Sir Paul

Just a quick post before we hit the road - heading up to the mountains for the weekend.  Thought you would enjoy a few pictures of my wonderful night last night!!

The concert was WONDERFUL!  I didn't think I'd know too many of the songs because I am more of a Beatles fan than a McCartney fan but there were only about 7-8 songs that I didn't recognize.  I am in love!  The old guy looks darn good for 68 years old!!

And here is a quick shot of Ashley & Sonny on our segway tour of Charlotte.  I will provide details when we return!!

Accordian Card Holder

Last week Splitcoast Stampers had a tutorial for an Accordian Card Holder that I decided to make.  I've always loved this retired DSP from SU - just wish I had more - so I used it to make it and coordinated the Baja Blue cards with the holder.  If you want to make one, HERE is the tutorial.

Here are the cards I made to go in the box:

This one uses the SU Apple Blossom set (hostess gift).

This is Apple Blossoms set agan.  I picked up the ball fringe last year at CKC.

This is Friends Never Fade used with the Greenhouse Gala DSP.  I cut the card using the Sizzix Square die.

The Apple Blossom set again.

Gonna be Sporadic!

Just a quick post this morning before I head to the airport to pick up my daughter.  My postings this week will probably be very sporadic.  Ashley is coming in today and will be here until the end of next week.  I will be trying to spend as much time with her as possible since this will be the last time I will see her for about a year.  She will be reporting to Ft Hood in August for deployment to Iraq in September.  As Scarlette says,  I will think about that tomorrow!

Yesterday was just one of those days!  I was supposed to play bridge at 10 am.  I was all dressed and ready to go by 9.  I came downstairs to make my WW mocha smoothie.  I was going to drink it on the way to bridge.  Well, I was putting the top on the blender container when it scooted across the counter all over me and the floor.  It was like seeing a movie in slow motion - I saw it but couldn't stop it!   Of course, I had just washed & waxed my kitchen floor the night before.  (You never mess up when your floor is already a mess!)  Sonny helped me clean it up and I went back upstairs to get re-dressed.  Then I made another drink and I was on my way.  I was still on time!!  It ended up that one of the gals who was supposed to play bridge with us forgot and we only had 10 players (we were already one short anyway).  So, another gal & I volunteered to leave so they would just have 2 table of 8.  It worked out because I had found out on Saturday that our friends, Margaret & Graham were in Charlotte.  Sonny was going to pick them up on Monday for a couple of days at our house.  They want to see Ashley before she deploys.  I was in time to meet Sonny in town and ride to Charlotte with him.  We took our friends to the Penguin for lunch in Charlotte - a great hamburger "joint".  So, a good time was had and the rest of the day turned out fine!

Tomorrow Ashley, Sonny & I are taking a segway tour of Charlotte!  I am excited.  Ashley & I will hang around in Charlotte because we have tickets to see Paul McCartney tomorrow night!! 

Baby, It's Hot Outside!

I've been busy making cards this weekend .... anything to stay inside and away from the heat!!  We have a thermometer on our back porch that today registered 111 degrees!!  Whew!  I know that will not be the "official high" registered at the airport but that is the official high for my house!! 

I did two cards very similar in the Black Magic Technique.  Remember a few months ago when I got hooked on this technique?  Well, I forgot how fun it is! 

This is the one I did yesterday using Friends Never Fade.  I stamped the images in white craft ink on Night of Navy and used pencils to color them in.  After blending the colors, I outlined everything with my white gel pen.  The scallop piece is Barely Banana and the card is Brillant Blue - both retired.

This one is from my Monday Mailer this week.  Again, I stamped the image on Night of Navy.  The scallops and the strip behind are So Saffron.  The card is Pacific Point.   The sentiment is from the Friendship Wheel that I have cut apart.

