Love Your Family

Hi.

I was grounded last month.

All month.

I had to clean the barn floor all last month.

Not fun...

Well, hello everyone.  Welcome back to "Holly Cow's World", my blog about things I like, things that make me happy, and things I think will make others happy, too.

Mom and Dad were not pleased with my recent "out-of-character" behavior on this blog, referring to my little sister Belle in a very mean and negative manner.  I am sincerely sorry for calling my little sister a bad name, she didn't deserve it, and although she did hijack my blog last month, I had no right to be so mean to her.  I called her a "moo-head".  I have been asked by a lot of people what exactly is a "moo-head"?  Well, it's about the most mean and nasty thing one cow can call another.  There isn't any real English translation, so I'm not sure exactly how you human types would say it..  Rest assured, it's just plain impolite.  I will not be using those words anymore.

Well, other than cleaning the barn floor all last month (yuck!), not a lot of news from "Holly Farms" to report.  The weather is still pretty warm, although we're getting some cooler nights.  Claudia, the newest addition to our farm family, is having some trouble adjusting to the heat, but we've made a lot of suggestions to help her cope, and she's getting along fairly well.  Oliver and Triggy have been having a lot of fun watching Walter and Ronald  fawn over Claudia, each trying to outdo the other in an effort to win her affection.  Claudia likes both of them, but she's not ready to giver her heart over to either of them.  Oliver and Triggy have been "helping" them write love poems to Claudia, but I'm pretty sure she hasn't been impressed with their writing prowess...

Belle started back to school and she's doing just great.  She's a good student, a smart young lady, and all in all, a pretty good sister.  I forget that sometimes.  I'm supposed to be the big sister, and set a good example for her.  I'm going to try to do better.

Mom and Dad reminded me about all of the wonderful things that go along with being part of a family.  They told me my next blog should be about Family and Loving your sisters and brothers.  I agree.   And with that in mind, here are some excellent products to help us all remember to appreciate our family.  ENJOY!

Chance Made Us Sisters, Hearts Made Us Friends by Dan Radcliffe

Love One Another by Stacy Lynch

Happy Birthday From Your Favorite Brother by Dan Radcliffe

Hate Is Not A Family Value by Ricaso_Greetings

Yellow House by Tricia-rennea Wilson

The Autumn Faery Sisters Poster by Kirsten Edwards

"Memories" Family Reunion by Dan Radcliffe

Colorful Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love by kchippie

You know, I really do appreciate my family, my farm family, my extended family, and all of you out there in my blog family.  Thank you all for being there for me, and thank you for reading "Holly Cow's World". 

Until next time, this is Holly, saying "Love Your Family!"

~Holly~

What Are you Waiting For -- Christmas?

Hello!  My name is Belle.  For those of you who don't know me, I'm Holly's adorably cute little sister. 

See?  Adorably Cute!   Anyhow, out of the kindness of my heart, I'm writing Holly's blog for her this week. 

Well, actually, I'm borrowing Holly's computer and writing on this blog.  She sort of doesn't know I'm borrowing her computer, and she doesn't know I'm signed in on her blog.  But it's not like her password for her blog was really hard to figure out.  "Moo".   See?  Not too hard...

Anyhow, I'm writing on her blog this week because of the things she said on her blog last week.  For some reason that I can't understand, my big sister actually called me a "Moo-Head" on her blog for everybody in the whole universe to read!  ME!!  Her sweet, wonderful, adorable little sister!  If Mom and Dad ever see that, they'll take her computer away and probably have her doing barn floor clean-up for a month. 

Holly was actually trying to tell everyone that I'm complaining too much about doing chores.  Well, the fact of the matter is that I have to do EVERYTHING around the farm!  If I told you all of the things I have to do, you would never believe it.  Just this week, Mom actually made me clean my whole room all by myself!  And it was a complete mess!  But that wasn't my fault, I don't ever have time to keep it clean because I have to do EVERYTHING around here!  This week, I had to empty TWO, not one, but TWO trash cans on the farm.  And they were almost full.  And they were HUGE, like about a foot tall.  I honestly don't know how they think I can manage all of this.  School starts Monday!  I still have to have Mom and Dad buy school stuff for me.  I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

So anyhow, now that you can see how over-worked and terribly mistreated I am, you can understand that Holly was just being mean calling me a "moo-head".  I told her that she's the moo-head, and that she's not going to get anything this year for Christmas from Santa because she talks that way to her sweet innocent little sister.  She told me Christmas is a long way away and she's not worried. 

