Ellie Ellie Wears: Tartan Trousers

Tartan is a great print that has been everywhere this season! It looks great dressed down for a day look or dressed up for the evening! These tartan trousers from Zara look sharp and smart and will look great with this shirt from River Island! Finish the outfit off with these brogues from Whistles or to transform the outfit for a night time look slip on some black heels! Add a touch of colour with Ellie Ellie's Building Brick Stud Earrings for that pop of colour!

Black shirt - River Island
Tartan trousers - Zara
Brogues- Whistles
Earrings - Ellie Ellie

Mulled Wine Season!

What says Christmas more than Mulled Wine in the festive season! Mulled Wine is a traditional mix of wine, fruit and spices, which gained its name from an old English word meaning muddled. It's thought that the process of mulling wine was first employed as a way to save any wine that was about to spoil, and the result was this delicious drink enjoyed at Christmas time.

Here is an easy  recipe to make your own mulled wine this Christmas! You can make it as sweet as you want by adding more sugar or stronger by adding more wine, so it is adaptable to how you like your Mulled Wine.

Ingredients:

1 litre dry red wine

2 (5cm) cinnamon sticks

1 dessertspoon whole cloves

1 dessertspoon whole allspice

1 large piece orange rind (avoid the pith)

1 large piece lemon rind (avoid the pith)

4 tablespoons sugar, or to taste

 

The method for making this tasty drink:

1. In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, combine the red wine, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, lemon rind and orange rind. Heat gently, but don't bring to the boil. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and once dissolved, taste to see if you'd like to add more.
2. Keep hot on medium to low heat for 20 minutes to let the flavours infuse the wine. Serve your mulled wine hot in glasses or mugs.



To see the recipe and more like this see the website!

Christmas Bunting!

Getting crafty and creative is a great way to spend time with the kids this festive season, and get them involved in making great decorations for the home. It's also a great way to spend some downtime and decorate your fireplace or the front door of your home.

There are some great ideas for Christmas bunting and Ellie Ellie loves the idea of getting creative and crafty. You can spell out Christmas with your bunting, or Merry Christmas, or just have lovely Christmas patterns that will fill the home with festive joy this season!

Here are some great ideas:

This bunting has been made by using old sheet music, with the word joy! It's a great idea to mix it up with different shapes and colours, which make it more interesting and fun!



This is more traditional bunting, with great Christmas patterns and colours! Hanging bunting under a shelf with all your Christmas cards adds another bit of Christmas magic to a room.

 

 

If you prefer a more neutral colour scheme to your Christmas decorations, these are a great mixture of a simple pattern with Christmas robins, snowmen and cake.

 

Bunting is an easy and great way to make your home more festive this Christmas!



Ellie Ellie Wears: Wrap Up Warm

Wrap up warm this winter with Ellie Ellie Wears - This great snood from Bibico will definitely keep your neck warm and looks great with this cosy jumper from Lowie! Lowie produce beautiful clothes ethically, using hand makers and small manufacturers to make their designs, using small manufactures also means their designs are limited edition, so you won't find a jumper like this on the high street! Add these Elsom Organic Skinny Jeans for a laid back look and complete the outfit with a Lucky Sixpence Customized Date Coin Necklace from Ellie Ellie, which you can personalise with a special date that is personal to you!

Jumper - Lowie

Snood - Bibico

Jeans - Elsom

Sixpence Necklace - Ellie Ellie

Winter Wonderland!!

The gates to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park open this Friday,  the 22^nd of November, this year at Hyde Park promises even more fun and thrills as last year, providing a lot of Christmas magic for all the family.

Soak up the festive atmosphere in the park for free this winter, and enjoy all the entertainment and Christmas fun! There are also opportunities to go ice skating or to the circus.

With a number of festive attractions this year, including ice skating, the magical ice kingdom and a number of rides, this is a great day out for all the family to enjoy. Open till the 5^th of January, it would be a great new year activity to enjoy if you haven’t got time to go before Christmas!

Take a look at all Hyde Park has to offer, and the magic if Winter Wonderland now!

It's Time to Prepare the Christmas Cake

If you want to make an impression this Christmas, or want a challenge, making the perfect Christmas Cake is definitely a great way to impress. Now you may wonder why we're writing a post about Christmas Cake in the middle of November, but the truth is, Christmas Cake needs time to rest for up to three months and you need to feed the cake at intervals throughout this time with brandy. It's more complicated than you think!

The Christmas Cake ingredients:

Currants
Sultanas
Raisins
Glace Cherries, rinsed, dried and quartered
Dried apricots, snipped into pieces
Candied peel finely chopped
Brandy, plus extra for feeding the cake
Plain flour
Nutmeg
Ground mixed spice
Softened butter
Muscovado sugar
Eggs
Almonds
Black Trecle
Lemon zest
Orange zest

To prepare the cake:

1. Put the currants, sultanas, raisins, rinsed, dried and quartered cherries, snipped apricots and chopped mixed peel in a large bowl. Stir in the brandy, cover the bowl and leave in a cool place overnight.
2. Lightly grease a 23cm/9 in deep round cake tin. Cut a strip of non-stick baking parchment to fit twice around the sides of the tin, fold the bottom edge of the strip up by about 2.5cm/1 in creasing it firmly, then open out the fold and cut slanting lines into this narrow strip at intervals. Put a circle of non-stick baking parchment into the base of the tin, lightly grease the outer edge and then fit the prepared strip of parchment with the snipped edge in the base of the tin to line the sides of the tin. Place a second circle of non-stick baking parchment in to cover the cut part of the paper. Preheat the oven to 140C/275F/Gas 1.
3. Put the flour, grated nutmeg, mixed spice, butter, sugar, eggs, chopped almonds, black treacle and the citrus zest into a large bowl and beat well to mix thoroughly. Fold in the soaked fruits.
4. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and spread out evenly with the back of a spoon. Decorate the top with the whole blanched almonds and glacé cherries, pushing them lightly into the top of the cake mixture. Cover the top of the cake loosely with a double layer of greaseproof paper. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 4¼-4 ¾ hours, or until the cake feels firm to the touch and a skewer inserted

Remember to let the cake rest and feed it with brandy in intervals up till Christmas!

 

Find Mary Berry's recipe here.

 

 

 

Ellie Ellie Wears: Colour Block Skirt

Ellie Ellie loves adding colour to any outfit and this burnt red skirt from Hobbs is perfect for that splash of colour and works great this season. Add this embroidered shirt for a smart look that suits our Personalised Vintage Map Pendant perfectly. Finish off the look with these great light brown sandals, that will also look great with tights for the cold weather.

Skirt - Hobbs
Shirt - River Island
Map Pendant - Ellie Ellie
Leather Sandals - Rokit