Earth 911 - reused planters

Floppy disk planters - Brit + Co

Super-cute colander planter - The Micro Gardner 

Vintage typewriter planter - Besserina 

Dump truck planter - Michael Coghlan 

Sweet shoe planter - Kidchamp

Kitchenware planters - me!

I love quirky planters, especially if the planters aren't typical pots used for plants or gardening purposes.  Recycling website Earth 911 did a fab little round-up today of repurposed planter ideas, including my teapot, kettle and saucepan garden planters!

Earth 911 is a super comprehensive website focusing on recycling, reducing waste and reusing materials - with heaps of info, news, lifestyle ideas and DIY projects.  Check out this video on the website about how plastic bags get recycled - it's quite an eye-opener!

There are some great planter ideas in the round-up and I particularly love the colander and vintage typewriter planters.  Too cute!    

Jasper's 1st birthday books

Cute animal flash cards by Eric Carle

Brian Wildsmith's fabulous animal illustrations in 'Animals to Count'

The little guy celebrates his first birthday!

Little Mr J celebrated his first birthday a few weeks ago (1 already.....where did that year go ?!) and he received some lovely illustrated books just for turning one! 

I love the set of Animal flash cards by Eric Carle - who is most famous for his 1969 book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  The cards feature Eric Carle's simplistic, collage-style illustrations of animals on one side, with upper and lower-case letters on the reverse.  Whilst Mr J is still a little too young for learning his alphabet, it's fun showing him the animal pictures with their naive and quirky shapes, textures and colours.  (OK, I do also enjoy trying to impersonate some of the animals too.....anyone have any ideas for how an octopus / quetzal / buffalo or Jellyfish sound?!.....)

Brian Wildsmith's Animals to Count book is full of Wildsmith's very cute and lively animal illustrations - and this book might find it's way from the babies room onto my bookshelf!  It's only a very small A5 sized book, but I love the illustrative style of Brian Wildsmith and his animal depictions.  I've blogged about Brian Wildmith's work before with my book Python's Party and the Illustrated Children's Books.

Happy 1st Birthday little man! x x