DIY twist ties from Japanese masking tape

How charming is this this idea from Zakka Life? Pretty twist ties made with patterned Japanese masking tape. Check out the tutorial right here. Add a little something special to your homemade gift packaging and your banana bread will taste even better, I'm pretty sure.

Giveaway: Uprinting business cards and canvas print

Uprinting.com is an online printing company I've used before with good results. Now Uprinting is offering a giveaway for How About Orange readers. One lucky person can win:

One 16x20 gallery wrapped canvas print—print a special photograph, make a sign for inside your shop, print your own art, you name it. Your artwork will be printed on thick, high-quality canvas with a matte finish and an eco-friendly protective satin coating.

Two sets of 500 premium business cards—that means you get to choose from Uprinting's square, slim, or standard-sized cards printed full color both sides on your choice of gloss, matte, or uncoated recycled cardstock. You can use one of their templates or upload your own design. If you don't have a business to promote, you can always make cards with your blog address or put your personal contact information on them. I hear that calling cards have become quite trendy again. Or just print a photo or artwork on them and hand them out as mini portfolio pieces.

To enter the random drawing, leave a comment on this post by Saturday, July 31 at midnight CDT. Limited to US residents only, 18 years old and above. Be sure to include a link or other way to contact you. The winner will be contacted and announced in this post.

Update: Giveaway is now closed. The winner is Jessie B., commenter #206!

Printable jar labels

The jar labels I made for apricot butter are yours for the downloading, along with extra labels for strawberry jam, cherry chutney, and a blank label on which you can write your own recipe name. These are 2" in diameter, sized to fit on the tops of 8 oz. jelly jars. You could print them out at 100% on sticky label paper at home or have just a couple sheets printed at a copy shop like FedEx Kinkos. I used them as hang tags on this project, printing them at 85% on cardstock and punching a tiny hole at the top.



For recipe ideas, visit Sweet Preservation or Saving the Season.

Canning for beginners

Yup, that's me. A canning novice. I embarked on my first canning project using this easy and tasty apricot butter recipe from SweetPreservation.com. (A fun site, by the way, which includes instructions for hosting a "preservation party" with a recommended music playlist that made me laugh. Check out their printable jar labels, too.)

When I set out to make jam, I assumed you simply boil a little fruit and a ton of sugar in a pan and dump it into jars—the end. Not so! You have to boil those jars of jam in something called a "water bath canner." What the?! I was not in the mood to spend $30+ on a giant pot that won't fit in my cupboard, so I did some research. What I learned*:

•This article is very helpful and details the canning process.
• A box of twelve 8 oz. jelly jars and lids is about $10. I got mine at Ace Hardware.
• I didn't buy a special jar lifter; I used my regular kitchen tongs.
• I didn't buy a canning funnel; I used a ladle.
• I didn't buy a water bath canner; I used my stock pot with a washcloth on the bottom to keep the jars off the direct heat from the burner and to keep them from jostling around. You could also put a wire cooling rack in the bottom if your pot is big enough. Just make sure you're able to cover the tops of your jars with boiling water.
• After boiling your jars for the correct time (see your jam recipe) and removing them from the water bath, the lids will still be in the popped-up position. As the jars cool over the next several hours, the lids will indent, often with a pinging sound which is very exciting.

*I'm no canning expert; I'm just telling you what I did to make small jars of jam. If you plan to can something else, do read the article above because different rules may apply.

Oh, and I forgot the most important part. Make your jars look cute! I used fabric scraps, baker's twine, and made my own jar labels for gift giving. Printable PDFs you can download are available in this post.

How to add your portfolio to LinkedIn

If you're an artist, a designer, or a maker of nice things, you might be interested in Behance's LinkedIn portfolio application. It allows you to add images and video to your LinkedIn profile. Read an overview at SwissMiss or sign up here.

Marimekko desktop wallpaper

You know you need it. More glorious patterned wallpaper for your computer from the Finnish textile company we know and love.

Cute alphabet bunting printable

Have you seen the printable alphabet-letter bunting available at Ruffled? Download all 26 letters to spell out any message you could possibly think up. Instant party! (Via 74 Lime Lane.)

How to make a dog collar and leash

There's a super tutorial over at Sew 4 Home that teaches you how to make a dog collar and leash using jacquard ribbon and webbing. Now you can sew your own version of this.

Of course there are many lovely ribbons in the world, but I think your poochie would be especially happy walking around in one my designs. Especially if he's very frugal, likes to golf, and lives in a camper. You can get these at Fat Quarter Shop (sold by the yard) or at J Caroline Creative (sold by the roll).

(Image from Sew 4 Home)

How to make gift bags from newspaper

When I bought something at a store recently, the clerk handed me my purchase in a bag made from a newspaper. I liked it very much and had to make some more—thus today's DIY recycled newspaper project: gift bags made from the Wall Street Journal. You can vary the dimensions, of course, but here's what I used to create a bag that's 5" tall, 4.5" wide, and 3" deep.

Stack two sheets of newspaper on top of each other. This will be a two-ply bag for extra sturdiness.

