Good Grief Girdie's blog

monday monday

Well you never know what will happen in this world each day........I usually don't share a lot of personal things on the blog but just wanted to give all who knows what has been going on the last couple weeks in our life....

 

Two weeks ago saturday my husband fell ill and we headed to the heart hospital to see what the problem was....... he was put on machines, iv and sent home.....started getting violently sick when we returned home and continiued the next day....our dr lives across the street and came over to check on him each day.....gave him meds and said keep his temp. etc in check and see how he does......no typical Covid symptons just sick.....this went on for a couple more days and finally took him back to the er on thursday and they gave him a covid test, and it was negative and said he had bacterial pneumonia and gave him powerful antibiotics, iv and sent us home......he didn't respond to the antibiotics and got sicker....still no temp, no breathing problems no covid symptoms just really sick and could not walk......finally sunday our son and daughter in law ( she is a PA) decided that he ( Adam) would come and help me out....he drove all night from Salt Lake City to get here and arrived around 9:00 that morning ..........as soon as he got here we immediately got Tom to the hospital because we knew he was in trouble........by the time we got him to the hospital he was in afib and really sick.....they took another Covid test and this one was positive.........when they came in the room to tell me he was positive I immediately had to leave..... I want to tell you that in life we have things that are hard to do but that was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. .... leave him there not knowing anything that was going on except for the nurses and drs. over the phone, phone calls......and being that the hospitals are the way they are now it was almost impossible to talk with a dr..... just the nurses.....he was in for a couple days and finally got to bring him home and care for him here!!!!  I won't go into to much of everything but he is getting better everyday and stronger.......If Adam would not of been here I will tell you this I would not of made it......he was my lifesaver for sure.....So I just want you to know we got our Christmas Miracle and the best Christmas Present anyone could ask for....he is here today and making  progress and improving ........don't take this virus lightly , wear your masks and stay away from big events and crowds, it's just not worth it. You can't be to careful and we all want to be able to celebrated the next day and holidays to come!!!!!

Hope it's a good week for you because we are celebrating each day with this wonderful man at home and will be able to celebrate his 72 birthday January 4, 2021.....I may even bake him a cake of his choice German Chocolate!!!

And to those who have been praying for him and the family you don't know how much it has touched us and the power of prayer is real........AMEN AND AMEN

snowy day in yukon, oklahoma

The view this morning from my kitchen window.......we have had two snows in the last couple days.....the first one melted pretty quick on the streets because we have had such warm weather and today it will probably do the same thing!  At least I hope so.....it's pretty for 1 day and then I am done with it!

Hope you all have a warm and cozy tuesday............stay safe

monday morning.......

Congratulations Fran, you have won two of the ornaments on the giveaway........one is a needlepoint and the other is a felt ornament....thank you all for leaving your comments and I appreciate each and everyone who stops by the blog to check out what is going on in my world......( Fran I will get these to you if you will email me)

 

Sometimes you never know what will happen with the things we make and sell or give away.   A very dear follower and customer of mine sent me some pictures last week of what she has done with some of the paper doll pics she ordered and the personalized name tags for her family ( even her dog has an ornament).....check it out!

 

Thanks Jeanne Marie for sending these and they look so fun and whimsical on your trees and Christmas decorations.........

 

Wishing you all a great week.........

Day 12........2 gift wrappings.......

If you like making a mess this one is for you.......take a roll of brown kraft paper or you can use a grocery bag turned inside out ....... make a template out of anything sturdy enough to use with paint , or if you have a stencil you already have would be perfect......paint randomly all over the kraft paper.....then with a stamp like the curly q add a little whimsy.....then splatter some gold paint with a paint brush to add some sparkle......let it all dry then with a sharpie I outlined the holly leaves and berries to give a little dimension.......wrap your gift with some wide ribbon and to that I made a little pom pom out of some jute rope, just for some added fun......with one of the holly berries I had left over I made a tag and tied it to the gift.......

