Make your own simmering Potpourri!

As we approach Autumn and the weather gets chillier, it's nice to feel warm and cosy! We've found a great activity to get in the mood for the season.

Firstly, think about some of your favorite scents during autumn, whether it be fresh apples, oranges or cinnamon. With these, you can easily make your very own delightful simmering Potpourri!

Here's a sample recipe to make a lovely blend of fragrances:

- the peel of one orange 
- one thinly sliced apple

- 2 large cinnamon sticks 

- 1 tablespoon of cloves 

- 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract 

- 1 tablespoon of almond extract 

- 1.5 cups of water plus plenty more for refill 

Simply mix together your chosen ingredients to a saucepan with some water and simmer throughout the day, spreading a lovely seasonal scent through your home. You can reuse the mix for three days, storing it in the fridge in the meantime!

You can also make a dried Potpourri to display all the colours and textures of the ingredients. Mix together some dried fruit, cinnamon sticks and pine cones (maybe go on a family nature walk with the kids to pick the best ones!) and add a splash of essential oils. It's then ready to sit in a bowl or jar as a decoration and for you to enjoy the heavenly smells!

Have you made your own Potpourri? We'd love to hear your recipes!

www.ellieellie.co.uk

It's Christmas! Make your own Christmas Decs!

It's time to put up your Christmas tree and Christmas decorations and properly get into the festive spirit! Although many people have been talking about Christmas for what seems like for ever, there is just over a week to go until we can all tuck into our Christmas dinner, spend time with our families and eat chocolate!

Before all that fun stuff happens here are some great ideas if you are up for making your own Christmas stockings and Christmas decorations. It's a great way to spend time with the kids and as a family and they will be something you can treasure for years to come and get out every year with a smile on your face with the thought that you and your family have made something special!

Here are some fun ideas for Christmas Stockings, whether using old jumpers or old quilts and tablecloths that have been laying around the house all year. There are some great designs and fun touches that you can add too!

 

Here are some great ideas to decorate your house this Christmas! These fun scrabble letters with festive words are an Ellie Ellie favourite and the upside down wine glasses for candle holders are a brilliant idea! Turning jam jars into snow globes is a great idea too! 

 

 

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."

Ellie Ellie's DIY Inspiration - Turn Old Jam Jars into Colourful Vases!

 

Gorgeous aren't they? We found inspiration for these on Pinterest- great addition to your home to let a bit of Spring in! The best news is that they are super duper easy to make and up-cycled too!

All you need to do is collect yourself some vintage jam or pickle jars, which you can pick up from charity shops or even in your cupboards at home!

Grab yourself some paint- why not select your kitchen's colour scheme of some traditional Spring shades?

And...follow the simple instructions below, leave to dry and fill with beautiful fresh flowers from the garden!

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.