Belle's World

 

   

  I simply cannot BELIEVE it has been MONTHS since Holly wrote anything on this blog of hers!  It looks like, as usual, I will have to do EVERYTHING around here!

      

     Hi there, this is Belle Cow,  Holly's cuter than cute adorable little sister.  Holly has been super busy with silly farm stuff and she has completely forgotten the important things, like writing this blog!  So anyhow, being the wonderful helpful sister that I am, I have "borrowed" Holly's computer and I have taken the liberty of writing a new installment of "Holly Cow's World".  You're welcome.

     Well, where do I start?  Summer has come and gone.  The hot months are starting to cool off somewhat, but not much yet.  We haven't seen much rain on the farm this year, but we're hoping that will change. 

     School has started!  Yay!  I really love school, and I was really looking forward to the start of this school year.  As most of you already know, Holly and I are the stars of a great book, "Is It Autumn Or Fall?"  I couldn't wait for the school year to start so I could show the book to all of my friends.  They were, of course, very impressed.  My reading teacher thought it was a great book, and guess what?!!  She talked to the school librarian and they put a copy in the school library!  So now I'm a superstar celebrity around the school, but I'm trying not to let it go to my head.

     We have also been very busy with our new 2014 Calendar, as you can see:

The 2014 Holly Cow and Friends Calendar by Dan Radcliffe

 

     In my opinion, this is one of the best calendars we have made so far.  The New Year will be here before you know it.  If I were you, I'd seriously consider getting about forty-seven of these calendars.  Or at least one.

 

     Anyhow, with school in session, I figured I should show you all some really cool school items over at Zazzle.  Holly usually posts a bunch of Zazzle stuff, so I'll do that now:

 

 

Dive Into A Good Book Poster by Dan Radcliffe

Great Teachers Inspire Card by Dan Radcliffe

Curl Up With A Good Book Post Cards by Dan Radcliffe

Back to School Bus Tee Shirt by rdwnggrl

Alphabet Chalkboard Clocks by rdwnggrl

Class Owl Magnet by trennea

It's OK to BEE a Smarty! Round Stickers by trennea

Cool Cat Reading Knowledge Is Power Canvas Bags by Victoreeah

Fairy Tales And Other True Stories Custom Spiral Note Books by Victoreeah

KLeighE and Dharma Poster by KirstenEdwards

 

 

    

 

     Now those are some great works of art by some truly gifted people.  Please take a look and buy bunches and bunches and some more bunches from these fine folks.

 

     Wow, I never realized this blog stuff was so much work!  Finding cool things to write about, putting it all on the blog...  no wonder Holly hasn't been at it for a while. 

 

     Holly will be back next time, with some new exciting news from our farm.  If not, I guess I'll have to write another installment of this blog, since I have to do everything around here!

 

     Until next time, this is Belle, for Holly Cow's World.  Thank you for reading!

 

 

~Belle~

Family Fun

Hello Hello!  It's time once again for another installment of "Holly Cow's World", the one and only blog by the one and only ME, Holly Cow, your favorite colorful cartoon cow. 

April is an interesting month here at Holly Farms Dairy.  My older brother, Terry Bull, always comes for a visit on his birthday, which is April 1st. We don't get to see Terry very often, usually only on his birthday and Holidays.  Now, Terry is a great older brother, but he can be a bit...  over the top... sometimes.  He's very energetic and very enthusiastic and, well, very large! 

A couple of years ago, he came to the farm for his birthday and things got out of hand.  He was too excited about the birthday party, and he kind of made a mess of the whole farm.  The farmers were not happy and they didn't want him to come back.  We calmed things down, and Terry is welcome on the farm as long as he tries to control himself.  This year he was fairly well behaved and we didn't have too big of a mess to deal with after the party.

This all got us to thinking, though, that maybe he wouldn't be so rambunctious if we saw him more often.  Belle and I talked, and we plan to visit Terry more often and have him over to the farm more often as well.  Mom and Dad would probably like that too, as they don't get out too much any more and they would probably appreciate more time with their son.

