Sunday Stroke Survival: Evolution Gift Wrapping Post Stroke

Before my stroke, gift wrapping was no problem. But gift wrapping post stroke is a nightmare. Thanks Barb, for the topic of this blog and Christmas is upon us once again.

Regular gift wrapping post stroke involves using nose, knee, elbow, or whatever other body part you can use to help hold the paper while you tear tape, position it, and press it down to hold it together. Being a contortionist would help, but I am not one.  It was too much work when dealing with upwards of ten presents to wrap for the holidays birthdays were bad enough.

Pre-stroke

Now being an extraordinary, creative person, my gifts were a feast for the eyes. Plain and ordinary gift wrapping wouldn't do.You see I did a Japanese gift wrapping technique of folded paper for my gift

Ribbons & bows added later

wrapping. Intricate pleats and folds were made into the wrapping paper for each and every present I gave. No plain ribbons or bows either. Each present had a gift in the wrapping as well. Be it a hair clip, a refrigerator magnet, or something to keep and use...a double gift. You see our family does handmade gifts to exchange among ourselves. We would go bankrupt buy gifts for each other. I have seven brothers and sisters between natural and adopted siblings, their children alone equal twenty four plus their children is a passel of gifts to swap. Even if I only did my immediate family of children and grandchildren, I'm talking about fourteen gifts. It's enough to put a serious hurting on anyone's wallet having to buy one present a piece. Let alone wrapping those presents one-handed. Nobody gets only one present.

2012

So the first year after my stroke, it was your standard gift bags. None are gorgeous or special. Anyone could stuff a present into a premade box or bag. But what's a one-handed person to do? I've never been a fan of premade boxes. Although colorful, after a while you end up with several presents in the same printed box. Nothing original or creative about them. Totally impersonal. It gnawed at my creative, extraordinary nature. How could I make these special like my old gist wrapping? I couldn't. Being two weeks out from my second (third) stroke, it was impossible.

2013-2016

The next three years after my first stroke, I tried a different approach. I used rubber stamps to decorate plain gift bags and boxes. It added color, glitter, and decorated them. It was better, but no where near as creative as my Japanese pleated gift wrap. It did have some duplication of designs. How many different rubber stamps and ink can you buy for just one holiday? Every year they came out with four or five new stamps to keep things fresher. There is a limit because you have to store them all for the next year. It turned out to be more expensive than any other option in stamps alone.

2017

For 2017, I sewed fabric gift bags. I was definitely more creative. There are a small ton of holiday fabrics to pick from. I could customize the sizes of the bags too. Each were creative and unique. There isn't a local fabric store in town besides Walmart. So I had to go to a neighboring city to find a Joann's or Michaels to get the variety of fabric and ribbons to made them unique.

2018

That brings us to this year 2018. I could have done the same as last year, but decided to do something different, but the same...sort of. If you do the same thing every year it's not creative, just repetitious and boring. I'm going back to paper gift bags. The twist, I downloaded a pattern to make the bags myself. I can use store bought Christmas gift wrap and plain paper lining to strengthen the bags. I would create them myself. With the holes at the top, I can thread an assortment of ribbons. The pattern is simple enough with very few cuts and folds. All of the folds are straight. A glue stick to put it all together, and I'm done.

I could even make them out of Christmas fabric, iron-on interfacing, and fabric glue next Christmas. I thought about it too late for this year. But next year, I'm trying a new crafty/old crafty thing for Christmas too, so fabric bags will be more appropriate. For now this cures my creative, unique, handmade gift wrapping bug.

Maybe by next Christmas, I'll have some use of my nonfunctioning hand and fingers back again to go back to my Japanese folded paper wrapping technique. It's two more days until my neurosurgeon gives the final thumbs up for the rhizotomy and schedules me for surgery. I can only hope.

Nothing is impossible.

Sunday Stroke Survival ~ One-handed Gift Wrapping.

I love Christmas! All the lights, the smell of a fresh Fir tree, the smell of orange marmalade cooking and waiting to be jarred (okay so I have help this year doing this). It's my favorite time of year. Besides Easter, 4th of July and Thanksgiving it's the only time during the year when three generations of family can all get together under one roof. Sadly until now, I've knitted, needle worked, crocheted, quilted, cut and sewed Christmas presents for all my loved ones.

One year it was silk embroidered blouses and monogrammed handkerchiefs. Another year was hand stitched quilts. Sweaters, scarves, hats, and gloves galore for another year....think it's no small feat? Try making fifty sets for  Christmas. Add the crocheted or knitted Christening gowns and I've been a busy lady. I lost count how many quilts I've made for family.

 The wrappings were a work of art also with pleated wrapping papers, ribbon poinsettias, or cut work ribbon and gift cards. So now it leaves me wondering how to do these extra special touches one-handed.

It's bad enough that Christmas is store bought which breaks a tradition, but no fancy wrappings from Jo/Aunt Jo/Grandma? Say it isn't so.

Okay, so I can tie my own shoes so long as it is off my foot. It took me several months of trial and error to accomplish that feat. Christmas presents tied with a bow like shoes and stick on bows just hasn't been done in years! I'll have to think of something special soon because I have everyone's Christmas stashed in one corner in my office and bedroom closet...Shhh! don't tell anyone.

Why have something plain when extra touches makes it look so grand? Maybe because it's beyond me right now might be a handy excuse. I've been making a lot of excuses lately. Probably more than I've made in my entire life and over all it's been because of my stroke.

The darn stroke has changed everything in my life! It's not forgotten only lying dormant along with the use of my right side in a damaged brain. I want to yell at my right side to wake up already and move. I dream of the movement I want to accomplish only to wake up and nothing has changed. If hard work equals results, where is it? That's my fifteen minutes on the pity pot. I'm done.

On a brighter front, I hit 25,000 words on my nonfiction, Don't Get Your Panties in a Wad. So there is progress on the book, if not my body. My little sister says it is the book I was born to write after she read part of it. It doesn't hurt it was her idea in the first place. Probably next Sunday I'll post the "hair" excerpt so stay tuned. I'm still looking at a ton of editing for cohesiveness not to mention grammar. The outline for this book will help with that.

What do you notice different about the cover. Yep, I finally changed the author name. Everything is as it should be except for finishing the rough, oh so rough, draft. It has taken me five months. My typing is almost 30 WPM. Yeah and yippee for me!

So what are your challenges this week?

Keep writing and loving the Lord.