Birthdays - Old and Young

 Wow - I have been on the go all week.  I'm trying to do better with my exercising so I went to the "Y" a few times this week.  Sunday is my mom's 82nd birthday so I had to do some shopping to find her a present.  She really doesn't need anything but she loves clothes.  So, I found a really cute black and white kinda leopard print jacket at Ross that I bought for her.  We took her out to dinner last night at Red Lobster.  Plus, I had two doctor appointments on Thursday and played mahjong on Wednesday.  I had an appointment with a rheumatologist Thursday morning to discuss my osteopenia.  I have taken Fosamax for about 10 years and was my doctor was concerned if it was doing the trick for me since my last 2-3 scans have shown a slight decrease in bone.  The Rheum. gave me all the options that are available and did a test on the computer showing my risk of breaking a hip in 10 years (.07).  After weighing all my options, I have decided to stay on the Fosamax which is what he recommended.  Later that afternoon I had an appointment with my primary care doctor to discuss my recent lab results.  As I was afraid of, my sugar test was high as well as my chloresterol.  I am going to work real hard to bring it down with diet and exercise.  Wish me luck!!  I don't want to get diagnosed with diabetes and have to do the testing and take the meds every day like my husband does! 

Today we went out to lunch with friends to a restaurant that we had never been to, Caruso's in Mooresville.   It was delicious!  I had Salmon Picatta ... yum!  I really prefer to eat a larger meal at lunch and just have salad or something light for dinner.  We have been doing that a lot more often.  Plus, if we eat out at lunch, I don't have to cook at night!!  (I'm no dummy!)   Twice this week I've made "Chop Chop Salad".  This was a salad we used to order when we lived in Gig Harbor and it is so simple I don't know why I didn't think to make it before.  I used the shredded lettuce that is pre packaged.  Then just finely chop up vegetables to go in it.  I used celery, green pepper, red onion, shredded cheese, green olives, salami and deli ham.  Add a little low-cal dressing and you're good to go!  Now, take it to your tv tray and eat it while watching Jeopardy!! 

Another of the reasons I haven't posted in a few days is because my monitor went out on me.  Wednesday night it kept flickering so I turned it off.  When I turned it back on Thursday, I could only get a black screen.  If I turned it off and back on, my screen would come on, but only for about 10 seconds.  So, this morning, my nephew came over to see what the problem was.  I was afraid it was the video card in my hard drive.  He brought another monitor with him and hooked it up.  Voila!  I had a picture.  So, he is letting me borrow his monitor until I can get one.  I will be looking for the best deal this weekend.

Here are a couple of cards I did have time to make this week. 

This card I made for Noah.  He is my friend, Margaret's grandson who lives in Charlotte.  His birthday is Sunday - the same day as my Mom.  I hope to see Margaret and Graham next week since they are in town visiting their daughter and her family.  The card uses the old faithful, Bugs and Kisses and the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  Have I said how much I love this folder???  The card is 4 1/4" square so it will still fit in a standard envelope.  The colors used are:  So Saffron, Tangerine Tango and Pacific Point - taken right off the SU Color Combo.  I embosses the bugs with white embossing powder and punched them out with the 1 3/8" square punch.

This card I made for my Mom for her birthday.  It is also in response to the Mojo Monday Sketch.  This was a tough sketch this week - lots of layers!!  The colors I used are Tempting Turquoise, Regal Rose and Sahara Sand.  The DSP is retired - from an old hostess pack.  Lots of punches that coordinated with the stamp set, Punch Potpourri (Level 1 hostess set).

Well .... stay cool if possible.  It's still really really hot here - still 83 degrees at 11:45 pm!  Supposed to get up to 99 or 100 tomorrow.  Might be going to an air conditioned theatre!!

Monday Mailers

I've got a couple of Monday Mailers to share with you. 

This is the card I sent to Karen last week. 

Stamps:  Wildflower Trio and Flight of the Butterfly 

Cardstock:  Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizazz (new in-color); Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White

Ink:  same as cardstock

Acces:  Square Lattice Embossing Folder; Oval Punches; Butterfly Punch

This is the card I received today from Ariel.  She is pregnant and thinking about using this design for her baby announcements.  Isn't it darling?  And it uses two of my favorite colors - Regal Rose and Tempting Turquoise.  Plus ... I love her knot - it looks so good.  I think I try to tie mine too tight.

This was last week's card I received from Ariel.  She used the stamp set, Elements of Style from the Summer Mini.  The flower is punched with the new flower punch.  Plus she used Gold Smooch spray on the card so it is shiny - hard to see in the picture.

You still have about 5 weeks to order from the Summer Mini.  Both the Elements of Style and Watercolor Trio stamp sets are in the mini.  Order now before it is too late!!