All of this got me thinking about how important families actually are.  I think we take for granted our family sometimes, and we don't stop often enough to show them how much we appreciate them.  My little sister Belle reminded me that this blog is a good place to express things like this, so I'm doing so now.  Thank you, Belle!  I love you!

 

With that thought in mind, I wanted to share some fun ways to help you express your feelings toward your family:

 



"Nana" Postcard by Victoreeah


 

Tree of Hearts Display Plaque by rdwnggrl

Little Brother Embroidered Baseball Cap by rdwnggrl

Chance Made Us Sisters, Hearts Made Us Friends Poster by dradcliffe

Happy Birthday From Your Favorite Brother Card by dradcliffe

Celebrate The Good Times 3 Ring Binder by dradcliffe

 

Just a few little items to let family members know you're thinking about them.

 

Well, to all of you, my extended family, I want to thank you for reading this installment of my blog, and until next time, this is Holly Cow, saying, bye for now!

~Holly~

 



Back To The Blog!

 

Well, Hello one and all!  Welcome back to "Holly Cow's World", the one and only blog by ME, Holly Cow, your favorite colorful cartoon cow.

     It has been quite a few months since my last blog entry, and quite honestly I don't have any really great excuses for not posting anything recently. The biggest reason I haven't written lately is because I have been busy with details regarding my first book, "Is It Autumn Or Fall?" 

     I have been busy meeting with people to sign autographs and do interviews and talk about the book in general.  It's exhausting being a famous cartoon cow, you know. 

 

     ...okay, I haven't really been doing any of those things.  Dan Radcliffe, the guy who did the illustrations for the book, and who wrote it along with his wife Denise, have been the ones trying to drum up some publicity for the book.  Sales have been...  well, there have been sales.  Dan simply doesn't have a lot of time for promotions lately. 

     So, with that in mind, I knew I had to get back to writing my blog.  Please take a look at our book, "Is It Autumn Or Fall?" It's a fun collection of stories, jokes, and poems featuring me and my friends at Holly Farms Dairy.  I think you'll enjoy the book.

 

     The biggest reason I haven't done a blog recently is because I can't type.  As any of you who have read my blog in the past are aware, my good friend Oliver Duck types up the blog for me.  Cows have a very hard time typing, since we have hooves.  Oliver is much better at typing than I am, so basically I dictate and he types.  Oliver, however, has been recovering from a slight injury to his wing.  He's fine now, but a couple of months ago, he broke his wing.  You see, Walter and Ronald Pig were playing super heroes...  "Super Pig and Wonder Pig, the Titanium Twins" (yes, I know...  silly boys!) and they wanted Oliver to join in as their sidekick, "Danger Duck", as they flew across the countryside, righting wrongs and doing good. 

     Well, as they were leaping and jumping through the air,  they all kind of forgot that Oliver, being a duck, is the only one who could actually fly.  Walter and Ronald landed on top of Oliver, and...  well....  you can probably guess the rest.  But Oliver is fine now, and he has decided to hang up his crime fighting costume for a while.  Walter and Ronald are on their own in the super hero business.

 

 

     The book, as I said, was a lot of fun for us here on the farm.  We all enjoy reading, and this was a great way for us to share our love of books.  I encourage everyone to go out there and pick up a book.  If not our book, please visit your local library or bookseller and bring home some books today.

 

 

Reading Makes Every Day Brighter Posters by dradcliffe

Reading Is My Favorite Form Of Fun! Print by dradcliffe

 

Reading Never Gets Old Print by dradcliffe

 

     So please, take a look at our fun new book, available now by going to this link.  I really think you'll be glad you did.

 

     Until next time, this is Holly Cow, for Holly Cow's World, saying thank you for reading my blog.  Bye for now!

 

     ~ Holly ~

NEW Book For Holly Cow Fans!

