Oodles of Doodles

                I have often wished I was an amazing doodler (like Alisa Burk, you should see her super cute doodled/crazy stitched/painted pillow).  An then I practiced. It's true, practice makes perfect. I started by copying some of her designs, and them learned to do it with my own style.  You are welcome to copy mine.  I started with a piece of paper with my friends name in the middle.  Then I doodled (with sharpie) in spare time during school and here is the result:

 But I would suggest that you use a small name of 4 letters or less. Actually, you don't have to draw a name on it at all.  Here is why:  If you scan the picture to the computer, and then go to Picnik, you can work wonders. I like picnik because a lot of it is free.You want to end up being able to use it for any name. All that doodling would be wasted if it only used one name.  You want to go from the Lily (above) to this:

After you scan your doodle to the computer follow these instructions:

1. Go to picnik.com
2. Press "Upload a Photo"
3. Upload the doodles photo
4. You can change the exposure, and crop it and all that jazz (optional)
5. Now hit the "Create" button or the Done button (it depends if you are a member or not)
6. Click "Stickers"
7. Scroll down the sidebar on the left till you see Basic Shapes
8. Click on any of the basic stickers
9. Enlarge it to completely cover the name
10. Change the color to white
11. SAVE SAVE SAVE it

I know it might look like there's a lot of steps involved, but its really easy, especially if you have used picnic before.  Now your Doodle should look like this:

Or this:

Or this:

 Or this:

 Or this

You ca use whatever you shape want as long as it covers up the name.  See,  now we add a name to it.  Here is more steps. 

1. Click on text
2. In the bar that says Type here and click add to place text, type a name. 
3. Change the color to black
4. Give it a pretty font
5. Save it
6. Print it
7. Put in it something (kids love putting them in their school binders)

Now you have a pretty name, that can be used for a baby shower gift, personalized wrapping paper, the possibilities are endless, plus everyone is amazed by it and asks you if it is printed or hand drawn.

Spaghetti, Spaghetti

              We are spaghetti lovers at our house (at least I am), and we tend to eat it a lot.  This is a recipe for meat sauce, using either hamburger or Italian sausage.  We almost always use hamburger, so sausage is a special treat but surprisingly my brother announced that the hamburger was better (but I think that is because I didn't  taste it to see what it needed before I served it).  We love freshly grated Parmesan cheese on ours.  Our recipe also calls for just a little sugar, you don't want too much, that would make the sauce sweet, but it takes off the sour edge of the garlic,  tomato's acidity (this is not scientifically speaking, its just a guess, because I have no other ideas as to why it makes the sauce taste so much better).

 The recipe is simple: cook onions, dump in hamburger, dump in the rest of the ingredients, taste, serve.  It's pretty basic.  If necessary, you could probably use dry onions, but I have no experience with that.

Ingredients:
1 onion (you can use a half of a large onion, a small onion, or a whole large onion, or whatever you want)
1 lb. hamburger or Italian sausage (1 and a half pounds of meat works too)
1 can tomato paste
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (or to taste, we just use a heaping spoonful)
Oregano
Basil
Italian Seasoning
Red Pepper (optional)
Salt and Pepper
A Spoonful (or two) of sugar (helps the medicine go down)


First chop up the onion. Cook in the pan at medium high heat until the onions turn slightly clearish and translucent.

Add the hamburger and cook it until it has browned. Then add all the tomato products, and garlic.  Add the amount shown of each spice (except for the red pepper, add less of that) or more or less or to taste.

It is essential to taste it to see what it needs more of.

   

Framed Friend Quotes

         A while back, one of my teachers put a quote up I the board that said: "Friends are people who laugh at your jokes. The first time when you tell it, a second time when you tell them the answer, and a third time an hour later when they finally get it."  I thought that was funny, and I had an extra frame from Dollar Tree (I love that place).  So I made this:

First things first... Print your quote in a pretty font except for the first word.  

Like so:

Glue the pages together and form the first word using stickers or cut outs.

Re-purposing Day 2: Drink Mix Canisters, Glass Jars, and Sponge Balls

        Here's Re-purposing Day one if you missed it.  Now back to other stuff that makes the money we spent on things worth more: Glass bottles and jars from spaghetti sauce (or Marsala simmer sauce in my case) often fit with regular canning jar lids.  Instead of using the (ugly) metal top, cut out a circle of scrapbook paper to replace it when you are using them to organize things in a cute, color coordinating way.

Its amazing how many fabric scraps you can cram into that thing!

 As it turns out, they make great pen cases. This was from a Crystal Light Drink Mix container. Once you take the wrapper off, its clear, which makes it so easy to decorate! Just slasp some scrapbook paper on their and Wah-lah!

They are great for printing paper and cards with texture (I know the picture doesn't show it well, but they leave a really cool texture when you dip them in paint or on a stamp pad).

Maddie