PERSONAL EXTRAORDINARY PHOTOS

This is a post that will highlight any personal photographs from our Blog readers, which are of an unusual, funny or extraordinary nature.

Email to: LauraLeeWasHere@gmail.com

Subject Line: DOODLE Photos


Let the Amazement begin.




Me and my Brother, Jim. Begs the question, "What are we looking at?" (submitted by Laura-Lee)

Project # 1 - ENTRIES

This is the results of the very first project I put up here at LOVE n DOODLES. A simple colouring page of an outline of crayons. You had to print it out and then make it uniquely YOURS.

My thanks to all those who took the time to get involved.

Love Laura-Lee

 

AMY -who is an artist obviously going through her "blue" period.

ANONYMOUS - Curious that this person drew an extra crayon. Where did it come from? How will it fit in the box?  Obviously embracing the concept of "outside the box".

JASMINE - Well on her way to an artistic career

KYLIE and KAREN - seeing 2 exact pictures together but each person demonstrating their own individuality. (they totally get the idea behind this blog)

LAURA-LEE -  my 2 cents worth, with a Christmas theme.
 I've strung lights along the crayons and plugged them in. (and I'm all about the presents too)

P.S. Keep in mind that you can continue to contribute to this Project #1 at any time. If you send something in, I will add it to the post. Please put your name (first only is enough) and your age and country (if you wish)

Trash Project - Part 2 (Completed)

In "Part 1", I collected several ordinary and thrown away items from around my home, without any preconceived ideas, and accepted the challenge of making a greeting card from them.

Read “Trash Project: Part 1” to see the items I collected for this project.


  TRASH CARD: Front View

TRASH CARD:  Inside View


LIST OF ITEMS:
* Ruler, 12 Crayons, Scissors, Bic Pen, Liquid Paper (white out), Elmer's School Glue

* Post-It Notes (pad of yellow, pad of green), scraps of printer paper (pink), computer paper (white)

* Junk Mail (“Molly Maid” advertisement), Old notes sent to me (from garbage), Cardboard Circle Ribbon Holder (Empty – no ribbon left), Kleenex Tissue Box.


 PICTURE OF ITEMS


Cut out various words from the “Molly Maid” advertisement Junk Mail


Drew outline of house and tree on pink Kleenex Box and cut it out (idea for house and tree from “Molly Maid” ad)

** Cut Out wiggly strips and from the Green and Yellow Post-It Note pads

** Cut Out little leaf shapes from Green Post-It Note pad

** Cut Out the the Red Outline Circle from the Cardboard Ribbon holder (touched up the messy cutting with white-out Liquid Paper around inside of circle)

** Cut Out little Pink Flowers from the paper old notes written on.


  Laid out all the words I Cut Out of “Molly Maid” advertisement “Coming Home; to; 100 % ; Love; Trust; Satisfaction; from; ll ; r "


Laid Out ALL pieces I cut out to put on card (Helped to give me final ideas of how to put card together by collecting all my ‘resources’ in one place)


  Used Crayons to color triangles of color to make a type of Quilt Pattern (didn’t make it bigger than the "ribbon" circle I cut out)

** Folded White Printer paper (81/2 X 11) into a Four fold Card


FRONT: Glued Cardboard red circle on top of coloured Quilt Pattern

ONCE I HAD CARD FOLDED I CONTINUED TO GLUE ALL THE VARIOUS CUT-OUTS INTO THEIR APPROPRIATE PLACES.


INSIDE BOTTOM:Glued Wiggly Yellow Paper to bottom of Inside card


INSIDE RIGHT: Glued words (wrote the word “and” with my Bic Pen)


  INSIDE: Glued on Kleenex Box Tree, Pink paper Home (drew on windows and doors with pen), Glued on 3 Green Leaves (drew on lines with pen)


BACK: It’s not a card from me unless I put my LOGO on the bottom back, “ from  ~ ll r ~” (words cut from the “Molly Maid” ad) ; Green Paper wiggles from Post-It paper.


