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.
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: 
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.
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*: 
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.
You know you need it. More glorious patterned wallpaper for your computer from the Finnish textile company we know and love.
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.)
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).
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.
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.
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. 
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.
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.
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:
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!
Country Living magazine has a nice little library of DIY projects online, including these things you can make:
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.
If you like pink and navy, go download argyle desktop wallpaper from Kellie Medivitz!
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.
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. 
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.
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?
