Happy New Year!

WOW. We can't believe it is that time of year again! 

Happy New Year Everybody! 

Have a great start to 2015!

and of course Little Gnorm says a big Happy New Year!

Ellie Ellie Wears

To finish off what has been a great year, Ellie Ellie Wears creates a great New Years Eve outfit, just right for a big party or dinner! This deep red dress is the perfect colour to celebrate and a little festive too. Team with this People Tree cardigan to keep warm and these Swedish Hasbeens silver clogs. Great if you are going to be on your feet for a lot of the night as the heel is strong and sturdy. Finish off the look with our Lucky Sixpence Date Coin Pendant, which you can personalise with an engraving on the back and chosen date!

Have a great New Year!

White Cardigan - People Tree

Red Dress - Fever Designs

Lucky Sixpence Date Coin Pendant - Ellie Ellie

Silver Clogs - Swedish Hasbeens 

www.ellieellie.co.uk

Happy Christmas!!

Happy Christmas from the team at Ellie Ellie 

We hope you have a wonderful day, filled with scrumptious food, family and games! 

Last Minute Christmas Ideas

Christmas Day is fast approaching and it's now time to get the last bits and pieces ready for Christmas Day! There are so many great ways to prepare some last minute treats that the kids can happily nibble on without the need to snack on chocolate all day. We've found some rather scrumptious Christmas treats which are easy to make and delicious to eat!

These strawberries turn into Santas with some whipped cream!

Use a marshmallow to turn these cookies into melted snowmen!

Little reindeer's made from a simple chocolate dipped marshmallow and pretzel for ears!

A nibble of a cheesecake with strawberries on top for Santas hats!

What Christmas treats will you make this year?

The Family Christmas Table!

Christmas Day is fast approaching, preparations are being completed for the Christmas holidays and the festivities are beginning (we love this time of year). As Christmas day approaches there are lots of things to do, including dressing your table full of Chrismassy goodness. We've found some great ideas for name cards and decorating your Christmas table this year!

Cinnamon is the classic Christmas scent, and putting something like this on the table will immediately feel festive! 

Christmas Jumper Day!

Hello everybody! As the countdown to Christmas begins the Ellie Ellie team got into the festive spirit to don their Christmas jumpers for Save The Children!

Last Friday, the 12th of December was Christmas Jumper Day in aid of Save The Children, and didn't we look a festive bunch!

As we count down to Christmas, we hope you are having a great festive time!

Christmas Shortbread!

We got into the kitchen in October to make up some Chrismassy shortbread and to try our new Christmas Cookie Cutters set, which includes 6 festive shapes. The results were delicious, shortbread is so easy to make and the recipe uses ingredients you probably already have in the kitchen!

We used:
- 150g plain flour
- 100g margarine
- 50g caster sugar

The simple method:

- Preheat your oven to 160c, gas mark 6
- Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl, soften the butter first to make this easier!
- Gradually mix in the flour, and using your hands, knead the mix together into a smooth ball
- Roll out your mix onto a floured surface to about half a cm thick, and cut out your shapes
- Place onto a baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes
- Wait to cool before icing, or sprinkle with icing sugar

The Christmas shapes were so easy to cut using these cutters, and looked so delicious when they came out of the oven.

Our icing skills could probably be improved! 

www.ellieellie.co.uk

Christmas Bake Off!

Some people may remember the whole Ellie Ellie team took part in our first Christmas bake off! After a very successful Easter bake off earlier in the year, we thought what a great event this would be, to get everyone to bake something Chrismassy (we don't need to remind everyone how much we love Christmas)!

We had so many tasty bakes and we all had two votes each in the office, for best looking bake, and best tasting bake!

We had three winners, with best tasting going to two of our bakers! All the bakes were absolutely delicious it was so hard to choose!

The big chocolate cake was one of the winners of best tasting bake!

The pandas, penguins and reindeers won best looking bake, and the strawberry Santa hats were the second best tasting bake! 

Here are our winners. Well done bakers! 

