What wonderful looking labels !! I think you should make them and market them !

You did a great job. They are beautiful.

Thanks for sharing. They are lovely. Do you use stock pictures?

Thanks for such nice compliments on my labels.

The reason I don't sell them is because I use artwork from all over the net and out of computer programs like Hallmark's greeting card software, and like Printmaster. I think most companies/people would allow me to save and use these images for my gifties, but not to mass market.

Even starting with someone else's artwork- it still takes me hours to change/add text etc. to suit my purpose.

I think the process makes the labels as special as the hard earned jars of my (mostly) home grown, (always) home canned goodies.

Mellyofthesouth- I do use, as you can read, stock photos or artwork. I find my best in 2 ways:

1- from the greeting card software programs like Hallmark or Printmaster. I can search in the program for 'apples' or 'green tomato' for example and pull the graphic out that I like and save it to a file for later use.

Or I just pretend in the program that I am making a poster or flyer in typing paper size, with the image as big or small as I need in the middle of the page, then save it in the program to print later; and

2- I go to Google and instead of using the web search, I click on 'image' search. Then I type in (in quotes) "strawberries in a basket" or some such thing. If I see an image I think might work, I use the link and go to the website. Then I and save the image in a file on my computer for later.
Then in the greeting card type software I pull up that image to use it, like in #1 above.

I've gotten images from websites for antique postcards, seed packages, extension service websites, or websites where they have fine art posters or (a personal favorite) fruit crate labels for sale. The possibilities are endless!

You'd be amazed what a google image search can get you! Just make sure, that if you are searching for more than one word, like "green tomato", that you put it in quotes. Otherwise you get 9 million hits just for the word green or just for tomato. The search can addictively take you through a LOT of websites for the 'perfect' image.
But, since I've 'lifted' that image off someone else's website, I am careful to only use it for me and my lucky friends.

Do try and make some of these folks... your precious canned goods and, (possibly your precious) friends, deserve it.

Rebecca

My name is rebecca too...can I use yours!?
I loved seeing water melon rind. My Bubbie from Russia, grew up on a farm in Texas. She made these every year! YUM!!!

WOW, Love your labels! I'm new to this fourm, but not GW. Would love a couple of your recipes(if you don't mind sharing)espically for the watermelon and pick. tomatoes
Thanks for sharing your labels
tnflower_lover

Hello Rebecca,

Your labels are lovely and I really like the idea of gifting in paper bags.

Many Forum members do create their own labels. Here's a previous thread with lots of suggestions for ways to label homemade creations.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Labels

Mine are made with Print Shop, and I add real photos if I can find some. I do use a sheet of 12 rounds at 2 inches in diameter each. Print Shop is easily 'tweaked' for accurate placement on the rounds. Instead of printing to regular paper, you could also use a full sheet of adhesive backed paper. Yes, you may not need all those extras today, but I save what I have extra on, for the next years canning. Some of your art looks like they were taken from things like old wooden orange crates, which is a nice graphical way to show whats inside. Love that 'strawberry jam or sauce' one, as you have covered both bases there, just in case it doesn't set up.

very attractive ...

do you grow the melons for the Watermelon Rind Pickles...

I've wanted to make some but the melons I buy have such thin rinds, by the time I peeled them I'd only have slivers.

There was a discussion of Watermelon Rind Pickles and Watermelon Preserves last season if you want to take a look.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Zesty Watermelon Jelly

Thanks again everyone for appreciating the labels.

Yummykaz-(Rebecca)- you are more than welcome to use them.

Readinglady (Carol)- I enjoyed all the other ideas for labels, thanks for the link.
Also the watermelon link you provided above was good too. I have always wanted to try a watermelon jelly- I think I'll skip that one now.

The 2nd recipe you had listed in that link for watermelon rind pickles is close to a batch I made once, and other batch recipes I've successfully done are also listed below,
(Since tnflower_lover requested mine.)

I too have a copy of Marion Brown's old book. The first recipe below (from readinglady) is from "Pickles and Preserves" by Marion Brown, 1955, reprinted University of North Carolina Press

6 cups watermelon rind (trimmed of green outside skin and all soft pink inside pulp)
7 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups water
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1/2 ounce ginger root, broken up

Cut preppped rind into pieces. Cover with water and boil 2 hours or until tender. Cool in the water. Drain and measure to make 6 cups. Boil together the other ingredients for 10 minutes. Add the rind and cook for about 1 hour, or until the rind is transparent. Always keep the rind covered with syrup while cooking. If the syrup is too thin, add additional sugar; if too thick, add water. Remove from heat. Seal hot in sterilized jars. (reading lady added- "I'd process BWB as per jam".)