Please Be Safe

When the weather turns warm, everyone wants to be in or around the water. Hanging out at the lake or pool on a hot day is a great way to beat the heat.  But please be safe!  For people between the ages of 5 and 24, drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death. 

On Sunday, two young boys (ages 11 & 17) drowned on our local lake, Lake Norman.  They were swimming with friends off a boat when two of them went under and did not come up.  Sonny and I worked with the Red Cross yesterday during the Search and Rescue efforts.  The Red Cross provides food and water to the rescue workers as well as mental health to the families of the victims. More than 60 people from 13 law enforcement agencies assisted in the search for the boys during the three-day search.  We were there until about 7 pm last night and it was miserably HOT!  But, the divers didn't find anything.  They went back this morning and found the bodies that had washed up on shore around 9 am.  Such a tragedy!

Here is a link to the American Red Cross Water Safety Tips.  Read over it and refresh yourself on water safety - for your safety as well as your loved ones. .  Please if you are out on a boat and go in the water, have a flotation device nearby.

This especially brought back memories to me of a year ago when my grandson almost drowned in a pool accident.  I thank God every day that he didn't and he has not suffered any ill effects from his accident.

A Trip South

With the heat and humidity unbearable today, Sonny and I decided to find something fun to do.  Of course, this was after I spend an hour outside pulling weeds and was dripping with sweat!  So we thought over a few options - Cowpen's Battlefield, Kings Mountain .... but decided to take a drive down to Greenville, SC.  We started out our married life in Greenville 37 years ago.  I have heard a lot of good things about the downtown restoration and park area and have been wanting to check it out. 

Along the way, we were searching for some good old South Carolina peach stands.  SC takes it's Blue Laws seriously!  All the major fruit stands were closed.  We did find one on the other side of Gaffney and Sonny was able to buy some rock hard peaches.  That's how he likes them.  Me?  I like them soft with the juice dripping down your arms while you're eating them. 

This is the watertower along the side of the interstate in Gaffney - the peach capital.  What does it remind you of?  A BIG BUTT???  That's what I think of!

.

We stopped off first in Taylor's, a suburb of Greenville.  That's where our first house was.  I had seen it last year and hardly recognized it.  There was a fire some years ago and the owner's made a lot of changes during the reconstruction.  It really looks good.  The neighboring houses definately show their age - unlike "our" house.  Then we headed on downtown.  Wow!  I was really impressed.  They have really done a good job of making the downtown a pedestrian friendly city with lots of shops, pubs, restaurants.  Unfortunately, not many of them were open today.  We walked all around the downtown area and sat outside at one of the local restaurants and enjoyed a couple of ice cold beers. 

There were a lot of statues all over town.  This one is of Joel Robert Poinsett who was the first US minister to Mexico and a US Secretary of War in the 1800s. The poinsetta was named in his honor since he introduced it to the US.

This man I am hugging is Mr. McBee.  He was an entrepreneur, philanthropist and industrialist back in the 1800s.  He bought up extensive properties in Greenville and gifted a lot of them to the city for its first churches and schools.  He was instrumental in moving Furman University to Greenville.

This gentleman is Max Heller who was the mayor when we lived in Taylors.  Under his leadership, the revitalization of downtown became a priority.

It was a very enjoyable afternoon. 

Old and New Stampin' Friends

I had some friends - old and new - over this morning for a little stampin' fun.  I designed three cards for them to make and I believe they were a big hit.  I used some of my new goodies - stamps, paper, ribbon .... no more hoarding for me.  That is my resolution this year!  Let's see if I can do it.

This card uses the new in color, Peach Parfait.   The stamp sets used are Wildflower Trio (pg 16 of Summer Mini) and Word Play (pg 147).  I used my handy Color Coach to pick the coordinating colors for this card which are Pear Pizzaz and Not Quite Navy.

You should consider getting this color coach.  It's great for having all the colors right in front of you and on the back of each card, it lists coordinating color suggestions.

This card uses that yummy DSP, Greenhouse Gala.  It was so simple to make.  We just used the 1 1/4" Square Punch to punch out 4 squares of the DSP and mounted them on a 3" square of Whisper White.  We stamped the friends saying on a scrap of white and used the Curly Label Punch.  Then just make the little dotted lines all around the edges.  The saying is from the Friendly Words Wheel (pg 138) that I cut apart.  By cutting apart that wheel, I got about 12 small stamps .... all for $8.50!!    I am thinking about doing the same thing with the Hero Wheel.  Also the Bright Blessings Wheel would be another good one for this trick.  I used the Boho Blossoms Punch for the flower.  I just love the new twill ribbon!!