My goodness, it has been way too long since I've been to my blog site!  Hello everyone, and Welcome Back to "Holly Cow's World!"  As you should know by now, I'm Holly Cow, and I'm a cow.

Where to start, where to start. 

Well, it has been nearly a YEAR since I've put anything at all on this blog. I simply do not know where the time has gone.  We have been extreeeeeeemely busy over at Holly Farms Dairy, the dairy farm business never stops. 

The big news is that we have all been busily working on our very first book!  That's right, Holly Cow and Friends are now featured in a brand new fun and funny book, "Is It Autumn Or Fall?"  available at lulu.com.  The book features me, of course, along with my little sister Belle (this is Belle):

Also featured are my good friend Oliver Duck (this is Oliver):

 

And our friends Walter and Ronald Pig, the twin brothers on our farm. 

 

 

 

And of course, my good friend Triggy the Frog also appears in our book.





 

The book is fun, funny, and full of surprises.  The stories are all about the four seasons, Winter, Spring, Sunmer, and Fall (or is it Autumn?) and how my friends and I enjoy them all.  There are also some silly jokes, some beautiful poems, and just a lot of good old-fashioned fun with good friends. 

 

Please stop by over at www.lulu.com and type in the key word HOLLY COW and have a look at this cute, fun, funny book, or follow this link and pick up a copy today.  You'll love it!

 

And while you're out on the internet, be sure to take a look at the ALL NEW Holly Cow and Friends Calendar for 2013.  It features artwork from the book, so you'll certainly want a copy.

 

I certainly hope you'l take a look at our fun and funny new book.  We had a great time writing it for you, and we just know you'll have a great time reading it.

 

Until next time, this is Holly Cow, thank you for reading my blog! 

 

ENJOY!

~Holly~

 

 

 

 

 



Happy Birthday To ME!

Well, Helloooooooo everyone out there in Blog Land!  'Tis I, Holly Cow, your favorite cow, with yet ANOTHER installment of my world-famous blog, "Holly Cow's World".  Lots to get to, so I'll get to it!

As many of you know, yesterday (January 27th) was my Birthday!  Yes, I'm getting old.  How old?  A lady never tells so don't ask!  We had a nice celebration on the farm with my Mom and Dad, my sister Belle, my Brother Terry Bull, and all my friends at Holly Farms.  And I received a lot of nice Birthday wishes from my on-line friends on facebook, so I wanted to say "Thank You" to all of you too!

I received some very nice cards and presents, and I appreciate all of those.  But I got to thinking about presents, and quite honestly, the best presents I could ask for are all of my friends, and I already have all of you!  So, with that in mind, I'd like to give YOU all a few simple presents as a way to say "Thanks for being my friends". 

Now, being a cow, I really don't have a lot of things I can give away as presents (I don't really have any money, and when cows go to the department stores to buy things, people sort of stare and get nervous and even scream a little,,,,  not good!) so I asked my personal artist Dan Radcliffe to come up with some things I could give away on this blog, and he came up with a fun idea.  So, for the first time on my blog, I offer "Holly Cow Coloring Pages" for your enjoyment. 

Fun stuff, huh?  (Wow, I'm even a cute cow in black and white!)  Just right-click, open the link and save the image, print, and color to your heart's content.  More coloring pages might be added next time, so be sure to come back and read the next installment of "Holly Cow's World". 

Anyhow, friends, thank you for being there for me, and thank you for reading and following my blog.

Until next time, this is Holly, take care, bye for now!
~Holly~

Holly Cow History (Part Two)

And we're back for another exciting installment of "Holly Cow's World", the only blog all about your favorite colorful cartoon cow and her fun farm friends.  I'm Holly, as you should know by now, and this week, as promised, Dan Radcliffe is going to tell you all about the humble beginnings of ME, Holly Cow.  I now turn the blog over to Dan.

Thank you, Holly.  Dan Radcliffe here.  As Holly promised, the "History Of Holly Cow" or, as I like to think about it, how I created Holly Cow and her friends. 