I (reba_grows) have a 1982 Kerr home canning and freezing book that I use as a jump off point for a lot of canning.
In it, they have a recipe for watermelon rind PRESERVES. Mine usually ends up more like a preserve VERY sweet in a thick sweet syrup.

KERR Watermelon Preserves

Select melons with thick rinds.
Peel off all green and pink leaving only the white rind. Dice, soak in mild salt water overnight (1/2 cup salt to 1 gallon cold water).
Drain and cook in clear water about 30 minutes or until tender. Drain well.

For 4 pounds (11 cups) of rind, make a syrup of
9 cups of sugar,
8 cups water,
4 lemons sliced thin.
Add 4 sticks cinnamon,
4 teaspoons cloves

Tie the above spices in a cheesecloth or muslin bag (or use a stainless steel tea ball) and add to the syrup.

Boil the syrup, lemon and spices for 5 minutes before adding the watermelon rinds.

Add rinds and cook until transparent and clear, (careful with your stirring so nothing sticks or burns).

If desired, a few minutes before the preserves are done add a few drops of red or green food coloring to tint the preserves. (I added a tiny amount of yellow once-it turned out pretty-reba.)

Remove spice bag.
Pour into sterilized jars, (I just use clean hot jars since they will sterilize in the WBC-reba),leaving 1/2 inch at the top (I leave only 1/4 inch as in the BALL recipe below- reba).

Add lid, screw on band. Process in boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. (I process 20 minutes as in recipe below-reba).

Next, from a 1999 Ball Blue book is the one that I use the most often except I add cinnamon sticks in a teaball with a few whole cloves to the syrup-reba.

BALL Watermelon Rind Preserves

1 and 1/2 quarts watermelon rind,
4 tablespoons salt (for the soak...I use canning salt, reba),
3 and 1/2 quarts water divided,
1 tablespoon ground ginger,
4 cups sugar,
1/4 cup lemon juice (I use bottled but newly purchased-reba)
1 medium lemon sliced thin (I use 2).

To prepare rind-
Trim red and green from rind.
Cut rind in 1 inch pieces. (I borrowed miniature heart, diamond and clover cutters once- too cute for words.)

Dissolve salt in 2 quarts water.
Pour salted water over rind and let stand 5 to 6 hours.
Drain, rinse, and drain again.

Cover rind with cold water and let stand 30 minutes.
Drain again.
Sprinkle ginger over rind.
Cover again with clear fresh cold water and cook until fork tender.
Drain again.

To prepare syrup-
Combine sugar, lemon juice and 1 and 1/2 quarts water in a large saucepan.

Boil 5 minutes.

Add prepared watermelon rind and boil gently, for 30 minutes or until syrup thickens.

Add sliced lemon and cook until rind is transparent.

Remove from heat, skim foam if necessary.
Ladle hot preserves into hot jars leaving 1/4 " headspace.
Remove air bubbles and adjust 2 piece caps.
Process 20 minutes in a boiling water bath canner.

Yields about 6 half pints.

In the same 1999 BALL Blue book they also have-

BALL Watermelon Rind PICKLES (not preserves)-

4 quarts cubed watermelon rind
1 cup canning salt
1 gallon cold water
7 cups sugar
1 medium lemon thinly sliced
1 tablespoon whole cloves
1 tablespoon whole allspice
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
3 sticks cinnamon
2 cups vinegar (that's what makes these more picklely and less preserves like)

Peel watermelon rind like other recipes above.
Cut rind into 1 inch pieces.
Dissolve salt in water, add rind and let stand 6 hours or overnight.
Drain and rinse, drain again and set aside.

Tie spices in bag or ball.
Combine sugar, lemon slices, spice bag or ball and vinegar in a large saucepot.

Bring mixture to a boil and cook 10 minutes.
Add rind to syrup and SIMMER until rind is transparent.
Remove spice bag/ball.

Pack hot rind and hot liqued into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace.
Remove air bubbles and adjust 2 piece lids.
Process 10 minutes in a boiling water bath canner.

Yield about 6 pints.