This owl punch is "da bomb"!!  I love it.  And, yes, I'm one of those people who were really "into" owls back in the 60's & 70's when they were the Thing!  Remember the macramed owl hangings?  Don't think I had one of those but I did love to macrame!   Anyway, back to the card ... I used some new DSP - Elegant Soiree which is perfect paired with the owl.  I also used the fabulous Baja Breeze, Vanilla and Crumb Cake.  The scallops on the side are made by punching out 7-8 3/4" half circles and glueing them under the DSP.  The Baja Blue large scallop is a new punch - 2 3/8" Extra Large!  The sentiment is from an old standby, Sincere Salutations (p 155).  Unfortunately, the ribbon is not available anymore.  I am really surprised that there is not any Baja Blue ribbon available in the catalog - what's up with that?

Even though these cards were great and a hit, the biggest hit of the day was this:

This is a great tool that everyone should have.  I got this several years ago in a swap.  I need to update mine - haven't included all the new punches that have come out in the past couple of years.  Each card has a punch out on it (along with a sample) so you can just hold it up to an image in the catalog to see if it will fit.

If there is enough interest, maybe I will consider making a few and offering them for sale.  Would you be interested?  Mine are enclosed in an acrylic holder.  I found these at Wal Mart a few years ago.  They are for holding baseball cards.  But I have looked the past year for them again and cannot find them anywhere.  But, it should be easy to get them laminated.

Happy Anniversary

I had to make a few anniversary cards this week to mail out.  I still have one to make and mail - Marianne's anniversary is Sunday.  It seems like just yesterday that she got married!  But, don't guess so - my son was a ring bearer in her wedding and my daughter was the flower girl and they were 1 1/2 & 4 1/4 years old (they are both now in their 30s!)

This card uses the flower from Fifth Avenue Floral.  I masked and stamped 3 flowers in the background.  The two flowers up front were stamped and cut out; then they were raised with dimensionals.  The little butterfly is die cut using the embosslit die.  I love the sentiment!  It is from the new stamp set, Word Play.

This card uses a retired stamp set, God's Beauty.  It was a hostess set in 2009.  The flowers and butterfly are all raised with dimensional tape.  I put a Dew Drop in the center of the flowers and on the side piece.  I did my coloring with my Tombow markers.

Unwelcome Guests

We have had a couple of unwelcome guests at our house the past few days.  On Monday, Sonny went into the downstairs bathroom to discover the first guest .... a mouse.  After chasing it into the pantry, he ended up sucking it up with his shop vacuum!  (yeah - yuck!)  So we called our pest service.  We have monthly pest control visits since we live in a wooded area and have mice quite often - but usually not where I can see them!  When he went under the house to spray, he pulled out a HUGE black snake skin!  I know they are supposed to be a "good" snake but to me, a good snake is a dead snake! 

I can't even imagine what I would have done, if I had seen ths snake in the yard - with or without it's skin!!

So, when are you coming for a visit????

Mojo Monday on Tuesday

My new catty goodies finally arrived yesterday ... about 6 pm!!  I didn't get any time to play last night - just got the box unpacked and orders bagged up.  And then this morning bright and early, I had to go into town to work at the Soup Kitchen. My volunteering at the Soup Kitchen may be coming to an end if things continue to go as they did today.  The ladies in charge of the Soup Kitchen berated the volunteers today over stupid things - we weren't putting the food on the plate fast enough, we used the end slices of the bread on the sandwiches, etc.  This has happened before but not as much as it did today.  It's sad that volunteers are treated that way when we are there to help them out. 

 So, I was happy to finally get home this afternoon and make a couple of cards.  It had been a while and it was nice.  I did a sketch for the Mojo Monday challenge using the flower from Apple Blossoms, a Level Two Hostess stamp set.  Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

I stamped the flowers on white cardstock in Old Olive, Daffodil, Bashful Blue and Cherry Cobbler.  I cut out the smallest flower and mounted it on top of the large flower with dimensionals.  The flowers are punched out with the 1 1/4" square punch.  I edged the squares with my olive marker.  The "wish big" sentiment is from another new stamp set ... Wordplay.  I love this set!  So many great sentiments.  The DSP is some I bought last month in the Clearance section.  This paper may not be available anymore but there are still some good deals there on other stuff.  Check it out (see my sidebar).