Cut out a rectangle that's 15.5" wide and 8.25" tall. If your paper already has a fold in it, align the existing fold with one of the fold lines in the diagram below, unless you don't mind an extra fold appearing somewhere on your bag. I cut out this rectangle, then flipped the paper over so the blue area would be on the outside of the bag.

Fold a flap 1.25" down from the top. Fold a flap 2" up from the bottom. Then measure off and make vertical folds in the places shown in the diagram above. The front and back panels are 4.5" wide, the side gussets are 3" wide, and you'll need a 0.5" flap for gluing the bag together.

Cut two pieces of cardstock or chipboard to 4.25" x 1", then glue them on the widest two panels just under the top fold. These will reinforce the rim of the bag. Glue the top flap down along the length of the bag, covering the cardstock. Since the bag is two-ply, you'll need to glue both flap pieces down one at a time.

Put glue on the outside of the 0.5" tab and bring the left-most panel over to form the body of the bag, aligning the cut edge of the panel with the folded edge of the flap. Add a little more glue to make sure the outermost sheet of newsprint gets tacked down, too.

Upend the bag so the 2" flap is now up. Fold the short sides inward as if you were wrapping a present. If it seems easier, you could also lay the bag on its side and crease those folds against the table.

Put glue on both flaps and fold them inward to form the bottom of the bag. Standing the bag upright and pressing down from the inside will help to secure them.

Cut a piece of chipboard to 4" x 2.5" and glue it to the bottom of the bag to reinforce it and hide the flaps if you want to be an overachiever.

Punch holes in the rim of the bag, adding eyelets if you like, and string some cord through the holes to form handles. Knot each end of the cord so it won't pull out through the holes.

If you want to store your bag flat, pinch the top together, fold in the sides, and bring the bottom up so that it lies flat.

Free calligraphic ornaments

To make your own designs with calligraphic flourishes like the recipe cards in the last post, try downloading Nymphette, a free ornamental font available for personal and commercial use from Lauren Thompson.

Free printable recipe cards

Four recipe cards with various fancy flourishes are available right here at Tie That Binds. Either print one out and fill it in by hand, or type your recipe right into the PDF and print out copies for your friends. You could tuck them into a wedding or shower gift. Or hand one to a friend with a pleading look on your face when you would like someone to bake you a plate of cookies.

Round up of cactus tutorials

I think cacti are funny. Especially fake ones. If you'd like to knit, fold, glue, sew, or bake yourself a cactus, see these tutorials:
Nadia's crocheted cactus with photo instructions
Yasmin's cactus cupcakes decorated with fondant
Papercraft cactus models from Epson (instructions are in Chinese, but the photos and diagrams should get you through)
Ana Paula's amigurumi cactus pattern
DIY fabric cactus at the Fossil blog

A month of birthday printables

Australian illustrator Pilgrim Lee is offering a free printable every weekday in July as part of her "birthday month" celebration. The theme is pinwheels and bunting, and by the end of the month, you'll have everything you need to throw a knock-out party. Go get the goods!

DIY projects for the home

Country Living magazine has a nice little library of DIY projects online, including these things you can make:
Silhouette bulletin boards
A bookcase made from a dresser
Stenciled animal mugs
A mini greenhouse made from picture frames

See more projects right here.

(Images from Country Living)

Rivers and zombies

I've been on a vacation for the last week and a half, though you probably wouldn't know it since I sneakily scheduled posts in advance for most of the days I was gone. We paid a visit to friends in the Pacific Northwest, and while there we took a stroll through Seattle's Fremont neighborhood. The storefront window signs asking zombies not to get blood on the merchandise were mystifying until we began seeing increasing numbers of decked-out undead wandering the streets. Those shop owners weren't kidding. We'd accidentally timed our visit to coincide with a zombie block party. We also spent some time hiding out in a cabin in the Cascades where most places we went looked like the scene above and were zombie-free.

A brief visit to Portland was lots of fun, and I couldn't leave without this handmade bag from Queen Bee Creations. The bag and I are now inseparable. In fact, we both got rained on last night and the bag held up like a champ.

Argyle desktop wallpaper freebie

If you like pink and navy, go download argyle desktop wallpaper from Kellie Medivitz!

How to glue stuff to other stuff

This to That is a little website that tells you what kind of adhesive works best for gluing various materials together. "Because people have a need to glue things to other things." Yep.

Shortbread button cookies

I'm a little late to the party on this one since the original post is from January, but I'm compelled to ooh and aah publicly. These are little shortbread button cookies. They're adorable, as is the printable recipe with lovely calligraphy and illustrations. Get it here from Forty-sixth at Grace.

(Image by Nikole Herriott)

A vintage ephemera mother lode

Browsing through the blog Agence Eureka is a fascinating way to kill an hour. It's a collection of scanned vintage labels, alphabets, coloring books, posters, matchbooks, and more. Head over there and click on any image to view larger.

Quiz: What's your decorating style?

Take a quiz at Ethan Allen to determine your decorating style (or most likely, your decorating style as it best fits within the catalog of Ethan Allen products). Kind of fun, because you get to look at pretty pictures. I was diagnosed as Metro. And you?