 

 

! gold leaf box decorated 2 different ways.........

To do this gold leaf method I would suggest just to do a small jewelry box because of the gold leaf........it can be expensive but well worth the time and cost.....

first you paint the outside of your box.  I used black but you can use other colors if you want.......

after the black paint has dried you then paint a thin layer of the gold leaf adhesive and let that dry until sticky to the touch

you can buy gold leaf in sheets or flakes.......if you are covering a small surface the flakes are perfect.......

after you have all the gold leaf on use a still brush to brush off all the excess..........you want to see some of the black ......

you can see by the side how much of the black shows and that is okay.........at this point just make sure you have wiped it down really good.  When you do this on a project you would need to seal it at this point but since it's just a box I wouldn't worry about sealing it.......

on the first photo I added a paper doll and jazzed it up with some glitter paper and some paper trim, stickers, and a little gold trim...

the second and third photo has some ribbon garland and then tucked a prayer card under the ribbon.....super simple and elegant!

 

That is a WRAP , as they say in hollywood.......hope you all have gotten some ideas on your holiday gift wrap and have fun while doing it........ I had so much fun coming up with ideas and appreciated all the comments you have left...now go and wrap those Christmas gifts.

 

Happy Saturday and remember I am giving away a couple handmade ornaments........leave me a comment on any of the last two posts......the winner will be announced on Monday!

 

Stay safe.........

Day #11 ornaments to adorn any packages.........

This fabric is another one of Cathe Holden's Flea Market lines from Moda......I absolutely love it and you can really do so much with it......as you can see I have pieced some of it and started to do some fun embroidery stitches to add a little dimension........at the end I have a bigger piece I have been working on and it has more details than when I started the one above.............

 

A few posts back I did pom poms and thought I might add one to a couple of the ornaments.....below shows the difference when you trim them up....I do love the longer one ( green) on packages but the blue one looks better on the ornaments.....you can even trim it smaller than I did......just depends on the look and size you want.......

 

 few more felt ornaments below.......

Here are a few photos of what all I have done so far on the needlepoint fabric with embroidery stitches and a little velvet applique and some trim so far....

I think that is enough.........I just love this fabric and so excited when it came out.....when I started to do all the embroidery on this piece my thoughts were to make some more pear pin cushions........ but it would cut off a lot of the handiwork......... so I may just do some square even pin cushions to save as much as possible and not waste any.......we will see. It's been relaxing to just figure out what stitches to do.......

 

If anyone wants to add a comment I will be giving away a couple of ornaments for the giveaway this weekend......leave a comment starting today about if you have done online or walk in shopping this year...I will have a winner on monday morning........

 

Hope you all have had a great week.......... tomorrow I will have 2 gift wraps since today was just for adding a little something to the packages......HAPPY FRIDAY AND WEEKEND!  STAY SAFE!

 

 

Day # 10 Gift wrapping.........damaged bags........

Sometimes when you pick up a package of bags from places like Tuesday Morning, Marshalls, Joann's sale bins etc. they sometimes have defects.........that is what happened when I opened these really cute Christmas bags several years back........the handles were missing on one side or just hanging there ...........so I decided to cut them entirely off and use them like the photos....by using tape along the top just in the middle it left the two sides loose.......so I had some wide ribbon to tie around the outer edge of this bag and brought it up to the top and just added a knot....super simple but sweet and colorful......this will be going to my sweet daughter in law because her favorite color is purple.......( even if a bag isn't damaged and you just want to do something different you can do it with a good bag, just cut off the handles)

So if you get a bag that is damaged or missing something, like the handles try to solve the issue and use it anyway you can.......Happy Gift Wrap # 10 and today is Thursday!!!!

Tomorrow it will be about felt ornaments.......here is a little sneak peek:

Make it a great day people and be safe............