Beach Book

My family - sisters and mom - just returned from a week camping at Myrtle Beach.  So, my pet sitting days are over!  Sonny was celebrating yesterday - he is not a cat person.  Sammie was definately a handful but she is just a kitten and she was fun to have around for a few days.

Before Marianne left, I gave her the BEACH scrapbook I had made for her.  She enjoys making these types of books and is always making them for others.  I thought I'd surprise her and make one for her.  Here are a few of the pages:

Hopefully, she took lots of pictures to put in her book!  If not, she'll be going back to Myrtle in a couple of weeks so she can take pictures then!

Great Minds ....

Have you heard the saying, great minds think alike?  Well, guess that's true in this instance. I received my July Monday Mailer today from Ariel and think she was CASE-ing the same card I CASE-d this week!  I just haven't had time to upload it until now.  (We took Sammy home today and I am able to reclaim my work area!) 

What do you think?  Here's my card:

I cut a rectangle out of a piece of cardboard and placed it in the center of my card.  Then I sponged using Crumb Cake.  I stamped the hydrangea in black craft ink and embossed it.    I watercolored the hydrangeavon a separate piece of white cardstock in a mixture of pinks and reds.  I cut the whole thing out and raised up the flower part with dimensionals.  I used pink rhinestone brads in the corner.  The white image is mounted onto a Rose Red card.  The two-sided ribbon is non-SU but it matches the card great!

Here is the Monday Mailer card I received from Ariel:

How cool is this?  The card is Crumb Cake with a Chocolate Chip piece embossed with the Big Shot Lattice folder.  She sponged the Crumb Cake onto a Very Vanilla piece and stamped the flower in Chocolate Chip.  The hydrangea is stamped in Cherry Cobbler, cut out and raised with dimensionals.  She used silver brads in the corner.

Here is the inspiration for our work from Splitcoast Stampers - BECAUSE I CARE.

Get Your Groupon!

My daughter hooked me up with this great site so I thought I'd pass it along to you.  It's called Groupon.  The way it works is - you sign up with them for free by e-mail and each day they feature something cool to do at a really good price. You only get the deal if enough people join that day.  Many times the deals are something I am not interested in or they are in Charlotte.  But here are 2 of the deals that I have taken advantage of:

#1 - I paid $10 for a $25 gift certificate to "Oh Scrap" - a scrapbooking store in Charlotte.  I actually bought 2 of these for a total of $20 for $50 worth of stuff.  It doesn't expire until mid-December so I have plenty of time to use it.

#2 - I paid $30 for a Segway Tour of Charlotte - a $65 value.  I bought 3 of these and when Ashley comes to town in a couple of weeks, that is one of the things we will do while she is here.  Fun!

When I was in Texas, Ashley had bought a Groupon deal for a wine tasting and free bottle of wine at a local winery.  I think she paid about $20 for it and we had 3 wine tastings and a couple of bottles of wine to take home!  She has used Groupon quite a bit for local restaurants in San Antonio.

If you have further questions, check out their FAQ HERE

If you decide to check it out and sign up, tell them I sent you and use THIS REFERRAL.  You get $10 in your account each time you refer someone.  I appreciate it!

July Monday Mailer

This month our theme for Monday Mailers is New Stuff from the Catalog!  Since I am still waiting on my goodies, I used a stamp set that I ordered last month during the "sneak peek" to make my card. 

I really love this stamp set - Awash with Flowers.  It is a wonderful 2-step stamp set.  The sentiment comes from another new set, Because I Care that is a hostess set.  I also used that great embossing folder, Square Lattice.  It is available in the Summer Mini catalog but you better hurry - it expires soon!  The colors I used in this card are Baja Blue on the Top Note Die and Old Olive.  The ribbon is the white taffeta ribbon that I sponged with the new Cajun Craze.  That is also Cajun Craze in the largest flower. 