My wife Denise and I have a lot of country themed decorations in our home.  Now, we have never actually lived on a farm, but we have always liked the comfortable feeling of country style decorations for the house.  Cows have been a big part of that.  Back when we lived in Goldsboro, North Carolina, these and other country-themed accessories were fairly easy to come by, so our house quickly filled with cows, pigs, chickens, and farm related decor.  And of course, being the artsy type, I had to add my own designs to that mix.

One of the earliest decorations I painted for our home was a kitchen decoration on wood, featuring a country couple in their country kitchen.  It has been featured on my Zazzle site  and has become quite popular:

Recipes From The Heart 1" Recipe Binder by Dan Radcliffe

No cows, but a fun design and a fun idea.  The original painting still hangs in our ktchen.  Of course, I couldn't stop with just the kitchen, we had a whole house to decorate.  On November 7, 1993, I finished up this design (I know the date because I painted it on the back):

This is "Millie Moo".  She's a wooden plaque currently displayed in the stairwell of our house, along with a pig, chicken and lamb all painted in the same style.  I liked the idea of the animals looking as if they were made of patchwork quilt material, and that idea stuck with me for a long time. 

Time passed, and eventually, I stumbled upon Zazzle.  For those of you who read and follow this blog regularly, you're probably pretty familiar with Zazzle.  Well, I played around with a lot of different designs, some worked better than others, naturally, but I knew I wanted a cartoon animal that might become a focal point of my shop.  I kept thinking back to the "Millie Moo" plaque in our house, and I thought a cow would be perfect.  I toyed around with some variations of the design, and after a few rough drafts, Holly Cow was born.  This is the first picture of Holly that I ever posted on Zazzle:

I liked the design, I put it on a few items, and it didn't take long to make a few sales.  This Holly Cow design was the first item I actually sold on Zazzle. 

Of course, I needed more designs.  Christmas themed designs seemed to be popular, so I thought I could make one work with Holly Cow.  Here's an early design that, although cute in its own way, didn't "quite" work out the way I had hoped:

Cute, but not exactly what I wanted.  She needed to be a little more animated.  I thought about it, and decided a winter scene in the snow would be fun.  This was the first time I added Holly's good friend, Oliver Duck:

Holly Cow, Let It Snow! by Dan Radcliffe

I used this card design to send out to friends and relatives when I first designed it.

The characters were beginning to develop personalities.  The pigs became twin brothers, Oliver the duck became featured in more and more designs,  but it was this design that caught the attention of my customers, and soon became a favorite:

Life Is Too Short For Single Scoops by Dan Radcliffe

I knew this was the one I wanted to use for my signature design.  The quote has become the driving theme for my shop and my designs.  I want all of my images to convey that same feeling of fun, friendly, inspirational, upbeat positive energy that I think comes through in this design.  I hope when people visit my shop, they leave with those feelings.

Well, Holly Cow soon had a following.  One of Holly's first (and still biggest!) fans, is the multi-talented Victoria Lynn Hall,  artist, photographer, cat lover...  She has told me Holly is her "role model".  I hope Holly can continue to live up to such high praise.  Here's one of her Christmas designs I especially like:

Holiday Dragonfly Fairy Greeting Card by Victoria Lynn Hall

A big "Thank You" for your continued support of Holly Cow and me.  :)

Another fan of our dear Holly is the talented creative force behind "rdwnggrl" over at zazzle, the one and only Stacy Lynch.  Stacy has been a fan of Holly Cow for a long time; in fact she was one of the first people ever to make any comments on my Zazzle designs.  This snowman of hers always makes me smile:

 

Snowman Smile by Stacy Lynch

Thanks to you for being a dear sweet friend of mine and a faithful follower of Holly Cow!

Another of Holly's biggest fans is the ever-snazzy Tricia-Rennea Wilson.  Always a ray of sunshine, it would be difficult to find a sweeter soul.  For your Holiday pleasure, here's one of her perfectly delightful designs:

Perfect Tree by Tricia-Rennea Wilson

This one simply makes me smile.  Again, thank you for your continued support and friendship.