Christmas is right around the corner!  It's only FOUR MONTHS away!  I told her she better start being nicer to me.  I'm looking forward to Christmas.  I love the lights and the tree and the presents from Santa, who knows I've been extremely good this year, as always.

Here are some amazingly wonderful Christmas designs from some amazingly wonderful designers.  You can see these and other Christmas designs in all of their Zazzle shops.

Peace On Earth by Dan Radcliffe

This guy has a LOT of his stuff featured on Holly's blog. I wonder why?

Keep Christmas In Your Heart by Dan Radcliffe

There's another by that guy... go figure!

"Colorful Claus" Digital Art Santa by Victoria Lynn Hall

This mug is by one of Holly's biggest fans...

A Little Sparkle Cat Holiday Greeting Card by Victoria Lynn Hall

...and so is this cute cat Christmas card.

Christmas Tree Shimmer by Stacy Lynchl

Sparkle Sparkle Sparkle! I love this one!

Snowy Snowman by Stacy Lynch

And a cute snowman by Stacy Lynch!

Holiday Bicycle by Tricia-rennea Wilson

Christmas Table by Tricia-rennea Wilson

These two by Tricia-rennea Wilson are simply snazzy! And they make me want waffles for some reason... :)

CHRISTMAS MIRACLES by Ruth Jamieson

CHRISTMAS LACE BAG by Ruth Jamieson

And the multi-talented Ruth Jamieson is responsible for these two.

So, as you can see, there's a lot to choose from for the Christmas Holidays.  I can't decide, so maybe I'll ask Santa for all of them. 

And unless Holly decides to speak nicer to me, this is what she's going to get for Christmas:

Socks and Underwear for Christmas by Dan Radcliffe

Anyhoo-- this is Belle Cow, the adorably cute and sweet and wonderful little sister of Holly Cow, saying so long for now.  Holly might be back next week (if I don't tell Mom and Dad about the "moo-head" comment!)

~Belle~

Settle Down, Class! Back To School Time!

Hello one and all, and welcome to another installment of "Holly Cow's World". As always, I'm Holly, and I'm a cow.  But you already knew that.

Well, what can I tell you this time around.  It's been a whole month since I took the time to write a blog post here at "Holly Cow's World", where does the time go?  We have been very busy on the farm, lots of activity going on.  You probably don't know, but "Holly Farms" is more than just a dairy farm.  I work primarily on the dairy side, being a cow and all, but the farm is huge, and we grow a lot of fruits and veggies here, too.  Well, actually, the good humans who own and operate the farm do the growing...  Cows and pigs aren't very good at planting and harvesting.  However, my friends and I have been featured prominently on some fun seed packages from Holly Farms, so you can check out those wonderful designs over at "Designs By Dan Radcliffe".  Here's one example:

Holly Cow's Vintage Pumpkin Seed Package by Dan Radcliffe

Pretty neat stuff, huh?  Dan Radcliffe, the guy who draws all of the great pictures of my friends and me, has decided he really likes this picture of Oliver, Walter and me in pumpkin patch.  I'm not so sure Walter likes it much, though...  but when his brother Ronald saw it, he laughed.  It was all in good fun, and Walter lightened up after a while.  We do enjoy ourselves on the farm.

The weather lately, as I've said in previous posts, has been terrible!  Incredilbly hot, no rain, and it has made working conditions very difficult for us all.  For a while, everyone was on each others' nerves and a lot of arguments were going on every day.  We've taken a lot of time talking about what to do to ease the tension, and we all have decided we need more breaks and less work.  Lately, we've been spending a lot of time at the lake, trying to keep cool.  It's been working, and for the most part everyone has been in a better mood and we're getting our work done and arguments about working are at a minimum.

My little sister Belle, however, has been a bit argumentative about getting her chores done lately.  She keeps telling everyone she will be going back to school in a couple of weeks, and she wants to enjoy the "last few remaining days" of her summer vacation.  She's a bit of a melodramatic young lady when it comes to such things.  She's been reluctantly getting her chores done, arguing all the way.  Honestly, she can be such a moo-head sometimes!  (Sorry for using such language, I don't normally speak that way, but Belle has been..  well, a moo-head lately!)  Mom and Dad keep telling her if she doesn't shape up they're going to send her off to the other side of the county to live with our brother Terry Bull.  Not that Terry is a bad guy, he's just not the easiest bull to live with.  Mom and Dad aren't really serious about sending her off.  Besides, it's too far from Belle's school, so that wouldn't work  even if they were serious. 

Well, school is coming up in only a few short weeks.  And with that in mind, Belle has been looking for new school supplies.  Here are a few of the binders she is considering for school.  You can have some just like these by visiting these fine stores over at Zazzle. 

