friday five #27

01. "treats" - sleigh bells' new album may not be for everyone, so i would recommend you check out a preview somewhere online before you buy, but i happen to love, love, love it for the murky, rainy spring to summerlike sunshine overnight weather we're having here in jerz as of late. there's something here for every feeling. dreamy songs like "rill rill" are perfection for hazy beach days and "kids" & "riot rythm" will serve as inspo for many an impromptu dance party once miss nicole is back from bristol this summer and i'd already fallen for the preview track for this album, "infinity guitars" for all your pumped up strong chick needs. at least check it out, and i'm pretty sure most of you will love it.

02. watchable instant viewing - yes, there is a ton of tv and movies available online for your eyeballs consumption, but i hate having to watch something on my laptop and never quite being able to get the screen tilted at just the right angles (especially with darker toned shows, damn you vampire diaries addiction) but apparently i can now watch netflix on demand through my wii on my tv? what?!?! hopefully this is as awesome as i think it's going to be.

03. nail varnish to die for - chanel's "mistral" & "nouvelle vague" are kind of hurting my heart they're so good! it's obvious that i'm always down for a good teal-y mint nail color, but until this very second i've not really been into peachy pinks for my nails. i'm not entirely sure what's making the difference here, maybe it's the unexpected shimmer? most likely it's simply its' close proximity to the "nouvelle vague" that's sending my modern day miami vice color sensors into a tizzy. whatever it is, i need them both. (check out this review to see what they look like on)

04. photobooth withdrawal - there was a bit of time there where i was being pretty spoiled with photobooths, between the one a drunken walk away from k's old apartment in brooklyn and the ones that seemed to pop up wherever i was traveling (like austin & orlando) i was lucky enough to start up a pretty sweet collection of photobooth strips with some pretty awesome friends. but, now it's been a while. the withdrawal shakes are starting. i'm wondering just how much it would cost me to buy my one. i'm even considering stepping foot into one of those cheesy drawing booths at the movie theater. so.... obvs this must all be remedied stat.

05. kits that kill it - there are a lot of completely bum "kit clubs" out there who pretty much put together every piece of a collection, throw in some ribbon & bazzill and call it a "kit", there are also a bunch of old clubs in retirement or hiatus that i'm still missing (that's right, i'm talking to you sara!!!) but there's one kit club that i find myself loving more and more with every month. very rarely do i not really get what they're doing. obviously we're talking studio calico here. i want to kick myself pretty much every month when the kit is sold out and yet somehow also manage to talk myself out of a subscription every month as well. (my main point in this argument being that i have no business buying things i can't use for store stuff, although we do carry their line for stores) anyway, this month's sold out kit, "granny's cupboard" is no exception, it doesn't sound like it would be my style, but they continue to impress me more and more each month with the things they put together. love their sense of style (and their custom papers, and their journaling tags, and they're packaging, and they're stamps.) ugh! so jeals!

friday five #12

01. scrapping again in 2thousand&10 - judging by the fact that there are only 9 pictures in my "2009 layouts" folder card making and teaching have definitely taken over my crafty life, but i have already made a layout this year (shocking i know) and am actually feeling pretty inspired to make more! the first one back is always a little tough, but i love it anyway.

02. typewriter stamps - i used a sweet vintage looking one at kristina's last weekend and that super sweet one up there is part of rubber soul's valentine's day release. we just got it in and i can't wait to start stamping it! the best part? the "i heart you" is mounted on the side of the typewriter stamp. the "you're just my type" is totes worth purchasing also.

03. super mario bros. wii - so having started my like affair (yeah, i'm coining that phrase) with video games in the days of nintendo & super nintendo i tend to have trouble with these newfangled 5million dimension video games (i usually get lost in a corner and blown to smithereens) so since wii game out i've been loving all the mario games (an intervention almost had to be staged in the heyday of my super mario galaxy obsession). i just finally sat down with super mario bros. wii and i'm in love with the old school, levels & worlds feel of it!

04. always sunny - when i initially started watching "it's always sunny in philadelphia" i burnt myself out a little. when you watch a few hours worth at a time you kind of start thinking the world is a miserable place, but i've just finished season 4 at a much slower pace and it's soooooo much funnier that way. it definitely takes a certain sense of humor, but if you've got it, you'll love it.