One of these should be a winner as far as ingredients and amounts, but I would still process the preserves 20 minutes, or 10 minutes for the pickles, using 1/4" headspace for either.

Also, when I soak the rind, I do it along with ice cubes in a ziploc bag added to it (so it doesn't dilute the salt brine) to keep them good and cold for a while.

I know someone also requested the Kosher green tomato pickles- I'll have to find the recipe and post in another post, another time. Weeding in the garden took it out of me today.

PS I do not grow my own watermelons- too much trouble and space for me. I have not had the problem of thin rinds here in the east (West VA).

With a digital camera and a page scanner, you can put virtually anything on a label. One trick I do is if I want to print a small label size and/or only a couple, I will print out a 'test' page on a FULL sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper. Then, position the blank, adhesive backed label over the printing on the same sheet of 'test' paper, exactly where it was printed. I use the low stick Scotch magic tape (frosted), that is only half as sticky as the regular type. Its the same low tack adhesive as they use in 'Post It' notes. I position the label and take it in place on the sheet of test paper. In any case, run the sheet through printer again and you have a single label, printed any size you like, even down to a tiny 1/2 inch size (but thats kinda pushing it a bit!). I do this for small oval sheets of labels and its worked very well.

Wow, those are beautiful! I've always wanted to make labels like that, but the quilted jelly jars make it hard for the labels to stick to the sides.

Do you use the smooth jars? If not, how do your labels stick to the quilted jars?

gardengrl- I had the same problem with the quilted jars, trying to use my homemade stick on's, so I thought to use the lid but as you have seen I have a lot to say on my label and I love the size of the labels because I can put a lot of artwork/photos on them.
So now, I use little paper bags (lunchbags- come 50 to a pack, in white or brown) and gluestick the labels onto them, roll down the top of the bag and voila! I find the gift receiver can (and does) put them in their pantry in the bags (so the label shows), and the bag protects the contents from the light.
{{gwi:889889}}

ksrogers- I'm just going to have to try to use the camera and the scanner to make a label. (I am still getting used to using a digital after 40 professional years with a 35mm.)
Also thanks Ken (it is Ken?) for all the other good tips for labels here & on the other labels posts.

I've got lots to try for the new label/canning season!
Rebecca

Up, is Ken.. Been in photography for about 40 years and even used to develop my own color slides years ago. Many processional photographers have converted their film backed cameras to digitals. Two brands that come to mind are Canon and Nikon. Both have lenses that fit either the film or digital SLRs.

They do make a smooth sided jelly jar without the pattern. Also I have seen quarts and pints that are smooth sided. I usually only stick my printed 2 inch rounds on the lid. Easy to remove, as you just toss the metal lid after the jar is empty. With the Print Shop program, I also add a faint water mark to each label that states: "Please return the empty jar", so that it will remind people.

Rebecca, what beautiful labels you've made!!! After you explained how you made them, I spent several hours online searching for graphics, too, LOL. For future use. They are like little works of art instead of a graphic. Well done! Lori

Rebecca, I LOVE your labels! I am a words person myself (professional editor), and am in awe of people who have a talent for pictures, graphics, and design, all of which I am hopeless at.

You are right that they make the product extra special. Your comment made me think of my young niece, who came to visit last summer and helped me make jam. When we were done, I gave her the plain old ordinary oval stick-on labels that come from the manufacturer with the jars and asked her to label them. I expected she'd do what I do --- just write "Raspberry Peach Jam" as neatly as she could on them all. But she sat down with a big pack of markers and spent an hour creating a unique label for each jar. Each even had a different title --- one was "Audrey's Perfect Jam," one was "Raspberry Peach Jam by Zabby & Audrey" etc., and each was in a different set of colours with little decorations (all on labels 2 inches long, mind you). It cracked me up, but she had such fun doing it and was so proud of the results!

Zabby, looking forward to another visit from the niece this weekend --- we have a big painting project to do but maybe we'll have time to make some rhubarb jam....

Has every one seen these beautiful labels?

Gosh what a wonderful job.

ML

They are truly beautiful and surely most useful to anyone who gives canned goods as gifts. :)

Hi folks,

So nice to see my 2007 canning labels are still enjoyed a year later!

After this post, I'm putting a new post up, with some of my 2008 labels. The post is titled "My NEW 2008 canning labels with 1 for ANNIE's SALSA".

I hope you enjoy these too!

Rebecca