have to have two more adventures before september! (p.s. to look at all the pages in the mini album, just move your mouse over the picture and arrows will pop up!)

off to bed. i found some really old, really nerdy glasses so now i can read for a little bit before bed, at least until i get a headache. : ) really must make it down to philly to pick up my actual glasses and moccasins!

a lil' halloween love.

obviously i can't get enough of this skully either! i made this little lady with the same "snag 'em" stamp and general card layout as the pink & black chick below and yet they look so different! this one is using a pumpkin colored card from memory box, the black double dot with the scallop punch and a couple of new ribbons from cha (that double loop down there is black metallic!!!) plus, the best part, i think, is that spiderweb paper from making memories. i accentuated the spider by tracing over it with the new, crazy glittery american crafts pens we just got in. all in all i kind of totally love it.

anyway, i've survived the weekend and even made a couple of layouts tonight after work, including ones with pictures from the party saturday. i am still catching up on the sleep defecit though, so i'm off to bed now.

i left my glasses the friends house we stayed at saturday night, and it's messing with my before bed reading! i've started "nobody belongs here more than you" by miranda july and i'm hoping to really like it. has anyone else read it yet? i feel like i keep hearing random tid bits about it, but really have no idea what to expect from it. i guess we'll see, once i have glasses that is. : )

bella!

i can't seem to stop playing with the "moda bella" collection from american crafts! i love the super brights and when dawn mentioned this pink ribbon in a convo about this sweet little skully i had to make this card in the last 5 minutes before i dashed out the door to head to marykate's. today i made 4 more (2 of which are landscape, rather than portrait) and put them all together in a clear box for a cute little notecard set.


the skully "snag 'em" stamp is such a ridiculous value! i also made a halloween card with her and have a few more non-halloween ideas for her as well. love what you can do with a sheet of patterned paper, a sheet of double dot, a single stamp and some pretty ribbon!


oh, and here's "*click", one of the quicky layouts i did for the store. i just used all my "moda bella" scraps from the "seeing stars" mini and punched the heck out of my circle punch, added a piece of "flair" and some bling and glossy accented all the white areas on each of the patterned papers for a little extra pop. like i said, lovin' the bella!

the show last night was defenitly an experience. marykate and i both kind of got over being there around the same time, so that worked out well. we didn't manage to stay for the band we had gone to see, but we weren't really too concerned about it. it was fun to be at a tiny show like that, and mk and i had fun talking about what it used to be like going to our boyfriends and friends shows when we were 15+, pretty amusing.

i am totally running on fumes though, 5 hours sleep night before last, and about 4 last night. i'm going to have to do some major carbo loading to balance the amount of caffeine i'll be mainlining on our way down to philly tonight. all so i can stay awake and non-shakey for a philly house party that will only be serving liquor, haha. yeah, i should be a hot mess in not time! close friends, don't be all too surprised to awaken to ridiculously silly text messages tommorow morning, haha!

it's going to be a long weekend...

... but in the most age appropriate/loveliest of ways. : ) tonight marykate & i are headed to some bar in trenton for a show (this guy i used to have a major crush on in high schools new band). and then i work tommorow before i'm off to a philly houseparty for the night with rick, ryan & ryan's friend dan. rick assures me that i will actually be able to pull my camera out without groans issued forth by himself and ryan, finally.

so, appropriate outfits have been acquired and last minute touches are in the works. most importantly i have the perfect nail polish (o.p.i for sephora in "cab fare" a totally obnoxious yellow.) and have created the raddest mix to get us appropriately psyched up. and, since i'm at work and then headed straight to mk's and have no pictures i will share said mix with you. i'm still not totally in love with the order, i think i would switch tracks 01 and 02 and something seems a little bit hinky towards the end there, but other than that i love, love.

"house party hopes"

01. "kids" by mgmt
02. "keep the car running" by the arcade fire
03. "heartbeats" by the knife
04. "let's dance to joy division" by the wombats
05. "ice cream" by new young pony club
06. "tessellate" by tokyo police club
07. "sour cherry" by the kills
08. "l.e.s. artistes" by santogold
09. "pieces of the people we love" by the rapture
10. "lights out" by santogold (usually i don't repeat, but she sounds totally different!)
11. "I'm not gonna teach your boyfriend how to dance with you" by black kids
12. "rat is dead (rage)" by css
13. "shut up and let me go" by the ting tings
14. "paper planes" by m.i.a.
15. "deceptacon" by le tigre
16. "timebomb" by beck
17. "under pressure" by david bowie feat. queen
18. "true affection" by the blow

i wonder what it is that makes indie dance bands feel the need to always have "the" in their name. weirdness. hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

hello bloggy-blog!