05. the 2010 winter classic - this was completely ridiculous to watch! new years day, iced over fenway (really they build a hockey rink and snow over the rest), dropkick performing, throwback jerseys, denis leary leading the crowd in a round of "sweet caroline", the announcement of the u.s.a. hockey team and what turned out to be a crazy exciting win for the bruins in the last 5ish minutes. totally amazing to watch.

...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!

mucho fun in the sun!

so, i spent wednesday night at nicole's enjoying a little impromptu surprise belated birthday celebration while scrapping (she made me my fave cupcakes, funfetti, and got me the cutest little mustard colored purse evs!) nicole of course got some major cute-ness finished and i kind of pushed things around forever and then gave up and pulled some different stuff out and banged out a cutie layout in about 30 minutes. love when that happens!



while i was at nicole's marykate called to see if i wanted to head down the shore the next afternoon for the 4th of july weekend. after a little mental inventory of what clothes i actually had clean i said "of course." so, after a little late night laundry i got some sleep and headed to meet mk at her house and we headed down. maggie rode on my lap the whole way down and mostly just slept.


we had a lot of fun. lots of reading, really awesome food, some beers, a couple of days out on the boat, some mini golf and TONS of fireworks. of course charlie had to set off the professional ones from the back deck and everyone along the lagoon had one type or another. we played a ton of "left, right or center" too! i totallly need to pick me up some of those dice! it's a really fun game to play, especially with a big group. you can play with $3 for a really long time, haha.


so here's a little list-y of things i've been doing, digging on and dieing over;


* rock band for wii- hello! i totally knew i was going to love this! i spent 6 hours singing all the songs at the too of my lungs the first full dya i had it. now to perfect those pesky drums! my highest score songs are def "i think i'm paranoid" by garbage, "say it ain't so" by weezer (that one was bound to happen, i've been singing along to it for 10 + years, haha) and "dani california" by the red hot chili peppers.


* "lamb: or the gospel according to biff, Christs childhood pal" by christopher moore - pure hilarity that is def not for the overly serious! i'll let you know if i still love it when i'm done!


* cute new bags - they're everywhere right now! what's up with that? total torture! i had another one in my hand last night and i just had to say no. i am loving my fossil one though and the bag switching is getting out of control!


* major etsy love - i haven't really been exploring etsy lately, but when i went on to get kristina's awesome mini kit i started doing some browsing and holy heck! i came pretty close to getting myself into some trouble! i got a couple of things though. obviously i needed this typewriter necklace from boygirlparty and i threw it's octopus counterpart in as well. then, while i was on the necklace kick i grabbed this cute bird on a swing! eek! so cute! pluse the custom wallet and business card holders i'll be receiving from dear sukie any day now. seriously though, how could i pass up a wallet made with that beloved sassafras lass dear paper? there was no way! i'll have to blog about the other items i'm lusting after someday soon!


* cha - i've been mentally packing for about a week now, haha. that's not saying that i won't find some things i "need" when i'm in philly tommorow getting my hair did, but y'know. i bought some more travel toiletries yesterday at target. that travel aisle is totally evil! i always end up buying things i will never need because they are cute and tiny! and has anyone else noticed the total lack of peaks this year? i've seen american crafts, pink paislee and a couple of other really tiny peaks, but where are my precious basic grey, hambly and sassafras? the suspense is killing me! also, i have been wondering about a SIS meetup for forever, so i just checked with jj and picked a place and set a date & time, haha. someone had to take the reigns, right?


alright, i'm off to work on my class sample for august. it's one of those projects that i'm so excited about that i just can't seem to really get it done! there is too much pressure with all the cuteness involved! i'm using the prima acrylic build-a-book and the sass "sunshine lollipop" collections with touches of thickers, hambly, bling and bunches of bling!

and i'm back.

here's what's been happening...

* i've been settling into being home for realsies. and even had a day in jammers with nothing but down time to keep myself sane.

* i'm teaching this little fave 5's book at scraptasia in new providence on march 10th. i'm so psyched to be teaching there monthly. dawn is the best, the store is fully of yummy temptations and everyone is always so welcoming. i had so much fun teaching there last time!

* cha was fun, filling, fanatical and pretty photographically fabulous. there is a lot of the same from a bunch of companies, but i am also pretty psyched on a bunch of stuff too. that will have to be a seperate blog entry, i want to give y'all a bunch of links to yummy pictures, and the full run down!