Hayley also won our social media star baker badge, with her Christmas snowflake carrot cake! Expertly decorated!

www.ellieellie.co.uk

Ellie Ellie Wears

December has begun which means we can officially get the festive wintery knits out of the cupboard. This cosy grey jumper is from Lowie, which is a brilliant company who produces beautiful clothing as ethically as possible is perfect. We think this jumper is a staple for this winter! Pair the jumper with these red jeans, which go perfectly with the red stitching in the jumper (and very festive too). Finish off the look with these brown leather brogues from Walk Over Shoes and Ellie Ellie's Recycled Aluminium Word Heart Pendant, for an overall wintery and cosy look!  

Grey Jumper - Lowie
Red jeans - Topshop
Recycled Aluminium Word Heart Pendant - Ellie Ellie
Brown Leather Brogues - Walk Over Shoes

Christmas Day Breakfast!

Christmas is fast approaching (ok, we know it is still the beginning of December but we're excited), and there is no better way to start Christmas Day than with a special breakfast with all the family.

We've been thinking about the different kinds of breakfast we would like to have on Christmas Day, and the only conclusion we came to was that it has to be something different and absolutely delicious! 

Salmon and scrabbled eggs is a favourite for Christmas Day, and is very simple to make with the added ingredient of the salmon to make it extra special!

We made some delicious egg breakfast muffins earlier in the year which are so simple to make. All you need is some eggs, chopped garlic, skimmed milk and parmesan cheese. Plus any other ingredients you would like to put in them, such as mushrooms, spinach, ham, peppers, sweetcorn, bacon, brocoli or peas. 

Method: 

1. Simply preheat your oven to 200c/400F or gas mark 6 and chop all your chosen veg or meat in pieces

2. Fry all your vegetables (and bacon if that is what you have chosen) and add the garlic 

3. Once everything has softened, remove from the heat and set aside

4. Whisk together the eggs, milk and half the parmesan and then add your vegetables

5. Grease a muffin tray with butter and divide your mixture between the tray

6. Sprinkle with your remaining parmesan and bake for 15 minutes until the muffins are puffed and golden!

You could also make these up on Christmas Eve ready to heat up on Christmas morning for all the family! 

Family Fun this Christmas!

Christmas is such a great time to spend with your family and friends, now December has begun, the lead up to Christmas has truly started. Spending time with the family and doing lots of festive things is just the thing to get everybody excited for Christmas. 

We've compiled a list of our favourite things to do this Christmas (we are a bit in love with Christmas at Ellie Ellie, can you tell?), whether with friends or family or the kids, they are bound to get you in the Christmas spirit.

1. Watch your favourite Christmas film to get into the festive spirit

2. Make your grandparents Christmas cards, ready to send

3. Bake and decorate Christmas biscuits

4. Make your own Christmas decorations

5. Listen to Christmas carols

6. Write your Christmas cards

7. Decorate your Christmas tree

8. Write your Christmas list to Father Christmas

9. Make some gingerbread biscuits

10. Make a wreath for you front door

11. Go and look at the Christmas lights on neighbours houses

12. Have a family board game night - make it festive with mulled wine

13. Roast marshmallows over a fire

14. Read a Christmas book

15. Make paper snowflakes

16. Sing Christmas carols

17. Write a Christmas story

18. Go ice skating 

19. Have dinner by candlelight

20. Draw a Christmas picture to display on the fridge

21. Learn to say Happy Christmas in different languages

22. Build your own snowman

23. Prepare you milk and cookies for Father Christmas

24. Share a favourite memory of the past year 

Small Business Saturday!

Small Business Saturday is s day to celebrate, support, inspire and promote small businesses. Taking place this Saturday, the 6th of December, loads of small businesses will be getting involved in the day. Highlighting the success of small businesses around the UK, Small Business Saturday encourages consumers to shop local and support small businesses on the high street and online.

One of the great things about being a small business at Ellie Ellie is that we are able to offer our customers options to personalise their gifts, with our personalised map jewellery and word definition cufflinks and pendant.

To celebrate Small Business Saturday we are offering a free engraving on our personalised map pendants, which come in oval, circle or heart. Our pendants can be personalised with your favourite holiday destination, or somewhere that holds a special memory for you and be engraved on the back.

Celebrate Small Business Saturday with Us!
www.ellieellie.co.uk

Celebrate with us and shop local!