Make do and mend: personalised cushion.

Now, what I should be showing you tonight is the pictures of Astrid's party - I want to show you what I did with a whole lot of paper and a small branch. But, I've just realised that would involve searching through and editing all the pictures that were taken at the party and I haven't done that yet (and don't have time tonight, sorry). I'll aim to get them ready to show you before the week is out!

So, to this post - making a personalised cushion.

I managed to grab some time to make some gifts just before Christmas and I even remembered to take some snaps of some of them so I could share them with you.

Up first, is a personalised cushion that I made for our niece, Harriet. Her bedroom is neutral but with tasteful, brightly coloured accessories and so I wanted to give her a cushion that mirrored that. As I don't possess a sewing machine, I chose to use a shop-bought cushion cover and then embellished it myself.

Like most of my crafts, it was really easy to make - I think it took me three evenings to make it (well, the time left after re-settling two children!). I used:

• chartreuse cushion cover from Dunelm Mill
• pink toile de jouy fabric from Laura Ashley
• empty cereal packet
• pencil
• ruler
• decent scissors (I have to confess I used our kitchen scissors, as I don't have any fabric scissors)
• pins
• white cotton thread

What I should have also used:

• thimble (ouch!)

I began by drawing an H on the empty cereal packet using the pencil and ruler. When I was happy with the dimensions, I cut it out and used it as a template to draw an H onto the toile de jouy fabric.

Next, I removed the cushion pad, positioned the fabric and then pinned the H to the green cushion cover. I then sewed around the edge of the H using a very simple straight edging stitch. Please excuse the total amateur nature of the following stitching, but if you're not a perfectionist, here is a close up showing how I finished the edges of the H.

All in all, this was a inexpensive, easy craft to do and hopefully Harriet will like it (she's only seven months old) when she's older.

What do you think? Did you get around to making any gifts this year?

Make do and mend: Astrid's winter-themed birthday invitation.

As you know, Astrid turned one in November and we had a winter-themed party for her. I realised that I got all carried away saying that I'd got my craft on, and then Christmas took over and I didn't get around to showing you what I had made.

First up is the invitations I made for her party. Do you like?

To make this I used:

• cream cardstock
• a snowflake punch
• an old, unwanted book
• silver card
• white card
• silver pen
• glue pen

It was super easy to make - I just simply punched out several snowflakes from the silver and white card, and old book; experimented in laying them out until I was happy with how they looked; and then stuck them on to the card using the glue pen. I finished by using the silver pen to write "Astrid is One" on the bottom right hand corner.

A very simple idea, but one that I was quite happy with.

150 years of the London Underground

According to Google this morning, today is the 150th anniversary of the London underground. Over those 150 years, the iconic transport system has featured significantly in our culture - it has inspired art, films, novels; been used to stage music videos, and most recently has set trends in interior decoration.

Inspired by the images in their poster archive, the London Transport Museum has launched a celebratory range of gifts and souvenirs. I had a look at the rest of the shop  to see what they had to offer and below are some of my favourite pieces.

This colourful poster would be great for a child's room.

I really like the colours in this old print.

I know we've seen these before, but these vintage luggage rack shelves are achingly cool (if a tad expensive!).

And finally, these bright tea towel designs by Michelle Mason would liven up any kitchen. The "Big Leaf" pattern is her take on the classic 1930s "Colindale" print used on tube upholstery material.

All images from here.

Also, speaking of anniversaries - I'd like to say a big thank you to you all for reading my little blog - Beautiful Square Feet was 2 on the 3rd!

Happy New Year

Things went back to normal this morning - Torin went to nursery, David went to work, and I went to the supermarket with Astrid. It already feels like Christmas was ages ago, although you only have to take a look at our living room to see that there has been a recent toy delivery!

One of my resolutions this January is to be better at keeping in touch with people - birthday cards on time, replying to texts and messages on facebook straight away - all things that I really try to be organised with but never seem to manage very well. Anyway, that resolution goes for here too, which is why I really wanted to come on here today and say hi, and that I really will try and squeeze in time in the evenings to write more (I know, I know, you've heard it before . . .).

So, Happy New Year everyone and hopefully see you around here more frequently . . . promise.

Image from here.

Make do and mend: snowflake table confetti.

Now, I know you can buy this kind of stuff, but I thought I'd use materials that I already had and spent a lovely evening in front of Kirstie's Vintage Home pressing out a load of silver snowflakes.

I used a snowflake design hole punch and thin silver card to make these little shimmery cut outs - my thumbs hurt quite a bit now as I had to press down with both of my hands in order to punch them out. Using thinner, silver paper would have been a lot easier, but I wanted to work with what I already had - so card it was.

I'm going to use the snowflakes as table confetti and scatter them over a white tablecloth on the food table at Astrid's party. Simple, but pretty, don't you think?

Also, sorry - in hindsight, I should have used a white background in this picture, as I can see some of the snowflakes are a little hard to see against the grey.