BOTTOM FRONT: Glued below Quilt Pattern Circle, 3 Pink Flowers (cut from paper that had old notes written on it), Green Leaves from Post-It Note pad


CARD SENTIMENT READS:
Front: “Coming Home to …”
Inside: “ 100% Love Trust and Satisfaction”
Back: “from ll r “ (my card logo)

(NOTE: Words cut from “Molly Maid” Junk Mail Advertisement)


FINAL VIEWS:

CARD OPEN & LAID FLAT (Shows Front and Back)

CARD OPEN (Inside View)


CARD OPEN (Inside View – Bottom)


CONCLUSION:

So that is my “Trash Project”. I enjoyed doing it, although my creativity doesn’t come quite as fast as it used to. I did it in the hopes that you would be motivated to do something similar or at least come to the conclusion that you don’t need a lot of equipment or the ability to reproduce the Mona Lisa in order to create something.
 The idea is to use whatever is at hand and make something that is uniquely YOU. Go ahead. Give it a try. And don’t forget to have some fun.

I would love to hear comments about what you think of this project and I would REALLY love if you sent me a photo of anything you create as well.

Love Laura-Lee

BACHELOR COOKING: Quick Rice Supper

I call this “Bachelor Cooking” because it is a recipe I have developed that can be made fast, cheap, with not much more than a kettle or microwave and with almost no cooking ability. Tailor made for bachelors, busy people-on-the-go and dorm room living.

Thus I present my:

Quick Rice Supper


INGREDIENTS:

Cup-A-Soup (whatever flavour you like best)

Minute Rice (the type you cook in less than 5 minutes. **)

Water

Salt, margarine (optional)

(**Note: You can use the rice in a bag, but you have to boil it separately in a pot for at least 20 minutes and that defeats the purpose of it being “quick”)




EQUIPMENT:

Kettle and/or Microwave

Spoon

Microwaveable Dish
 
Lid, plate, Plastic Wrap, basically something to cover the Dish with  (doesn’t need to be microwaveable)


DIRECTIONS:

 Open envelope of Cup-A-Soup (your favourite flavour) and dump into microwaveable cup/dish/mug (I add a bunch of salt at this time)

 Pour in boiled water from kettle; stir with spoon

 Immediately add “Minute Rice” and stir (CAUTION: Rice will expand 6-10 times it’s size)


  Put Rice, water, soup mixture into microwave. Set for 30 seconds. It will be different times for different microwaves. You'll have to WATCH IT. As soon as you see it start bubbling, TAKE IT OUT


 IMMEDIATELY put lid on it. Lid can be anything that fits relatively securely. Sometimes I use a saucer or Glad Wrap.
 (CAUTION: LEAVE A LITTLE HOLE TO ALLOW STEAM TO ESCAPE)


 Let it sit covered from 5 minutes to 30 minutes or whatever. (I let mine sit about 15 minutes)

KEEP IN MIND: The longer it sits, the softer and BIGGER the Rice gets. The Rice will grow quite a bit and continue to soak up more of the soup the longer it sits.

Take lid off, stir and eat.
(Adjust to what works for you.)

NOTE: You don’t have to use kettle AND microwave. One or the Other will do. But the HOTTER the water, the LESS time the rice will have to sit. A kettle gets the water boiled hotter, but I use both because an extra ‘zap’ from the microwave means I don’t have to wait as long for it


 CLEAN UP: If lid doesn’t get soup on it, it is just wet from STEAM. Rinse with HOT WATER and it’s clean and ready to go again.

FYI : I’ve been timed at 120 seconds prep time and then 5 minutes it sits before eating. That’s potentially 7 minutes from start to eating a hot rice dish.
 
If you were to buy a microwave rice dish already made from the store, it would cost about $2 – $4 (or even more). Doing it this way works out to about 70-80 cents per dish. (Fast, cheap, and mmmm, mmmm good.)

FYI – I use “Spring Vegetable” Cup-A-Soup
Try this out and don’t forget to come back and leave a COMMENT about how it worked or if/how you changed it to make it uniquely your own, or what your favourite Cup-A-Soup flavour to use with this is.

HOUSEHOLD HINT: Finding End of “Invisible” Tape

It can be absolutely frustrating when using Scotch Tape (or any “invisible” tape) and you lose the end because it sticks back to the roll and you have to pick at it with your fingernails to pull it up again.

Or, when Scotch Tape is used on something and you have the horrible task of trying to remove it. I’ve learned the hard way how to over come this and here is the secret …

 BEHOLD: An Ordinary Roll of Scotch Tape


 Take a tiny part of the end of the tape
  ( 1 cm about?) and just bend it over and tape it to itself.

Not only does it keep the tape from re-sticking to the roll and save you from trying to pull it up again with your fingernails …
But when you use it to attach something and it still has the little “folded over” piece …

FOR EXAMPLE:


  Taped a piece of paper to the fridge. (NOTE: see little fold at top of tape?)


