Personal Challenge 2018 - Week 8

This is the 8th week of my 50-week personal challenge of 2018. Each week I research one of the United States (in the order they attained statehood) and share some of the things I discover about that state. Then I choose one fact as inspiration for a card.

This week's state is...

South Carolina

Date of Statehood: May 23, 1788

I learned a lot of interesting things about South Carolina this week.

South Carolina is the only state in the U.S. that grows tea.

Weird laws in South Carolina include 1) If a man proposes marriage to a woman, by law, the marriage must take place, 2) It is illegal to keep a horse in the bathtub, and 3) When approaching an intersection in an automated vehicle, the driver must stop 100 feet from the intersection and fire a gun or rifle to warn horse traffic.

The Shag, not the Charleston, was designated the official state dance in 1984. 

Bishopville, South Carolina, is home to The Button Museum, the brainchild of one Dalton Stevens. A lifelong insomniac, one night in 1983, Stevens decided to while the hours away by sewing buttons on to one of his suits. Two years later, he had successfully attached more than 16,000 buttons to the garment. Stevens kept his project going, adding buttons to all kinds of bizarre objects. Today, the fruits of his labor—including a button-covered hearse—can be viewed in a hangar he rents.

South Carolina houses the only colony of free-ranging rhesus monkeys in the United States. There are about 3,500 monkeys on Morgan Island, which is also known as Monkey Island.

In 2014, an eight-year-old girl wrote a letter to her state senator suggesting that the wooly mammoth become the official state fossil. Despite the fact that some creationists took issue, the measure was passed in May of that year.

The largest tires in the world, earthmover tires that measure 14 feet across, are made in Lexington, South Carolina.

On average, about 10 tornadoes touch down in South Carolina each year, usually in the spring.

South Carolina is home to the world’s hottest chili pepper, Smokin’ Ed’s “Carolina Reaper,” grown by Ed Currie of the PuckerButt Pepper Company. Currie’s peppers are so hot that often people who eat them will spasm and vomit.

The world’s smallest police station is in Ridgeway. It’s about as big as a toll booth and was in full use from 1940-1990. 

About 2/3 of South Carolina is forested, and almost 3/4 of the forests in the state are privately owned. Approximately 48 percent of South Carolina's forests is pine, 52 percent is hardwood. 

There is a town in South Carolina named Due West, and you can probably guess where it is geographically.

If you go to Marion and drink water from Catfish Creek, you’ll become infatuated with the area and want to stay forever…. according to the folklore, at least.

God’s Acre Healing Spring in Blackwell, SC is rumored to have healing waters that can cure the sick and wounded. The previous owner of the land officially deeded the land to God.

The first club for golfers in the United States was created by Scottish settlers in Charleston, South Carolina, on September 29, 1786.

South Carolina does not have any professional sports teams. There is no NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, or MLS. However, Spartanburg, South Carolina is home to Duncan Park Baseball Stadium, the oldest minor league stadium in the country.

I've decided to go with this bit of South Carolina information for my card's inspiration...  Snow in South Carolina is very rare: On average, the state receives less than an inch each year. When there is snowfall, chaos reigns. 

I recently received some images from Janet and decided the "pirate/snowman" was the perfect image for this week's card since much of South Carolina is coastal. 

Thank you, Janet... I had fun with the images you sent.

I created the snow layers with torn white CS and added Stickles Glitter Glue to the torn edges to give the look of glistening snow.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!


Supplies Used

Image/Sentiments (provided by Janet): Darcie's Shiver Me Timbers (I colored the image with Copic Markers)

Papers: Recollections Black and White and SU Vintage Violet CS and DP from my scrap file

Embellishments: Stickles Glitter Glue and a Snowflake Brad from an unknown vendor