 

 

Day # 9 Gift Wrapping.........whimsey and fun

The traditional Christmas red with a little hot pink and orange mixed in........here we have a ready made stand up box you can get just about anywhere.....a little DIY garland made out of scrapbook circles ........ a little instruction at the end of the post......also some fresh cut greenery from the yard once again and some recycled Christmas Ribbon with Merry Christmas in gold glitter.......the next photos are how you can dress this plain red box up or down...

 

The same box just the garland and a tag....simple..........

This one I changed the ribbon............

Below I will try once again to give a little instruction on how to make the garland.

 

First you will need some scrapbook paper that is preferably thick but not to thick......cut or punch out whatever size circles you want them to be. You will need 8 circles , fold in half and start to clue them together, half to half until you get all 8 glued together.......then after that you need to decide on the yarn, twine, ribbon you want to use to string them together, and a needle with a big enough eye to thread whatever you will be using...... I used this frilly hot pink yarn.......with the needle go through the middle of the circle........I tied knots so it wouldn't move......( if you have different size hole punch the better........they are easier and perfect rather than cutting with scissors.......but if you don't just make sure you cut them exact)

Hope these photos help to demonstrate how to make this fun garland.  I think you can even do this with your kids or grandkids and make garland for the tree, fireplace above a child headboard in their room......there is no limit to color, size of circles or length.........have fun and make those packages a bit more fun and whimsical this year......HAPPY WRAPPING

 

And Happy WEDNESDAY today.......I thought all day yesterday was wednesday and even posted it on the blog......crazy!  And today seems like Thursday, oh well have a great day! Stay Safe.....

Day # 8 Gift Wrap.......recycled tree decorations.....

My mom is always bringing me things she thinks I might be able to use........well she brought me a huge bag full of old Christmas Tree decorations she isn't using any more ......as you can see its really fancy pearl garlands , crystals, greenery and ornaments.......this gift wrap is a plain white box embellished with the pearl garland wrapped around the box a few times, greenery and 3 of the old clear pinecone ornaments!  That is it and look how fancy it is...........so if you have some old Tree decorations you don't use any longer grab them up and add to those boring white boxes!

 

Happy Wednesday and stay safe

Day # 7 gift wrapping with pom poms..........

On this package I used two kinds of gift wrap.......as you can see the main one is pretty plain with white and gold glitter stars........the paper with the bears found this fun wrapping from Anthropologie , so I cut it in strips and wrapped it around the package........tied some white and gold twine and added a pom pom and a tag.......

this is the wrapping paper from Anthropologie.......they come out with a new one every year and I love how whimsical it is.

I am going to try and show you with photos step by step on how to make a pom pom without any kind of form...just your hand, yarn and scissors.....

wrap the yarn around your 4 fingers about 40-50 times depending in how thick the yarn is and leave a tail at the first and end....

after you have finished cut another piece of yarn around 12" long and go through you middle of your fingers and pull the 12" pice through and then slide the yard off your fingers and tie it in a know twice on one side and turn over and tie another two knots to secure it in the middle

Then with your scissors try to go through the middle of the hoop side and start to cut through the hoop...........then do the other side............

to finish off just trim it up.......you will cut a lot of the yarn but depending on how fluffy you want it just keep turning it and trimming.......they are so much fun to make and cost absolutely pennies to make. They really add that little extra to a package...

Well that is todays gift wrapping idea........sure hope you all enjoyed your first December weekend........

Keep checking back for a few more ideas on gift wrapping and hope you all are staying safe......Happy Monday!

 

Day # 6 Gift Wrapping ..........monogram ornaments

How to wrap an ornament.........

Okay so here is another simple way to wrap up small gifts and especially if you want it to show and not be a surprise in a box or bag.....you can get these cellophane bags in several sizes at any bakery supply or craft supply store.....add a little squiggly confetti and a bow and tag......they don't have to be handmade ornaments like these, but you can wrap anything like this and tie with ribbons or twine.........So so easy and a fun gift especially to some little people on my list.........I hope they enjoy these!

 

Happy Sunday and gift wrapping........stay safe!