Settle Down, Class! by Dan Radcliffe

Mad, Mad, Mad For Science! by Dan Radcliffe

Numbers Come Alive! by Dan Radcliffe

Darby the Roller Derby Fairy Avery Binder by Kirsten Edwards

Puppy Doggie in Green by Tricia-rennea Wilson

"The Smart One"...English Bulldog Puppy (Pink) by Victoria Lynn Hall

BUGS by Cheries_Art

Teaching by Stacy Lynch

Birds and Tree by Ricaso_Designs

Learning Is A Treasure by Dan Radcliffe

(For some reason I particularly like this design...)

Fun Frogs by Dan Radcliffe

Well, I have no idea which of these binders Belle will eventually settle on, but knowing how she is, she'll probably have Mom and Dad buy ALL of them for her!  She's going to need a bigger back-pack! 

As for me, I'll be busily tending to my duties on the farm.  I need to get back to some important obligations right now, so I'll be signing off.

Until next time, this is Holly, thank you for reading "Holly Cow' World"!

~Holly~

Holly Cow All Over The World

Hello everyone!  It's time once again for another installment of my world-famous blog.  Thank you all for reading. 

Well, what can I tell you about life on the farm this week...  The chores are getting done a little better this past week on the farm.  In case I've never mentioned it before, it is my primary responsibility at Holly Farms Dairy to see to it that everyone else is getting their chores done.  I'm kind of the manager.  Well, there are some humans there who actually own and operate the farm, but I'm responsible for seeing to it that the real work gets done.  You see, I'm too young to be a milk cow, (we cows don't give milk until we've had babies, and I'm nowhere near ready to start a family!) and I'm too old to have no chores at all.  And besides, the farm was named after me, it only makes sense that I manage the place...

Walter and Ronald have been on their best behavior and have been more than helpful.  As I mentioned last week, I think it has something to do with the newest resident on the farm, a charming young lady pig named Claudia.  She moved here to our farm from South Carolina, and I think the boys are...  well... gaga over her!  She's very sweet, exceptionally polite, and I'm sure that they're both trying to impress her with their manners and hard work.  We'll see how long THAT lasts!

Anyhow, thinking about Claudia traveling across the country to come live on our farm got me thinking about traveling, and what it would be like to go around the world.  I'm just a simple farm cow, I'll probably never have the chance, but in a way, I actually have been around the world.  Dan Radcliffe's Zazzle designs, featuring my friends and me, have been bought in every state in the United States, and actually a lot of designs have ended up all around the globe.  So with that in mind, here are a few of the world traveling designs:

Like this button with my little sister, Belle.  It went off to the United Kingdom!

Belle Cow, "I'm Adorable!" by Dan Radcliffe

And this button, with my dear friends Sherman Sheep and Lilly Lamb, ended up in Germany.

I Looked At You And Saw The Other Half Of Me by Dan Radcliffe

A copy of this 2010 Holly Cow Calendar made its way down under, to Australia!

The 2010 "Holly Cow and Friends" Calendar by Dan Radcliffe

And this poster went on a trip to Australia too!

Learning Is A Treasure by Dan Radcliffe

This magnet went off to someone in England...

You Can Never Have Too Many Friends by Dan Radcliffe

...and so did this card...

Holly Cow "Love You Love You Love You" by Dan Radcliffe

...and so did a copy of this poster.  And another copy of this poster went to Austria.

Lose Yourself In Adventure...READ! by Dan Radcliffe

Apparently I'm quite popular in the United Kingdom.  This magnet is over there...

Chance Made Us Sisters, Hearts Made Us Friends by Dan Radcliffe

And this blue moo card went all the way to Japan!

Holly Cow "Blue Without You" by Dan Radcliffe

So I guess you could say I'm really a cow of the world! 

Well, I hope you all have enjoyed this little globe-trotting trip.  Until next time, this is Holly Cow saying Auf Wiedersehen, Ciao, じゃまたね, Aloha, Adios, and of course, Good Bye!

~Holly~

Some Friends Of Mine

Hello once again, and welcome to Holly Cow's World.  As always, I'm Holly, and I'm a cow, and this is my world.  Hence the name of the blog.  But I digress. 

It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted on the blog here, so I'll try my best to catch you all up on the latest and greatest on the farm.  It's been painfully hot and dry here.  There was one brief day of rain, but not much, and it barely was enough to get the ground wet.  And it wasn't enough to cool anything or anyone off.  Last time I posted, I was telling you all about the tempers flaring onthe farm and none of the chores getting done.  My friends have calmed down a bit, and things are improving.  More time off from working in the heat, more swimming, and a bit more fun and things are looking better. 

