Crazy Customising!

Here is a little crazy customisation we’ve stumbled upon this week. We aren’t sure about these customised Lego shoes here at Ellie Ellie HQ, love or hate?

If these Lego shoes don’t quite take your fancy why not try and customise an old pair of shoes you were going to chuck out and give them a new lease of life.... go on!!

Here are a handful of ideas inspired by Ellie Ellie’s favourite things… Have a go using scrap comics, maps or sheet music with Papier Mache, or you could try it with your favourite wrapping paper or old stamps.

For a fun, personalised look you could use locations that are special to you, and we love the idea of personalised insoles for your wedding shoe, a great way to have your memories with you on the day...

Another favourite of ours at Ellie Ellie is these stamp pumps, we think this is a lovely way to reuse stamps and create an individual look. 

 

Not forgetting our love of old vintage comics, personalising your old pumps and heels with comic print is a fabulous idea, use your favourite comic book characters and stories to make your shoes tell a story.

For a step by step guide to mastering papier mache, the perfect way to customise your shoes, have a look at this tutorial  Getting started with papier mache

Ellie Ellie Wears

This week's Ellie Ellie Wears features a Joules vs Cath Kidston mash up. That beautiful blush pink from the blouse, plucks the feminine colours from the country styles high waisted skirt. Tuck your top into the skirt and pop on a pair of these cute little floral pumps to finish your outfit off. Ellie Ellie's Personalised Map Cluster Pendant is an ideal accessory- you can personalise each charm with a location from around the world that you hold dear. You can have between 1 and 6 charms, and of course it's a great piece to add to over time as the memories are made!

Pink Blouse - Joules
Country Skirt - Cath Kidston
Floral Pumps - Joules
Personalised Map Pendant - Ellie Ellie

Handmade little memories

Ellie Ellie is quickly building a reputation for handmade and sustainable products, which give a whole new take on personalised gifting! Our Sussex HQ is packed to the rafters with materials, such as our beautiful vintage maps which we use to hand make our jewellery and cufflinks.

We thought we'd give you an insight to what happens behind the scenes!

We have thousands of vintage maps and atlases which we use to make our products with! We are always on the look out for beautiful old prints, whether we're rummaging around jumble sales or riffling through a charity shop!

Is it slightly weird that we have favourite maps? These are our 'old faithfuls'. This title is given to any map that never lets us down, having almost impossible locations in beautiful colour palettes and the highest print quality!

This is Lindsay our Head Maker, selecting map segments ready for jewellery making! She hand selects each piece of map that we use, making sure each piece is as beautiful as possible. By producing them individually by hand, it allows us to give our customers the individual attention they need to make their product as special as the memory it represents.

Some of our Personalised Map Cufflinks ready to go out to our customers! You can see how unique each one is, which we feel add a whole new level to the personalisation- no two are the same but they are all as beautiful!

Enter Ellie Ellie's Father's Day Competition!

IT'S COMPETITION TIME!

WIN one of our best selling Personalised Map Keyrings plus your choice of gift wrap & matching card for your Dad this Father’s Day!

All you have to do to win is head over to the Ellie Ellie Facebook page, 'like' us and comment on our competition post telling us which TWO locations you would choose for your Dad and why?

The best personalisation story will be chosen on the 10th of June by a sophisticated panel of the Ellie Ellie team! So dig deep people, it’s all about the location & good luck!

For more information about our Map Keyring, check it out here!

How to transform vintage tea cups into candles

Wednesday 8th May= National Tea Drinking Day. I kid you not. This does actually exist, I've googled it and it's totally kosher.

We love all things vintage - you literally have to surgically remove Danielle from any vintage china at the jumble sale. She's brought so many her house looks like a tea cup convention.

So it got us thinking, what else can you do with them (apart from the obvious). Tea cup candles are a great way of getting your old china out of the cupboard and out into your home to be admired, or of course they make fantastic presents for friends and family. 

You can use different oils and colourings to make no-end of different teacup candles!

We stumbled across this great idea from Martha Stewart - it's a great way to up-cycle your tea cups and old candles.

"Here's what you need -

Pans
Partially burned candles
Candy or candle thermometer
Tongs
New wicking
Teacups
Wick sustainers
Wooden skewers

How you do it -

 1. In a small pan set over a larger pan of simmering water, melt down old candles; clip the thermometer to the upper pot, and keep temperature at about 185 degrees. Remove old wicks with tongs.

2. Cut a piece of wicking to the cup's height plus 2 inches. Clamp one end to a wick sustainer; tie the other end around a skewer. Dip wicking and sustainer into melted wax to coat them. Remove and stick sustainer to cup's bottom.

3. Pour in the wax, stopping 1/2 inch below the cup's rim. Allow wax to set, about 1 hour. The candle will harden with a well in the center. To even it out, use another skewer to prick a circle of holes about 1/16 inch deep around the wick. Pour in melted wax until surface is 1/4 inch below rim. Cut wick."

Get Crafty for Mother's Day!

Before you go spending SQUILLIONS of pounds on flowers for Mother’s Day, (maybe a slight exaggeration…) make sure you check this out first!

Paper and tulle flowers are leading the way when it comes to a high impact, easy to make gift, with great results. A wonderful crafty gift that will last forever- as long as you don’t try and plant them in the garden that is!

Simply cut four rectangles of coloured tissue paper (the colours are up to you), and two rectangles of tulle or netting, all the same size.

Lay them all on top of each other and fold into a concertina. Then bend in half like a fan and tie the middle with string so that it gathers together.

Snip the outside to make petal shapes and fan out slightly, and then gradually (and carefully!) separate the layers, scrunching them up to look more realistic.

The flowers look great as they are, or can be popped into a bunch for a perfect present! These flowers are also perfect for party decorations for Mother’s Day or even Easter!

With thanks to Kate Bruning from http://greedyforcolour.blogspot.co.uk for the fab idea!

As a little extra, our Polaroid Vintage Letter Tile 'Happy Mothers Day' Cards are a great way to add the finishing touch to your Mother’s Day treats. The floral background fits perfectly with the paper and tulle flowers too!

Get yours here.

Crafty Coasters

We found a great crafty present idea on Apartmenttherapy.com to add a unique and quirky look to your table! Just take a couple of slices of birch from a craft or flower shop, and trace your design through some carbon paper onto the wood. Paint or colour in however you fancy, and you have the perfect personal coaster for guests at a party, or something lovely for the home to make for the coming of Mother’s Day!

To keep your decorations looking perfect for longer, simply paint over or spray with some varnish.

Not quite as crafty but you still want something personal and from the heart? Ellie Ellie has just launched their NEW Personalised Map Paperweight, which you can personalise with any town or city from around the world. Handmade in Ellie Ellie's Sussex based HQ, each one is totally unique for the individual. Gorgeously nostalgic and useful! What more could you want? 

 If however, you're one step ahead of the game and have already got Mother's Day on the brain, why not try one of these..

A gorgeous chunk of silver plated, memory hinting awesomeness! A timeless piece to be treasured. Personalisation is up to you, world is your oyster! How about the location of a fantastic family holiday, or where her children were born? Go for it, she'll love it. Check it out, here.