* i got my round 3 project in for scrap in style's project fashionista and will just have to wait to see how it all turns out. i have to admit, i kind of love this exciting little bit of time when you have turned int he project or taken the test and it's all out of your hands, you've done what you can and know you just get to excitedly wait for the decision. good luck to everyone, especially jj, no idea how she is going to decide it's looking tough!

* i managed to not gain back any weight on my two trips, which is pretty amazing because can you say double mashed, chicken critters and beer? haha. the next step is to join the gym, or at least play a little more dance dance revolution on wii!

* does anyone else feel like lost a is a different show this season? i'm at least stickin' in to see who the oceanic 6 are and then we'll see how i'm feeling about all of it.

* recent netflix; "eagle vs. shark" - engh. funny in a napolean dynamite kind of way, and much like napolean dynamite, would have made a better short than movie. i loved the stop animations parts though. "bobby" - holy casting. sheesh. this was okay too, but i didn't really care as much about the characters as i should have for it to be awesome. "year of the dog" dog named pencil = adorable, movie = not as good as i thought it would be. eesh, i'm a total netflix downer!

* scrapbowl was fantastic, obviously! i wish that natalie hadn't been so ill, we missed her on our little mellow night trips, but it was really awesome to have natalie time during the days atleast! i wish we had a huge group pictures of all of us! the closest we probably came would have been while 10 of us watched juno on pay per view in our hotel room. i am so glad i finally got to see it! i was getting nervous for a little bit there! i did, indeed, love it like everyone said i would. the classes were fun and full of sway, the drive down was hilarious and quick, getting to finally hang with some of my internet girls was waaaaaay overdue, the aforementioned eating was horrible for my body but awesome for my appetite, laughs, giggles and guffaws were aplenty and my soul was all the better for all of it!

* i have had a general urge to scrap since i got back from cha, and i'm really psyched that tonight, and the whole rest of this week, and subsequent weekend actually, i will get to do just that! can't to wait to play with the little bits of things i snagged at cha, scrapbowl and the things i have re-discovered while cleaning out the scrap area.

p.s. if you are the super rad girl i met in the sassafras lass booth, hillary maybe?, get at me girl! comment or e-mail because we are so staying in touch!

the day after.

it's always a little bummy, right? all the anticipation is over, all the gifts have been given and there are no more pretty wrapped packages under the tree! i like to keep my presents under the tree for a while and my stocking stays stuffed for a bit (with me digging out bits of candy now and then) so that i can enjoy all the fun for a bit longer. i mean look how cute superbot looks in my stocking! hehe.

my mom and i had a lot of fun opening gifts from eachother and it was really fun to see my moms reactions to all her gifts, especially the handmade ones (a mini frame, a scrap-o-dex, a promise to make a quilt for her bed and a blog setup and banner) and she totally spoiled me as well. my favorite gift from her has got to be the picture matedash photo printer! i was playing with it a little last night and it's so fun! you can print up to 12 little square photos on one 4 x 6 sheet! how rad is that! all i can think of is how it is going to revolutionize my scrap capabilities! hehe! and the minis that can be made like instantly? insanity!!! so psyched!

after gift opening, and a little bit of watching the cats romp around in all the giftwrap and tissue paper, we pretty much instantly had to get ready to head up to my aunts. i rocked a blaire-bow (gossip girl) and really horrible eyeliner (i hate those days when it just won't cooperate, haha) and we managed to only be like an hour late. that's how it goes in our family, haha. we had my aunts super awesome onion dip and opened presents (double score chi hair straigtener & wii) and i just about died when i opened a very squishy package that contained a grown-up size cozy blanket, like the ones they make for when babies are fresh out of the bath. i almost peed my pants when i put it on and i probs did actually drool a bit from laughing so hard, haha! it's super cozy and will totally use it all the time! it even has a tale! haha!

with our tummies full of yummy lasagna we headed home to get in jammies, open a couple more presents (my mom got me dance dance revolution and a dance pad,) hook up the wii, play with the photo printer a bit and relax. it was a really nice, relazing christmas; great gifts given, great gifts received and fun family time.

so now it's pure torture that i am stuck at work instead of home playing with all my new toys! i could be snuggled up as my giraffe alter-ego watching my so called life: the complete series on dvd and printing pictures to scrap or playing wii! eek! at least i only have half an hour left, then it's off to eb games to see what prices are like and then home i go for some serious play time!

can't wait to get scrapping for me again!