Another of Holly's fans is the versatile creative talent, Ruth Jamieson.  From cross-stitch masterpieces, pottery, computer art, photography, this is a talented spirit and one I'm proud to call a friend.  An example of her talent:

O' CHRISTMAS TREE Drink Mug by Ruth Jamieson

A long-time supporter of my work, I thank you for your encouragement and friendship.

There are simply far too many people to mention who have supported and befriended me and Holly Cow -- I wish I could list them all here, but I want all of you to know Holly and I appreciate all you do for us, your appreciation of Holly Cow, my designs, and of course your ongoing friendship. 

As 2012 approaches, I plan to continue with new Holly Cow designs, of course, and look forward to your comments and continued support of Holly Cow's World.  Thank you for reading and following!  ~Dan~

Oh, and one more shameless Zazzle plug, the 2012 Holly Cow Calendar is out there for all of your Holly Cow calendar needs:  ENJOY!

The 2012 Holly Cow and Friends Calendar by Dan Radcliffe

Well, what more can I add to that, friends?  Thank you for reading and following my blog, thank you for your support, and until next time, this is Holly Cow for "Holly Cow's World".  Bye!

~Holly~

Holly Cow History (Part One)

Well, HELLO once again, friends, and welcome back to "Holly Cow's World".  I'm Holly, I'm a cow, but you probably know all of that already.  It's been a long while since I sat down to write a blog post, so I'll do my best to fill you in on all of the events of the past few weeks. 

My goodness, where do I start? 

Well, the last time I wrote it was just before Halloween.  All of my friends at Holly Farms Dairy were busy planning a Halloween party.  Oliver Duck was in charge of the decorations and entertainment, and pretty much everything else.  It was a great party!  We had a lot of candy, Lilly Lamb sang for us (she has a bea-u-ti-ful voice!), and the costumes everyone wore were a lot of fun!  Walter and Ronald were hilarious!  Walter dressed as his brother Ronald, and Ronald dressed as his brother Walter... 

My little sister Belle dressed as a fairy princess, with big sparkly wings and a magic wand.  Her costume was very pretty, until...  my older brother, Terry Bull,

kind of made of mess of her costume.  Terry came to the party covered in mud and twigs and leaves and said he was dressed as a compost pile.  (That's my brother!)  Well, Terry was getting a little out of control (too much sugar from all the candy), and he started dancing all around the barn, and he kind of crashed into Belle...  and since he was covered in mud, well, you can fill in the ugly messy details. 

But all was not lost.  Terry was very sorry for ruining her pretty costume, and took her out for ice cream.  She forgave him.  He's a good brother, he just gets carried away sometimes. :) 

Thanksgiving came and went already.  It was relatively uneventful for us, pretty much business as usual.  We had a small, quiet dinner and gave thanks for the wonderful family and friendship we all share.  As it should be.

Your Carts Overflow With Abundance. by Dan Radcliffe

Christmas is right around the corner!  I cannot believe we're only a few weeks away from Christmas already.  Between all of the Holidays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years, it has all started me thinking about a lot of things.  When I first started my blog, I intended to write about things that make me happy, things that make me grateful, and I focused on virtues.  In the upcoming New Year, I plan to continue with that theme, but as I was thinking about the Holidays, and also the beginning of this blog, I started to think about how everything started for.. well.... ME!  As you all know, I'm a colorful cartoon cow, and I'm featured rather prominently over at Dan Radcliffe's Zazzle Shop.  I'm the star, you know.  Well, maybe not THE star, but I'm one of them!  

Have you ever wondered how I got my start?  I asked Dan Radcliffe for a little history on my humble beginnings...   Next week, Dan Radcliffe tells all about the History Of Holly Cow.  Be sure to stop by next week and take a look.  I think you'll find it interesting.

Until next week, this is Holly.  Thanks for reading Holly Cow's World!
~Holly~