Walter and Ronald Pig have really turned into helpful, polite, gentlemen this past week.  Not that they're horrible or anything, but this week seemed to be different.  I'm pretty sure it's due to a new addition to our farm.  A cute, sweet female pig named Claudia has just moved here from a farm in South Carolina, and for some reason Walter and Ronald are paying a lot of attention to her.  And they have been on their best behavior; just the picture of well-mannered gentelmen. It's a big change from a couple weeks ago.  I'll post some pictures of Claudia as soon as Dan Radcliffe takes some for me.

My little sister Belle has been acting a bit better about her chores, too.  She still complains that she has to "do everything around here" but I chalk that up to her age.  She's a sweet kid, but you know how kids can be!  

My friends on the farm are acting more civil towards each other.  That's a good thing.  Cooperation on the farm makes everyone's jobs easier.  And it makes friendship easier too.

Have I told you all about some of my other friends, the human type?  I have quite a few.  Two very special human friends helped me out this week and I would like to thank them on this blog. 
Tricia-rennea Wilson and Stacy Lynch both helped me with some designs for my new "2012 Holly Cow and Friends Calendar".   Tricia, the ever-snazzy color-and-fashion coordinated founder of Trillustrations and the Shy Socialites, gave me the suggestion for a county fair theme, which we used for the September design:

Don't you just love it?  Dan worked out the details of the design with his wife Denise (she was VERY helpful with this!), and this is the end result.  It looks great on the calendar.  I wanted to personally thank Tricia for her suggestion, so I sent her a thank-you picture in the mail.  (I'll post a picture of it next week as I think it hasn't arrived in her mail box yet).

Stacy Lynch gave me the suggestion for a pumpkin patch for an Autumn-themed design.  Dan worked on that one, and came up with this November Harvest themed design:

Not bad, huh?  Stacy is the shopkeeper for Rdwnggrl's World at Zazzle, featuring her fantastic photography and beautiful designs.  She and her husband also have a little old business selling barbecue sauce, you can check that out at Cripple Creek Barbecue.  There's a thank-you picture on its way for Stacy too, and I'll post a copy of that next week as well. 

So, after a lot of work, Dan Radcliffe put these and other great ideas together and came up with the new 2012 Holly Cow and Friends Calendar.  Actually, I did a fair share of the work myself.  It's not easy posing for all of those drawings! 

The 2012 Holly Cow and Friends Calendar by dradcliffe
Begin selling my art online at zazzle.

Well, I'm going to sign off for the week.  Lots to do, lots of activity on the farm, so until next time, this is Holly, thank you for reading my blog, and thank you for being my friends!
~Holly~

It's Just Business.

Hello, and welcome once again to another installment of my world-famous fantastically astonishingly amazing blog.  Life has been busy busy busy for me the past couple of weeks.  The weather here at Holly Farms Dairy has been incredibly hot and dry, and unfortunately evryone has been reacting in a very unprofessional manner because of it.  

Ronald Pig has been uncooperative and unwilling to do his part on the farm, and his brother Walter has been really angry with him about it, as Walter has been doing most of his brother's work.
My little sister Belle has been enjoying the summer months off of school, but she too has been playing a little more than working, and some of her chores are not getting accomplished.  Of course, yours truly, being the amazing big sister that I am,  have graciously been covering for her, while gently persuading her to get her chores done.

It makes me sad when my friends aren't cooperating and helping.  Really that's not like them.  I blame the heat.I'm hoping that things will settle down a bit and the routines will return to normal around the farm.  A few nice days of cool rain might help, but there's none in sight.  So for now, we're trying as best we can to maintain business as usual.

And with that in mind, this week's blog is all about business. Business cards, that is.  And here are a few really great designs from some really great friends of mine.  These cute, funny, and fantastic cards are sure to get your business noticed.  ENJOY! 

Taxi Service by Dan Radcliffe

Old Fashioned Ice Cream Shop by Dan Radcliffe

HARLEQUIN BLUE FLAG by Ruth Jamieson

Designer Bakedgoods by Tricia-rennea Wilson

Lawn Service by Dan Radcliffe

Subtle Rose by Stacy Lynch

Vintage Style Vintage Goods Custom Business Cards by Victoria Lynn Hall

Computer Repair by Dan Radcliffe

So friends, with any luck we'll see a breakin this hot, dry weather and tempers will settle down a bit and we'll be able to get on with the dairy business as usual.  I'll keep you posted.

Until next time, this is Holly Cow.  Back to business!

Daycare Center by Dan Radcliffe

~Holly~