Life in July

I like keeping a blog. But with everything on my plate, it isn't near the top of my priority list. And since Carter has been born, I have been really good at sticking to my priority list. It is necessary in order for me to do everything.

One quick blurb about my life for the next 10 months, and then onto Carter.

I will be:

• starting a new job in a new district, teaching a new subject and a new grade (6th grade math)
• Enrolled in 3 grad school classes this fall (I've only been doing 2)
• working on my capstone research project in addition to the 3 classes
• building a house and hopefully have it done by April
• sticking to a very strict budget, which means more cooking and less eating out!

I think I got it all. I keep dreaming for the day in May where I have graduated, have my Master's, am moved into the new house, and am done with the school year. I can do so much with my time! Scrapbooking! Reading! Crafting! Blogging! Sleeping! I'll have so much time, I won't know what to do with all of it. 

Now Carter. Our almost 9 month old! EEK!

I can't imagine life without her. She is absolutely the best thing we have every made. My favorite thing about her is how she can get anyone to smile. I can't count how many times I'll look at her in a public place and she is just smiling away at a person until they smile back at her. 

Here are pictures from the last month. 

She doesn't like it when we close doors on her. She wants to explore everywhere and not be restricted in any way. That is a flashlight in her hand. She doesn't seem to like normal toys. She'll carry around socks, a piece of cardboard, a metal container, tupperware lids, and spoons. 

Charleah and I were talking about how our babies don't seem to just fall asleep in random places. They definitely have to be force to go to sleep. Then the next day Carter fell asleep like this. 

We went to Austin last week. This is the only picture I got of the three of us. It is at a graffiti wall. It was also before Carter busted her nose at the hotel. 

Carter busted her nose at the hotel about 20 minutes after we checked in. Part of the bed frame was broken and sticking out hiding underneath the bed skirt. She tried to pull herself up on it and fell, resulting in a lot of blood. Chris first reaction "She is going to need stitches" I felt so sick about it. I am not the best around blood from other people.  She cried for about 3 minutes and then was fine. Until the doctor tried to clean it and she had to be held still in order to do everything. Do not tell this girl she can't do something. Luckily, the doctor just put some "medical grade super glue" on it. It already looks so much better. 

American Crafts Ink Pad Challenge

I am not a very good stamper. I love stamps, I just never know what to do with them. It is a bit overwhelming. But the challenge this week was stamping, so here is my card.

Supplies

Embossing Powder, Rainboot Stamp, Patterned Paper, Ribbon- American Crafts

get well soon stamp- Heidi Grace

Cardstock- Walmart Cardstock

Ink- Martha Stewart

Layout and Card

I did another American Crafts challenge. It was to make a Valentine Card or Layout using at least two American Crafts Products.

Cardstock, Thickers, Patterned Paper, Pen: American Crafts

Ribbon: Pebbles

Here is my layout. You might have noticed a lack of Valentine's Post. That is because I don't really believe in the holiday. And this is my page about it. I could write more about it, but I won't.

I am really liking collages right now. I don't have a printer to print pictures on. But Walmart.com lets you create a collage and print it. It's pretty cool.

And I did a card too. Mostly because I saw the paper on my desk and decided to try it.

Patterned Paper, Stamps: American Crafts
String: DMC
Ink: Colorbox
Background Paper: From Hobby Lobby

It was night and I used my flash (gasp!) so the colors are not exactly right.

What I love most about these two things is I came up with the layouts all by myself. I usually look at magazines or blogs and scraplift, but I didn't this time.

Challenge

Here is another challenge that I did for myself. I chose these rub ons...

And made this page. This is in a book I am making called "Reasons Why I love you." I wanted a place where Chris and I could document reasons why we love each other.

Challenge

As we have already determined, I have a lot of scrapbooking crap. So I have decided to use some of the older stuff I have. I had Chris randomly draw four things out of my sticker bag. And I would chose one or more of them to use. This is what he chose. 

And this is what I created. I only three stickers off one of the sheets, but at least I stretched myself!

I plan on doing this more often and posting about it