  Flick up the fold with your finger …


  And just pull it off. No problems. No tape remnants left behind.


  Works exactly the same with masking tape or any other kind.

NEVER LOSE THE END AGAIN!

Simple, eh?

Trash Project - Part 1

Mish-Mash of Ordinary Household Items

In the post, "Fruit, Fertilizer and Going Forth" I talked about our individuality and what God wants from us. We, apparently, are created in God's image. So, as the theologians (definition = smart religious people) go about debating and discussing what that means, let's do something fun.

Personally, I believe that we are most like God when we are taking something that nobody else thinks is nice or is garbage in their eyes and we turn it into something "pretty". Look at how many people spend their time and money renovating their homes or restoring old things. There is no way they are putting in all that effort merely for the money.

When I was 13 (before the word 'recycling' was even used) I declared one October that our Christmas Tree was going to be a 'garbage' tree that year (for lack of a better word). My Mom pictured dirty old tins cans and old scraps of thrown away paper hanging from our tree. So, being the person she is, she responded with, "Sure. Go for it!" (God bless her.)  I worked for weeks on what to put on the tree. No object in our house was safe. I began to look at everything in a different way. Even the most ordinary of items I asked myself, "Could this be a Christmas tree ornament?"

On Christmas Eve I didn't let anyone near the tree until it was finished. My Mom had a rather worried look on her face and my brother looked mostly amused. Either I would create a great tree or a ridiculous tree and he was up for either conclusion (God bless him).

When the tree was revealed it had pink & white pom-poms made out of scraps of wool on it. Bits of an old red dress had been cut up and tied into bows on all the green branches. And little cardboard scraps cut into various star shapes and covered in foil were tied on with thread. You get the idea.

Now, with that type of thing in mind ...



I have selected some very basic items and I will attempt to make them into something attractive. At this point I have NO IDEA what I am going to make, but I got items that were either very ordinary and can be found in any home or some "garbage" items, that can be found in the trash cans in any home.


And while you wait for the unveiling of MY "Trash Project", why don't you make one of your own? Email it to me. I'll put it up on the blog, no matter what it looks like. Give it a try and maybe you might enjoy yourself.

There is just one rule: no major crafting machines allowed. This is about using ordinary objects that other people would pass on by or that everybody has access to.

ITEMS LIST: 

 

 

 

3 - plain printer paper (white)

2 pieces - scraps printer paper (pink) about to be thrown away because they were cut crooked

post-it note pad (yellow)

post-it note pad (green)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 pack- Crayola (Wax) Crayons

bottle white out liquid

Tube Elmers Clear School Glue

Scissors

Ruler

Bic pen (blue)

 

 

 

 

 

Kleenex Tissue Box - cut out pink/flowery side

2 scribbled lists from Mom (little pink flower in bottom corner)

Junk Mail - Advertisement for "Molly Maids" (I dunno why?)

Broken cardboard circle (used to hold ribbon - now empty) SEE BELOW

 

 

Close-up: Broken Cardboard that formerly held ribbon. (see above photo)





** I have my tools - I have my retrieved items - I have my excessive talent and abilities (God help me) Let's see what I accomplish.

STAY TUNED - genius doesn't happen over night.

Fruit, Fertilizer and "Going forth ..."

Discovering my abilities with crayons is something very new for me. I discovered it after I turned 40 years old.

I have an older brother (by 3 years) who is extremely talented when it comes to drawing. When you add to that the fact that he is also a perfectionist, you are faced with a person who is magic with a drawing instrument in his hand.

When I was little, I was pretty good with a coloring book. I could almost always color inside the lines and I never did anything weird like , color the grass purple. But each time I would see what my brother could create by merely using a burnt match on a paper napkin, I came to the realization that, "I am not the creative one in the family." So, basically I gave it up and turned to writing for my creative outlet. I've always excelled with my writing, so I never bothered to try my hand at anything else. My brother did "his thing" and I did "my thing". "A place for everything and everything in it's place". Right?

Imagine my surprise when I was watching TV and doodling on the side, only half paying attention, only to discover that I had a little bit of talent in that direction. It's true, I'll never be my brother. But the interesting thing about that is, I'm NOT my brother. I'm ME.

So, now we get to the point of this entire blog. It's time for you to express yourself. That's Y-O-U-R-S-E-L-F! Forget about who appreciates it and ask yourself, "am I enjoying doing this". Because I can guarantee you that no matter what you create, nobody else will be able to create the same thing. 

