On Ubuntu 11.04 you could make a launcher for an application by clicking with your right mouse button on your desktop and selecting the option. But on Ubuntu 11.10 they decided to drop the option.
Drag and Drop
The easiest way to create a launcher is to press Alt+F2 or the SuperKey and type the name of the application and when the icon is shown just drag and drop it on to your desktop and the launcher is made.
Source: my own question on askubuntu
Create Launcher Script
The create launcher script is a nautilus script that will add the option to create a launcher in the Scripts menu. To download and move the script to the nautilus-scripts folder open a terminal window and copy+paste the following lines:
wget http://dl.dropbox.com/u/47950494/Create-Launcher
cp Create-Launcher ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts
chmod +x ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts/Create-Launcher
To use the script click with your right mouse button on your desktop and select Scripts -> Create-Launcher.
Source: http://shuffleos.com/3708/how-to-create-desktop-launchers-right-click-context-menu-ubuntu-11-10/