A little fun for Friday: take a quiz from HomeGoods to help you determine your decorating style. Created by Deborah Needleman, former editor-in-chief of Domino magazine, the test also offers tips for how to fix up your space. I was deemed an "Earthy Modern" (nice) but my "Happy Home Colors" were all tints of lavender (no thanks). See how you turn out!
Greetings, font hoarders. You might enjoy adding Tyler Finck's Ostrich Sans to your ever-growing collection of type. It comes in six styles, including dashed and rounded—all available for free at The League of Moveable Type.
A How About Orange operative emailed me a scan of a recent page in Woman's World magazine. There's my Fireworks fabric lounging on a sofa. Thanks, Amy! I've also heard of a Calliope sighting in HGTV's Sarah 101. It's like playing Where's Waldo, but with fabric.
I spotted this silly measuring tape at Yozo Craft and had to get one for my mum. A tiny, goofy thank you for sewing me endless wonderful goodies. And... fine, I'll confess. I got one for myself, too. I can never resist a panda with a removable ear. 
Hello, everyone! I've returned from the Pacific Northwest and planned to hit the ground running today... until the electricity went out first thing this morning after a brief storm. It's expected to take a few days to restore power to the entire Chicago area, so I'm typing from the public library. Alex and I have hauled a pile of gadgets over here, including my desktop computer with its large monitor (good for graphic design work, but not ultra portable) along with various cords, phones, the iPad, and some rechargeable batteries for my booklight. I considered bringing along the the refrigerator, but concluded that might be a bit much. We plan to suck up as much power as they'll let us tonight before heading home to our sauna of an apartment.
On the bright side: Amy Lowry of Vancouver's Thank You Cards Shop has created a charming free printable just for How About Orange readers. Who doesn't love an airmail theme, especially when it's done up in summery pink and orange? Download the three-page PDF right here, complete with note paper, matching envelope, and zillions of coordinating stickers. If you'd like a personalized version of the notecard with a custom postmark and wording, head to Amy's shop where they're available for purchase in six colors.
Last but not least in the "Wish I'd Thought of That" series: blogs that provide humorous captions to home interior magazine photos. I could amuse myself for years on a project like this. The image above is from Unhappy Hipsters, captioned, "The plant wandered over to see what he could do to help."
Catalog Living is also entertaining, offering "a glimpse into the exciting world of the people living in your catalogs."
Continuing the "Wish I'd Thought of That" series, learn to make your own scratch-offs from Martha Stewart. I've seen several tutorials for creating scratch-off tickets using dish soap and paint, and always wanted to test it. At Martha, the mixture is applied to a save-the-date wedding announcement. To see the instructions, click here. (Note the tips in the comments, too.)
Next up in this week's "Wish I'd Thought of That" series: DIY sugar cubes from Nifty Thrifty Things. They're completely adorable, are they not? Learn how to make them right here. It looks fun to try at least once.
The first installment in this week's "Wish I'd Thought of That" series:
You know how the cords that charge your stuff tend to slip down into the nether regions behind your desk? Here's an easy solution from David Bakker for organizing cables. I can't read the original post, but a picture's worth a thousand words. Via Unplggd.
Pablo Impallari has crafted a sequel to his popular Lobster font—say hello to Lobster Two, a friendly, retro script. Get all four styles for free right here.
Have a festive fourth of July weekend, everyone! I'm taking next week off, but to prevent How About Orange from collecting dust, I've prepared a series of posts entitled "Wish I'd Thought of That"—good ideas from around the internet. Stay tuned!
Even the artistically challenged can make modern, graphic artwork using office supplies. The red painting above is made with 3/4" round Avery labels and 1/4" tape from Office Max.
I used a 10-inch blank canvas from an art store, but you could paint this design on a piece of wood or spray paint it on metal, too.
If using a canvas, I'd suggest brushing a coat of Mod Podge or acrylic gel medium on first; it will smooth out the rough surface a bit so the paint will be less likely to bleed underneath the tape. When the surface is ready, arrange pieces of tape and stickers to form abstract plant shapes. Burnish each piece with your thumbnail to make certain it's stuck down really well. Paint the surface (I used acrylic) and remove the stickers.
Do-It-Yourself Invitations sent over a link to their latest batch of free printables: a selection of thank you cards with matching patterned envelopes. Choose from six designs to print and assemble yourself.
Mum just sent over her latest sewing project: a bag made from Butterick's B5475 Totes and Wrist Wallet pattern (on sale now for a mere $2.88). I'd picked out the pattern and mailed it to her, along with my Outside Oslo fabric in the Dusk Picket print. I liked the shape of the bag, the corner details at the bottom, and the rounded ends on the straps.
The bag in action.
What the outside of the pattern envelope didn't show, however, is the peculiar fastening situation inside the bag. Tabs with snap, fine. Additional yellow straps with velcro? Mysterious. They're interfaced and run upwards along the exterior sides of the bag, meeting in the center. The straps are what pull the sides of the bag in to give it that interesting shape, but it seems a bit awkward to either unfasten the velcro every time you want to put something in there, or push the yellow strap aside (which is doable). Have you ever seen a bag with this sort of architecture?
Maybe it doubles as a theft deterrent. A would-be pickpocket might give up in frustration while attempting to fish out my wallet. A buckle, some extra ties I could knot, and then maybe a padlock to hold the whole thing shut might be nice additions, just for more security.
The interior has a divided pocket, one side with a couple darts (or whatever those pleats are called that give it dimension) for holding a cell phone.
The outside pocket has velcro on the flap.
Mum did a fantastic job, as always. She reported that turning those straps inside out almost killed her, but she conquered. Man, does she love me.
The brains behind The Curiosity Group have done it again! The July edition of their monthly assemble-it-yourself desk calendar is here. Head to the site to download, print, and build this little retro camping scene.
Our power returned today. While the idea of reading by candlelight sounds romantic and Abe Lincoln-esque, it's actually not that great. Neither are cold showers, spoiled food, or the inability to fire up my desktop computer to get any work done. Fortunately the HOW Creative Freelancers Conference kept me busy yesterday and today. It was excellent. Freelancers, I recommend it.
And now I leave you for the weekend with this interesting little quiz from the BBC that puts your eyeballs (and other senses) to the test. My eyeballs plan to enjoy some night-time electric lighting—how novel!
Here are four sewing tutorials for bags, ranging from easy to "I'm sorry, what?" Take your pick based on your level of ambition:
Six-pocket bag at Better Homes and Gardens
Easy tote bags from Needle and Spatula
The Weekender from Weekend Designer
Cloudy Day appliquéd tote at Craft Snob
To those on the verge of getting hitched: check out Cathe Holden's suite of free, printable wedding labels and ornate vintage clip art right here.
Even if you don't have Photoshop, it's possible to make simple corrections to your images using Photoshop's online Express Editor. It's super easy to use. Upload a photo from your computer to operate on. Select a tool in the sidebar, and instructions will appear at the top of the window telling you what to do. Fix red eye, crop, resize, adjust the exposure, lighting, or white balance, add text, and more. Then save the image back to your computer.
If the kids need help planning something special for Sunday, rush over to Catch My Party and download a massive collection of cute Father's Day printables. Get cards, party tags, invitations, flags, labels, napkin rings, a banner, and more.
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