in lieu of having anything actual to report can i just say that there is nothing better a girl can have in her life than that one awesome guy friend who is always down for whatever! rick is so my guy for that! he's always up for a movie night, will carry my bags when i'm in a slumpy mood, can always come up with a party or adventure, will always, always, always stand up for me, even when it's me he's standing up to and always reminds me not to let people make me feel bad. you just can't beat that.

so, in classic rick fabulous-ness we are headed to menlo park mall tommorow to find me some cute-ness to wear to some philly manchen party, not that i'm sure what a manchen in philly really means, my friend john thinks it' s probs a row home with 4 bedrooms, haha. anyway, all it took was one text message and the plans were set. i'm way lucky and so glad that rick is in my corner, haha. maybe i'll manage to actually get him in a picture tommorow!

...oops!

yeah, umm i guess i forgot that i'm a blogger? eek! i'm so not even going to attempt to catch up on things from the last few weeks, there is waaaaaay too much! suffice it to say, cha was awesome and i was all business in chicago, getting lots done and spending time with some of my scrappy ladies too. the product is already starting to roll in the doors in a major way and i've been playing with lots of new goodies already! to the left there is part of one our displays with two mini books i did using the new american crafts. i used a TON of "moda bella" for the "seeing stars" album (yes, there is an album in that box, see the be-ribboned ring sticking out of the top?) and spotlighted some of my celeb crushes/inspirations. i used the new "travel" line for the incredibly mini mini (the page protectors in there hold 3 x 3 layouts!!!) with pictures of some of my favorite jaunts into the city. i love how they both look on their little shelf amongst the product!

here's a card i was playing around with at the store the other day, i used the new cosmo cricket "haunted" collection, an imaginisce "snag 'em" stamp and lots of twinkling h20's & spica pens to make this little guy. add some fun velvet ric-rac and a "pumpkin" memory box card and you've got that cute little guy overe there! i love making and sending halloween cards, and it tends to happen more than christmas cards for me! they are unexpected and halloween papers are always beyond fun! i'm not sure if this guy will make the cut as the mass send out card, but he sure is a rad idea.

i've also done some new layouts for the store using the "moda bella" and "mr. campy" from cosmo cricket. "mr. campy" is one of my absolute favorite new releases, along with basic grey's "urban prarie", october afternoon's "hometown" and pretty much all their other lines and about a billion other fun things.


speaking of cha, remember when kristina created here themes for scrapblog? well, when she sent in her final artwork, she also sent some random pictures she had taken to be used in sample layouts for the site. so, imagine my surprise when k called to tell me that i was a postcard being passed out at the show, haha. i stopped by the booth and they very nicely gave me a packet of them to send out, haha. i would love for it to be a better picture (i'm not quite sure what that face is!) but i love kristina's themes! the white cedars painted on woodgrain? totally gorgeous!

let's see, what else? oh how about a totally random song thought? i'm a little bit obsessed with the song "i'm not gonna teach your boyfriend how to dance" by the band black kids (don't get the band name). this song cracks me up and totally makes me want to bounce around like a dancing charlie brown character (ashley, by the way, is the most amazing charlie brown dancer ever! really, you should see it!) anyway, listen - love - bounce - youtube search charlie brown dancing - fall in love!

and on the movie front; the batman movie was totally amazing! i ventured down to the imax at king of prussia mall with rick, ryan, ian and some other people the day after i got back from cha and it was so ridiculously awesome in imax, as we the preview for "watchmen", which i also need to see in imax! then on friday we went to see "pineapple express" which was pretty hilarious (lagged a little before the very end) and quite the experience. let's just say i'm glad i was a couple of drinks in as it seemed to be a high school reunion in the theater, ugh! our next adventure? rock band on wii party in philly inevitably followed by dancing at 7hundrend club, sal's or the khyber because it has been waaaaaaaay too long since i crazy danced on a sticky, bouncing dance floor!


also, my thickers addiction has reached the point of complete craziness, wherein my thickers no longer fit in one bin. oops (again)! however, kitty likes that there is room in the second bin for him. he also doesn't seem to understand what is quite so funny about him being there, as evidenced by the look he was shooting me as i took this picture!

in other exciting, scrapbook related news, i fixed my typewriter!!! i won't even embaress myself by telling you all what the issue actually ended up being. we'll leave it at the fact that i'm way psyched that all is well with it because typewriter + mini photo printer + cha freebies = a very happy, scrappy, i-remembered-why-i-scrapbook morgan!

well, i am teaching my sassy summer acrylic mini album in a couple of hours, and again tommorow night, so i'm going to finish up the class kits.

i won't make any promises about regular blogging, but i will try. i also have mucho blog reading to catch up on! i don't know what anyone in the internet world is up to anymore, not to mention all the necessary portfolio updating! for the last time, oops!