It's the Gif that keeps on giving

When is a picnic not a picnic? When it starts to rain at the last minute and Mummy calls it off.

We had the car all packed up and ready to go to Wynnum beach but the clouds got darker and darker and the wind blew and it started to rain. Luckily our friend had a dry house and hot coffee waiting for us instead but Luke wasn't too impressed as he was looking forward to a swim.

This is my first attempt at an animated gif in recent years and the first time I've stuck one on a blog - easier than I thought! I created it in photoshop by following a tutorial on youtube.

Mine is just a simple two image one but for some that are a little out of the ordinary, my friend at Mulders Drapery did a post a little while back... yes creepy indeed.

Apples on Ainsworth

My sister and her husband recommended Apples on Ainsworth {facebook page} to me knowing how much I'd love it. It's just a few suburbs away to the west of where I live so the boys and I dropped in for lunch.  

This part of Salisbury used to get visited frequently by me although I haven't been there for a couple of years so I was delighted and surprised to find this little gem. It's a whole heap of goodness tucked into a little shop. The food looked amazing, especially the big fresh salads and there was an interesting range of teas and beautifully packaged {yay} cold drinks to tempt me next time. Lots of deli items as well as a selection of gorgeously displayed fresh fruit and veges. 

oh and did I mention the small matter of vintage... tea sets, drink glasses, serving ware, salt and pepper shakers, my tea pot had a fluffy cosy, a relaxed and eclectic collection of tables and seats pottering about the wide shaded footpath, a big basket of blankets to take across the road to the park for a picnic...

I am looking forward to returning, rennovations are underway and I am sure something beautiful awaits.

packaging, packaging, I love packaging

On sale at Woolworths, I just had to!

here's their website for some more delightful packaging.

Sunday Sesh

Ahh another week without the internet!
Let's hope this is the last time I need to call out telstra as I have most definitely had enough problems with them thus far!!!
So back to where I left you all, Sunday afternoon last week, I visited Archive at West End to taste my friend Ben's beer, Route 56 and give it my vote in the home brew competition running this month. Also wanted to get some photos of the tap label I designed for it - a little bit exciting to see my design up on tap!
It was a short stay and I would have loved to have been able to spend the afternoon there, maybe have some lunch, enjoy the vibe, relax but those school uniforms weren't going to iron themselves.

sugar & spice popcorn

 as requested by my little boy, "MUM. POPCORN. DON'T BE LAZY"

My sister Louise got me started experimenting with ways to "dress" popcorn.

This is our latest favourite...

Don't ask for exact quantities.

I make my popcorn the old school way however I would like a popping machine so the kids can do it themselves. Once you've made your popcorn, in the same pan melt a couple of tablespoons of butter and the same of sugar just till it gently dissolves, don't boil it. Whilst you are doing this add a teaspoon each of cinnamon and mixed spice, a fair bit of salt and a generous dash of finely ground black pepper. Then add about a teaspoon of vanilla essence or even better, fresh from the pod. The whole mix turns a deep golden colour, pour it over your freshly cooked popcorn. This amount covers about 8 to 10 cups of popcorn, depends on how syrupy you like it. If it was just me and my older son eating it I would add heaps more pepper to make it really spicy! maybe even some chilli - I haven't tried that yet.

I also make a salty caramel popcorn mix by omitting the pepper & spices and adding about a tablespoon of golden syrup, cooking it a bit longer and sprinkling with some salt flakes at the end.

It's on tap!

My friend Ben's beer was selected to feature this week at Archive Beer Boutique as part of this event

I was pleased he asked me to design the tap label for his entry, Route 56.

"4 IPAs - 4 weeks - 1 winner"

Good Luck Ben - you are already a champ in my eyes!

This is my design for Ben's American style beer, the story behind it's name, in Ben's words, 

"the starting gravity was 1056 which happens to be the same as a road in California, Route 1056, and this is loosely a West Coast IPA, or Californianish, so it's all a big beer geek reference basically ... "

My sister Catherine, my design mentor, helped me on this one and I am very happy with the result!

amongst good company!

I am looking forward to trying it cold and fresh off the tap this weekend. 

Beer aficionados should hop along down to West End this weekend too and vote for Ben!

The Brisbane Festival - Spiegeltent!

The Brisbane Festival kicked off with Riverfire on the weekend and I was lucky enough to be presented with some tickets to see Syl Jonson play with the Bamboos at the Spiegeltent. Do you Bamboo? Aren't they great!

I've never been to the Spiegeltent before - it's lush! It's located in King George Square this year - only for the three week duration of the festival. Inside was like stepping into another time and was the perfect setting for Syl Johnson {75 and his voice and performance was legendary!} {seriously he blew me away} and the {mighty fine} Bamboos' funk and soul.

Outside the Spiegeltent is a great beer garden with live music and some giant dandelions to enhance the flavour of your drinks. Whoever responsible has done a beautiful job!

 See what's on at the Spiegeltent and try and make it to something, there are some great people gonna be there! I am also looking forward to seeing the Santos City of Lights - I've heard it's amazing.

I have just bought a new camera - so bear with me. It's another cheapie but it will have to do. I lost mine a month ago and after a month of no blogging and endless, fruitless searching I grudgingly forked out as much as I could to replace it. Having done this, I am sure to find my old one next week.

Fireworks!

In honour of Brisbane's River Festival - a selection from pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Suburbansider on Pinterest

Source: wwwcastlescrownscottages.blogspot.com via Suburbansider on Pinterest

Source: inspireplease.livejournal.com via Suburbansider on Pinterest

Source: wherethelovelythingsare.com via Suburbansider on Pinterest

Source: weheartit.com via Suburbansider on Pinterest

Source: vintagerosegarden.tumblr.com via Suburbansider on Pinterest

Source: everythinglovely.tumblr.com via Suburbansider on Pinterest

Source: parisapartment.wordpress.com via Suburbansider on Pinterest

Source: month2month.tumblr.com via Suburbansider on Pinterest

Source: msmuse.tumblr.com via Suburbansider on Pinterest

Source: brownstoner.com via

































glitter texture from pugley pixel