Apparently, the mathematicians have calculated that over the course of all of human history there has been approximately 107,000,000 people who have lived. I don't know if that is accurate. But I know there are almost 7,000,000 people on the planet right now. But only one YOU. If God went to the trouble and pleasure of making sure there was only one person that would ever be you, it seems to reason that He would wish you to find a way of expressing your individuality. To do that "thing" that only you can do your way. PLUS, each one of us has an ability. we usually have several, but all have at least one.

So that's what this blog is about. It's not to sell you a machine that can cut out 20 shapes exactly the same (although there is nothing wrong with that). It's to show you and mostly to encourage you to try. Try what? To try whatever you want. Just start. Do anything.

Look around you and you will see people expressing themselves everywhere in a myriad of ways. Now it's your turn. And I know God will love whatever you do, even if the rest of the world thinks it's trash. It'll be a treasure to Him because YOU are a treasure to Him.If God had a refrigerator, you would be on it. And if that doesn't encourage you, nothing else will.

God said, "be fruitful and multiply" and I don't think he just meant have a bunch of kids. He meant in everything you do. As a tree produces it's fruit that is specific to itself, you create something that comes from yourself. And, maybe, with some pruning and fertilizer, you will be able to multiply yourself as well.

So let's "go forth" ...

(Check out the "Trash Project - Part 1")

Creating Bible Ribbon Bookmark

This is a way I discovered many years ago to
create more ribbons for your Bible (or large book) in order to keep your place if you wish to remember more than one page.

It's easy and it looks nice.

Below is the video showing the instructions.

 

 

.Love and Doodles - YouTube Channel

Envelope Doodling 101

This is the first lesson in Doodling and will give you an idea of how this concept and blog got started.

It gives you ideas how to decorate using very common ideas and materials and will cost you nothing more than your own creativity.

See how far that will take you.  Love Laura-Lee

Love & Doodle ... Outside

Welcome to my newest blog.

If you have been receiving any snail mail from me in the past, no doubt you have already encountered the phrase: "LOVE Expressed Through DOODLES" because I write it on just about every envelope I send  out that is of a personal nature. Along with an envelope covered in doodles!

This Blog is predominately for the creative side of me to be expressed. The part that works with it's hands. For most of my life I have expressed myself through writing, but now I am branching out in my expressions. I no longer wish to limit my creativity in any way.

The closer I get to God the more I realize just how different we are. Not just slightly different, but drastically so. And considering the fact that Billions of people have been born up until now, that is pretty amazing.

I hope to encourage and inspire you to build on the ideas I have and take them farther, as well as be encouraged you to express your self.  You are unique and special in a way not even close to anyone else. Only YOU can do what YOU can do.

So let's be brave enough to DOODLE outside of the lines, while we LOVE outside the box.

Let's do it.

HOME MADE CARD: Unforgettable ~llr~

YELLOW & GREEN "unforgettable" CARD

Materials Needed:

Card stock (yellow)

paper for regular printing ( red)

paper for regular printing (white)

Photograph

photocopy

Scissors

glue (regular for paper)

ruler

pencil crayons (red & green)

stickers (optional)

optional materials:

Fiskars border paper punch

scissors with ridges

OR

Pinking sheers

stickers

NOTE: Green "unforgettable" sticker is the only sticker used and was the entire inspiration for the card which is to mark the anniversary of the death of my father by encouraging others to be comforted in their remembering.

INSTRUCTIONS:

PHOTO #1

Took yellow card stock and cut it out to the size desired.
Used ridged scissors to cut front bottom of the card off (about 1/4 inch)
Cut small triangle of red paper - ridged scissors to cut off one side of triangle
Used border punch on one side of a sheet of red paper and cut off a stip size of card (about 1 inch wide)



PHOTO #2

Pasted red paper triangle to front of card - making sure to leave the ridged side unglued.
Glued strip of red/bordered paper to bottom of back of card (so that it peeks out when looking at front of card (see photo)

PHOTO # 3

Made photocopy of an old photograph (can be in black & white or color). cut it out with ridged scissors, so it was 4 x 6 inches. Folded photocopied photo and put in red paper pocket on front of card. (see PHOTOS # 1 & # 2)





PHOTO # 4

Drew small red flowers on both diagonal corners of front of card and then drew green leaves (with pencil crayons).

PHOTO # 5

Repeated drawing flowers in both corners of inside of card as well. (using same red & green pencil crayons)


PHOTO # 6



(ABOVE) Inside close up details of flower and leaves & close up of red paper strip punched with Fiskars border punch.