Blog love for a Healthful Pursuit

In my blog reading frenzies, I've been uncovering all sorts of lovely blogs to read on a variety of topics. Out of recent finds, Healthful pursuit has been a favourite. It is filled with healthy recipes and entries from the creator, Leanne and her "passion for healthy treats, whole food eats, and balanced living".
Her recipes are an endless anthology of wholefood goodness and I an slowly making my way through a few of them! They are a great starting place to inspire your own cooking of you just need a bot of inspiration. I'm a big fan of the 5 min quinoa flake bake! (pictured below)

If you want another recipe for quinoa, Miss Morag's Morsels has recently blogged about this super food too!

 Happy tummy fruit salad

mmmm raw veggies!

I suppose I am drawn to this kind of blog as I feel that I am also working towards "balanced" living. It's so easy to get bogged down in things like work stresses and forget simple pleasures that give us joy, like making and eating a healthy and tasty meal! Or sitting in the sun for a few minutes or taking extra time to really enjoy a cup of tea.

I'd like to bring in yoga to my weekly routine to balance the high intensity activities that I do in Crossfit. I also try to limit take away to the weekends (a breakfast and a dinner!) Sometimes I fail at this and have to grab some yum soft tacos if I am working late! haha! They make some great tacos over at Tuckeria! It reminds of when I was in the Mission district in San Francisco in May :). What do you do to stay balanced?

It's going to be a foodie weekend for me.... starting this morning with AMAZING banana and coconut crepes from Grub st in Gaythorne. OMG I was in heaven! The crepes were made on rice flour which made them gluten free and Stix, the chef, also made them dairy free! The shredded coconut topping was elevated by the addition of lime zest and with the sweet, light maple syrup, it really made this dish sing! I forgot to get a photo as I was so keen to tuck in! oops! 

Stix is a very creative chef who really understands flavours and food combinations. He is also not afraid of putting something on the menu that's a little different - like nasi goreng for a breakfast special! Awesome! 

Tomorrow, I am going to the Merlo Coffee and Chocolate affair at Portside. I cannot wait to indulge and go chocolate crazy! I might regret this later in the day though! haha! :P

Now I'm off to create for Good Boy Cracky! I have to grab some supplies, then I'm finishing some phone covers and working on a new feature for the design range! oooooo!

Have a great weekend and I hope you eat some yummy food too!

Are you a fruit cake fancier?

I am. I think you either love it or you hate it! I am one of those people who look forward to wedding cakes as I know the chances of it being a fruit cake is pretty high! I also love those sultana cakes you got when you were a kid from the tuck shop. I think they were from Top Taste. Anyhow, I am a lover of the fruit cake so here is my tribute to it!*

*My inspiration for this post came from the morning tea at a BrisStyle Info session today on Marketing with guest speaker, Sarah Rossiter. She was very good and I came away with many notes of how I can improve my marketing and PR skills for Good Boy Cracky. Stay tuned for some great improvements! :)

And now... A TRIBUTE TO THE FRUIT CAKE!

First, here is a recipe for a yum boiled fruit cake sourced from the ABC website 
Made by a lovely lady from the Country Women's Association!

 Betty Brown from the South Australian Country Women's Association shared with us her recipe for boiled fruitcake.

250g margarine

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of water

3 cups of mixed fruit

1 tspn bi-carb soda

1/2 tspn cinnamon

1/2 tspn ginger

1/2 tspn mixed spice

2 beaten eggs

1 cup flour

1 cup self-raising flour

Place all ingredients except eggs and flours in a large saucepan and bring to the boil.

Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes until margarine melts.

Allow mixture to cool slightly, slowly beat in beaten eggs.

Sift flours and stir in to the mixture.

Pour into lined tin and bake at 170 degrees Celcius for about one hour or until skewer comes out clean.

Remove from tin and and put into airtight container when cool.

And here is a news article of Percy from the Preston Leader who is a gorgeous old man and a whizz in the kitchen!

