Counting Blessings Card, Piling It On and "State" of Mind

How apropos: a card about counting blessings and a post about blessings!  Funny how that worked out.

The card you see pictured today is one I made using Close To My Heart's awesome November Stamp of the Month (Capture the Date). 

Piling It On!  This stamp set is available during November only and is valued at $17.95. If you spend $50, then it's yours for only $5! Bargain city!  On top of that, if you spend the $50, get the Stamp of the Month for $5, then you also can choose any stamp set in the Idea Book for 1/2 off.  On top of that, $1 of your order will go to the Red Cross relief efforts for mean old Hurricane Sandy (be sure to check out yesterday's post for a very moving video about service after Sandy).  How's that for piling it on?  Layer after layer of savings and goodness!  If you place your order on my website, you will be prompted to add your Stamp of the Month set for $5 and your 1/2 price stamp set before you check out. Easy, peasy, lemon squeasy!

Here is a close up of the card as well as a scan of the carrier sheet so that you can see all of the wonderful stamps that come in this set (actual size of the sheet is 6" x 6").

Before I move on to the State of Mind portion of this post, I thought I'd give you a little heads up on how I made this card:

• First I created a numbered background by stamping a grouped bunch of numbers from the Stamp of the Month set in Ruby Ink on Ruby Cardstock. You can see in the photo above how that works. Just arrange any stamps you want in a cluster on a large block and you have created your own background stamp! Nifty!
• Then I mixed a little bit of Black Re-inker with water in a one of our Spray Pens (cool tool!) and misted the background.
• I then created a pinwheel. You can see a great video on how to do that here, on my friend Lisa Stenz's blog. Thanks for the great tutorial, Lisa!  I send people to this link all the time when they ask me how to make these puppies.
• I embossed the sentiment from the "A Friend Like You" stamp set with my Versamark Pad, some White Daisy Embossing Powder, and my trusty old heat gun.
• I embellished the card with some paisley paper (love that stuff) from the Dakota paper pack, a blue button and a bit of twine.  Voila!

NOW it's time for the State of Mind portion of this post.  Are you still with me?  As you know, I have been making sure to tell you at least one of the things I am grateful for in each post this month. This post it is STATES.  States that I have lived in.  Growing up, my family moved a lot.  Yes, sometimes that's hard, but I am so grateful for the experiences I had in moving, learning to make new friends, learning about new cultures and places, picking up a bit of an accent here and there, and the adventure of it all.  Below I have listed each of the wonderful states I have lived in and a memory or two of living there.

I was born in West Virginia. I don't have a single memory here because we moved away when I turned one, but I think it's cool that I was born while my daddy was going to WVU (go, Mountaineers) getting his doctorate in Morgantown, WV (Monongalia County). Take me home, country roads! I'm grateful for WV because it's where my dad earned his doctorate, which helped him be a great provider for our family.

Next, we moved to Utah...Orem, Utah to be exact, for the next 3 1/2 years.  Memories of Utah: playing with my best friend, Julie in the open fields behind our yards. One day we saw a bunch of men with guns out in the fields. Looking back, I'm sure that they were pheasant hunting but at the time we were sure they were kidnappers. Neither of us left the safety of our homes to play outside for at least a week after that. I remember calling each other on the phone and saying, "You run next door to my house." "No! You run next door to mine! I'm not getting kidnapped!"

When I was 5, we moved to Edmond, Oklahoma (just outside Oklahoma City).  I lived there from Kindergarten through 2nd grade. When we lived there, Edmond was not the big city that it is now. It was a small, country area. My favorite memories of my time there were catching horny toads, big frogs in our yard at night, and tadpoles in the creek behind our house. I also remember that my Kindergarten teacher's name was Mrs. Nickles and my friend, Lauren and I thought we were so funny when we walked up to her and said, "Mrs. Nickles, give us all of your nickles!"  Bahaha!

Next it was off to Charleston, SC where my dad worked for the Medical University of South Carolina.  I loved the beaches, and the beaches, and the beaches. Oh, and I  loved all of the history. I didn't realize it at the time when my parents dragged us to all of the Civil War historical sites, but now I love that I got to experience them. I also have a great love for the southern architecture in Charleston.  My home in Highland, UT (miss it!) incorporated some of the ideas from historic homes in Charleston.

From South Carolina, it was off to Littleton, CO.  I lived there in 5th and 6th grade.  My mom babysat two newborns while we lived in Colorado. I remember coming home from school each day and picking up a baby to love.  I also remember that my mom baked bread every week while we lived here.  I loved coming home from school on bread days to a hot piece of homemade bread smothered with butter and honey!

From Littleton, we were off to Kirkland, New Mexico, where my dad served as an admistrator for Navajo Community College in Shiprock. Were were only there for a year but I think the thing I loved most about this place was the cultural diversity.  I learned a lot about the Mexican and Navajo cultures and found them fascinating.

After New Mexico, we moved back to Charleston, SC for a few years. My dad was back at the Medical University and I was excited to be back with old friends.  This time around, I was old enough to know that I loved the history of the city. I loved numerous trips to Ft. Sumter, Magnolia and Middleton Plantations, Charlestowne Landing, and the historical homes and buildings of downtown Charleston. I loved to go downtown to the Market Place and watch some of the old black women weaving baskets who still spoke Gullah.  And, of course, I was so happy to be back at the beach.

My sophomore year of high school we moved to Morehead, KY (about 60 miles straight east of Lexington).  We lived here until I graduated from high school.  I think this was the hardest move of all for me. I loved Charleston and my friends and was afraid that moving at 15 years old would make it hard for me to find friends among the high school cliques. I was wrong! I made some wonderful friends there.  My favorite memories of Kentucky were Summer afternoons on a boat, waterskiing at Cave Run Lake. 

When I graduated from high school, I decided to attend Ricks College in Rexburg, ID.  While there I met the love of my life, Dan-the-Man.  What a good decision that college was for me. I can't imagine my life without my big, goofy teddy bear!

After Dan and I were married, we moved to California (in a little town named Orland, near Chico) for a few months for a Summer job for Dan.  I think moving away from family when you are first married is a great way to solidify a marriage. Back then, there were no cell phones or email and long-distance was expensive. We called home to visit with our parents about once a month. Other than that, we depended on each other. I'm so grateful for that Summer after our wedding. 

Pretty much the rest of our married life has been spent in Utah.   After Dan graduated from college, we lived in a few different suburbs of Salt Lake City before building our home in Highland, UT.  We were there for 17 years and thought we would live there forever.  Life is full of surprises.  A year and a half ago we moved to Springville, UT.   After moving my whole life, I thought it would be an easy change. Not so!  I think because I moved my whole life, our 17 years in Highland were the first time I ever really put down roots and considered somewhere home.  I have had to remember that I do know how to make new friends and embrace change. This old dog still has a few more tricks to learn. Who knows what tomorrow will bring!

I am very grateful for the adventures I have had in all of my 'states of mind;' for the people I have met, the cultures I have experienced, the places I have seen, and the personality traits I have developed.  Life is such a great teacher, don't you think?