Chiot’s Run Moo MiniCards
I’ve been wanting to get business cards for quite a while. When I’m out and about at farmer’s markets and chatting with people and tell people about my blog they always ask for the web address. It’s hard for me to explain “Chiot’s Run” and it’s easy to forget (note to self, next blog address needs to be easy to remember). I finally decided to order some Moo MiniCards.
You can feature up to 100 different images on your cards. I picked out 30-40 photos for mine. I simply had “ChiotsRun.com” printed on the back. Now when I’m out at the markets and people ask for my web address I can hand them one of my Mini Moos.
They’re the most wonderful little cards, perfect to carry around to hand out. They feature some of my photos, which is a big part of my blog. I think they’ll definitely get people interesting in visiting this blog!
I can’t wait to hand my first one out!!! If you’re in the market for some interesting and different cards, definitely check out the Moo MiniCards. (PS. they didn’t pay me to say this, or give me anything for free).
If someone handed you one of these would you be interested in visiting the site it advertised?
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All-Natural Outdoor Christmas Decor
I spent the day yesterday putting Christmas up out front. When it comes to outside Christmas decor I’m a big fan of the natural look so I stick to all-natural ingredients. No big blow-up things, colored/flashing lights, santas or plastic things decorate our home. We stick to an all-natural Christmas.
It was a beautiful day, sunny and bright. It wasn’t very warm, so I started around 11 am after it had warmed up, frosty fingers don’t do well wiring lights. I unrolled the garland and stretched it out on the front lawn to dry. Then I carried containers of lights, pine cones and grapevine stars down from the attic.
Of course all of the strands of lights have to be checked to make sure they work and any burnt out bulbs get replaced. I find that buying an extra strand or two of lights is a cheaper source of replacement bulbs than buying those little replacement packs.
Then came the wrapping of the lights around the garland (we get a lot of wind here so this is a necessity). Out came the ladder and up went the garland, I find that I like turning the lights on while I’m putting them up. The lights go on a timer when I’m finished so they come on after it gets dark and they go off around 11 pm.
It’s always tricky getting each swag to be the same, or at least close enough. I’d put up one and climb down the ladder head out to the front of the lawn and see what I thought. It sure is a good amount of exercise putting up this garland!
After getting the garland up, I realized it was two o’clock and I hadn’t eaten lunch yet. My stomach was grumbling, so I headed inside and warmed myself with a steaming bowl of chili. I ate in the living room so I could enjoy what I had accomplished with all my hard work.
After lunch it was time to wire the pine cones into the garland and put the grapevine stars up.
The pine cones and stars were laid out so I knew where they were to be placed along the garland. Adding the pine cones adds more work, but I really like the end result!
Along with the pine cones I use grapevine stars everywhere. I made star topiaries to flank the front door. These were put in big terracotta pots (out came the tomatoes out and in went the stars).
Some greenery was added to finish them off and a few smaller terracotta pots were filled with pine cones. I left the watering can up there as well because I thought it looked nice, although I may replace it with my old zinc one. I may add a few more pots filled with other natural things as well.
Not too long after I was finished with the front porch the sun started to set. I could hardly wait for it to go down, I was so excited to see what the lights were going to look like in the dark!
The lights came on at 5:30 and it finally feels like the holiday season at Chiot’s Run. I hope that people driving by smile and get that feeling of Christmas. I always do when I pass houses all dressed up for the holidays!
This is the view from the inside of the house. I love sitting on the couch in the evenings with a cup of tea, listening to my favorite Christmas music and watching the lights outside.
This doesn’t conclude my decorating efforts. I still have to add garland, lights and stars around the garage door. The front fence will get some garland and stars as well and I may put up some more lights in our little pine trees on the back hill. I also have to decorate the inside of the house, but this gets to be less and less with each passing year. I appreciate the outside decor much more than I do the inside decorations.
What’s your favorite outdoor or indoor Christmas decor?
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A Day at the Farm
After seeing the photos I took of my nieces & nephew for their Christmas card, my sister’s friend asked if I’d come take some photos of her kids. I spent an hour at their farm on Tuesday, which happened to be a beautiful day! The boys are true farm boys, they wanted to wear their John Deere hats and carry around their tractors and show me the goats and the calves.
The youngest one was in a bad mood and didn’t want to have his photo taken but the older one was loving all the attention.
Taking photos of unfamiliar people is a good way to hone your skills. I’m much more comfortable taking photos of plants and veggies (they don’t move & squirm). But I like to do things out of my comfort zone every now and then. I won’t be branching out into portraits any time soon, but I appreciate learning from these kinds of experiences.
You just can’t get any better than a sunny day on the farm for some good photos, hopefully a few of these will grace their Christmas card!
Do you ever do things on purpose that are out of your comfort zone?
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Planting by the Moon
I’ve always found the idea of planting by the moon fascinating, yet kind of confusing as well. I haven’t read about it in depth, so I don’t know much about it. I hear the phases of the moon have an affect on the moisture in the soil, how seeds sprout and it leaf and root growth.
When I saw this full moon on Tuesday night it reminded me that I want to spend some time this winter reading about this topic. I’ll have to look up a few books about it and add them to my winter reading list (which is already getting quite long).
Anyone have experience planting by the moon? Any good book recommendations for those of us new to the subject?
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Christmas Greens
It’s that time of the year to put up Christmas, at least outdoors. I like fresh mixed greens and big white lights gracing my little cottage. There’s just something so welcoming about them.
I like big colored lights as well and I think about using them every so often, but when it comes time to decorate I just can’t use anything but white.
I bought my garland last Tuesday, and I soaked in in a garbage can of water (from my rain barrels) for 5 days. I took them out Sunday to dry, but then it rained, so I’m hoping it will be dry enough to put it up today or tomorrow. Oddly enough it was December 3 last year when I put up my garland (I have these great photos of Dexter, helping me, before he was officially ours).
I need to gather everything I’m going to need to get our holiday cheer going. I have grapevine stars and pine cones to go along with the garland and lights. I love the natural look! I don’t have tons of time this year, but I’ll make time to put decorations up outside. I may not get any up inside, but I don’t think I could go without a little outdoor Christmas cheer.
Do you put up lights outside for Christmas?