I had a crazy day yesterday and I'm blaming it on AGE!!  I had a routine well woman check up yesterday a.m.  When I got to the doctor's office to check in, they did not have me scheduled - my appointment was the day BEFORE!!  grrr  What's the kicker is I also had a thyroid ultra sound scheduled the day before & I had changed it to Wednesday so I could knock both appointments out on the same day.  So, there I was with a couple of hours to kill so what is a girl to do??  Shop of course!  I went over to Stein Mart and browsed through their sale racks (I was pretty good - only spent $11!)  After my ultra sound, I got my hair cut, went to the Y (I'm trying to do better with exercise) and then met Sonny for dinner.  We went to PF Changs.  They have a great deal from 4-6 - they have a happy hour menu with items from $4 - $6 plus a few drinks.  So, I had a Cosmo with lettuce wraps and Crispy Green Beans.  Yum!!

More Baby Cards

I came up to my craft room this morning with the intent to get started on making a few Christmas cards.  Then, as happens a lot ot the time, my mind went off on another tangent and I remembered I needed to make a couple of baby cards.  So, I figured I'd whip a couple of them out and then do the Christmas cards.  Well, 5 hours later .... here's what I've got:

 

Of course, I did take a lunch break plus I was called away by the Red Cross.  But after I got in the car and went about a block, they called and canceled.  We had a drowning in the area yesterday.  A father was trying to teach his daughter to swim and he drowned himself.  The Red Cross has been on site providing meals to the rescue team.  They found his body this afternoon; so therefore, they didn't need me.  So sad.  Please, please, if you are out on the lake, use your flotation device - even if you can swim.  You just never know.  Supposedly, this man was a good swimmer so I don't know what happened.

Ok back to the card - This is why I don't do punch cards very much.  They just take me forever and when I'm finished, I have every punch I own on the table!    I found a similar card to this one on Splitcoast and set to work. HERE is the link to the directions on the punches to use.  I changed it up just a little.  Instead of drawing in the legs, I used the Word Window Punch and for the "hoofs", I used the 1/4" circle punch and cut it in half.  There's a lot of retired SU cardstock used in this - Barely Banana, Really Rust, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Gabel Green, Green Galore!!  A good way to use up what ya got!

I had to do two giraffes because the couple I am sending it to had twin girls last week.  I am so happy for them.  They lost a baby girl a year ago so this was a blessing for them to get pregnant with twins!

Here is another baby card that I am sending to the new grandparents.  This was much easier!!

This card was also a Sketch Challenge over on OWH Stars and Stripes.

Here is the sketch - I didn't do the measurements exactly.

 

Getting my Mojo on

Tonight I did a couple of cards in response to the Mojo Challenge this week.  The sketch challenge is always a fun one.  Plus I had a couple of new stamps that I wanted to use. 

This card is my favorite!  I just love this stamp.  I made two cards with it tonight.  On this one I embossed the black craft ink.  The stamp is "Inspire Butterfly Collage" by Memory Box.  I sponged So Saffron, Regal Rose and Bashful Blue on the butterfly trying to blend the colors together with muddy'ing them up.  I used my Nestabilities to cut out the ovals.  I stamped the French Script (SU) on a piece of So Saffron in black ink and adhered it down one side of the card.  I glued black strips down vertically and glued pink grosgrain ribbon horizontally.  The "inspire" is actually cut out separately and pieced onto the oval. 

Here is the other card I made with this stamp.  This is the full stamp image.  I sponged Turquoise, Amethyst, Celery and Banana onto the butterfly this time for a softer look. This card is also glittered.  And I used my Scor Pal to score lines around the card.

This is second card I made for the Mojo challenge.  I just love this saying!  Are you flipping right now .... or flopping???  The stamp is one from "M's" $1.00 bin that I have had forever.  The seashell paper is some I had left over after making Marianne's BEACH book which I'll be sharing soon.

Of course, I had company all night while I was stamping.  Sammie was either sitting on my desk or in my trash!  Here she is in my little mini trash bin:

I have trash all over the floor now!

My local stamp store, Stampers Alley had a close call this weekend.  It is in an old wooden building and behind it there is another long wooden storage building.  I don't know what it was used for but it caught fire Saturday night and burned to the ground in quick time.  There are pictures of the fire on the left column under Stamper Alley.  Also, you can read about it HERE and see other pictures.  See for yourself.  Brenda at Stampers Alley was extremely lucky.  The firemen did a good job of keeping water on her building so it didn't catch on fire also.