"His boiled fruit cake won a blue ribbon and a gold-ribbon championship award, with Mr Dunn the only Preston Garden Club member to have won the top prize over four consecutive years."

The recipe for his award winning fruit cake can be seen in the link above. Percy was taught how to cook by his wife, Hilda. Aww.... bless!

Happy fruit cake day to you, dear reader! :P

A French influence!

After a well deserved lie-in the morning, Sam and I ventured out for a coffee and a croissant - a favourite weekend ritual.  The coffee was from the lovely Merlo and the croissants were purchased from Chouquette - the BEST bakery in Brisbane! I swear they have the most delicious cakes and pastries outside France! 

I thought I'd then continue the French theme (seeing as it was Bastille Day this week too!)

I've been following the blog of a cool, French illustrator called Aurore Damant. I love the expressions she creates in her characters. They are so detailed and colourful! You can read an interview with her here

Interestingly, her drawings remind me a lot of my favourite cartoons and comics as a child - Ren and Stimpy! What do you think?

 (pic sourced from here)

(pic sourced from here)

And to wrap up the French theme, I discovered that the French Festival is on this weekend at South Bank! I think I am going to snuggle in at home with the dogs and watch movies cos it's cold and rainy today! I never get to do this, so I want to seize this opportunity! Wheeee! Tonight, I am going to see Happy Potter Part 2! yay yay yay!

Happy weekend to you! :D

blazing for a Blazer !

Little Houses

I'm on the hunt for a cool Winter blazer and I've been searching on Etsy! Here are some nice ones I've got my eye on!

Little Houses again see it here - unfortunately this one isn't available in my size, but I think this pic is cool!

Crystalindumentaria

This is like my little red hood, so I can't get this one too! :P I like the photo shoot styling.

YYStudio

ooohh! Green! I likey very muchy! :P

Little Houses again! 

I can see a trend here, people! Loving the "cropped at waist" style and the high neck. 

The "Little Houses" designer is very talented - I must investigate her more! I'm loving her work and her Etsy photos are wonderful.

Do you have a cool winter jacket?

Indie market this saturday!

It's time again for the Indie markets and I am very excited to be apart of it this year! You can view some more information about the day here. There will be music, food, raffles (with proceeds going to The Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation) and lovely stalls filled with gorgeous wares made by local designers! :D It will be a wonderful way to spend the day in the beautiful, winter weather that we have been experiencing.
For a site map of the market, click here. There's also a list of which designers will be sharing their creative talents on the day, including Etsy store links :)

Hope to see you there!

P.S For the little ones, I'll have some more of my NEW hair clip designs (with smaller clips) Wheeee! :)

Designer feature :D

I've decided to include a weekly post about designers that I admire in the crafty world. This has stemmed from all the lovely blogs I subscribe to and the desire to share their amazing creations on my blog. Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed by the talent that is out there and I get to wonder if what I do is enough, but I'm always so inspired to create better designs and work harder for my label :)

Today, I'd love to share the charming illustrations of Lauren Carney. I popped by her stall at the recent Brisbane Finders Keepers and it was wonderful to catch up and have a quick chat. It had been about a year since last saw her at the Young Designer's Market! She is one of the most vibrant, talented, cheerful and sweet designers in the crafty/illustration world!

I managed to get my little hands on a set of her new "air mail" writing paper - which I can't wait to use! :P

"The Fleet"print

"Dances with wolves" tote bag

"Blue Flapper"print

What I love most about her work is how varied and extensive it is - cute, quirky and colourful on one hand, then there's the alluring 'flapper' series that shows a more mature outlook and also the practical side where she uses tote bags and postcards to create useable and portable artwork. I admire the diverse ways she chooses to display her illustrations: postcards, stickers, iron on transfers, a new range of t-shirts, hanging decorations, writing sets, prints for the wall... the list goes on! She is a Mary Poppins bag of infinite, beautiful work for anyone who seeks a bit of whimsy in their life. I look forward to seeing where her next venture takes her :)

A recent poster featured in Peppermint magazine