Yup, I’m a procrastinator.

Didn’t get my Christmas cards in the mail. Haven’t made cookies or fudge. Still not finished Christmas shopping. Pretty pathetic, right?

I had the best of intentions, though. Really, I did.

When the teddy bears, cows and frogs started telling me they wanted to be a part of our Christmas card, I listened to them. They’re vital to our business, of course, since it’s all about them sitting in yards for hours on end to make special occasions even more fabulous. They wanted to wish you “Merry Christmas” in their own, three-dimensional, tacky lawn art way.

So we hired the hottest, most artsy-fartsy photographer in all of southwest Missouri. Um, OK, we didn’t really do that. We conned my dad into taking the picture for us. You can probably see his reflection in the windows.

Forget the post office. Why not use technology to wish everyone Merry Christmas?

Or, in this case, our critters insisted we wish you a Beary Moo-y Christmas and a Hoppy Moo Year!

Here we are…

Boy Genius, my brilliant son who is now taller than his mom. He’s in 8th grade in the Middle Years Scholars Program at his high school. It’s a fabulous program, with about 125 kids participating. He’s an amazing kid and my best friend. (Ah, Mom! That’s not cool!!!)

And there’s my youngest baby, Fletcher the neurotic Pomeranian. He’s six years old now, and we’re lucky he’s still around. Last February, the pit bull of a neighbor’s son jumped the fence and had Fletcher’s entire head in his mouth, ready to chomp, when I screamed. Turns out the idiot had a court order telling him never to bring the dog inside the city limits again, and the dog had a history of violence against many neighbors. The dog was executed.

It’s been a great 2005. We’ve met lots of new friends, visited lots of yards to set up our “Public Displays of Affection,” made some online friends, and helped start the International Lawn Greetings Association.

And my fabulous parents just celebrated their 50th anniversary!

Please forgive us for not getting our Christmas cards (that’s right, Christmas — not “holiday” or “seasonal”) out on time. It doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten our family members, friends and clients.

Here’s to a fabulous 2006!

Jill
Chief Executive Flockologist at AGreetingYard.com Lawn Greetings Rental Service!

This display was to celebrate the naturalization of a local radio show host here in Springfield, Missouri.

I suppose Vincent David Jericho is posing like one of the flamingos that he discovered outside of KSGF 104.1 FM’s studio, but I kept hearing the Bangles’ “Walk Line an Egyptian” in my head.

In the photos with Vince is Kortni Williams, his producer/call screener/right-hand woman.

We set up the display Dec. 8, 2005, which was actually the day before Vince got his citizenship. KSGF had a reception for him that evening right next door at the Knights of Columbus hall here in Springfield, MO.

We had a time conflict here at AGreetingYard.com, so we had to make a snap decision — do we set up the display so he could see it in the morning and drivers could see it all day, or do we set up the display in front of the hall so it would be seen that evening? Well, our little time conflict solved the dilemma for us, and we went with putting it up the night before so passersby could view it all day.

This was the first time we had an opportunity to use American flags in a display, which made it even more exciting.

Some lawn greetings businesses across the country use American flag displays to welcome military folks home, and now that we have a bunch of flags, we think it would be a great thing to do as a show of support for our men and women in uniform.

Congrats again to Vincent David Jericho and family on their naturalization!

Here’s a little something fun to share, just because it makes me laugh.

Ever wonder how two flamingos might fit the Beatles into a conversation?

Well, here’s your chance to find out. Just click here!

I guess I have a twisted sense of humor becuase this makes me chuckle.

Our “Public Displays of Affection” (a.k.a. lawn greetings displays) aren’t just for birthdays, new babies, or anniversaries. Today we set up a fun display to help welcome shoppers to a Christmas open house.

Several WAHMs (work-at-home moms) held this open house for their customers.

I learned about the event through one of the WAHMs participating in the event. Kristi V. in Springfield runs two businesses from home — Friendship Bears and Southern Style Gourmet.

If you would like a fun, unusual way to welcome guests to your own open house or party, get in touch with us by visiting our main web site at AGreetingYard.com, calling us at (417) 823-3915 or shooting us an email at info@agreetingyard.com.

How crazy is this!

From Snopes.com (which is a great source to check on urban legends before you forward them to your entire address book and embarrass yourself):

Carson Williams of Mason, Ohio, who spent about three hours sequencing the 88 Light-O-Rama channels that control the 16,000 Christmas lights in his 2004 holiday lighting spectacular. The musical accompaniment is broadcast over a low-power radio station so that it is only audible to visitors tuned in to the correct frquency and doesn’t disturb the neighbors.

How fun is this? Some communities are latching on to the concept of yard cards and yard art, and using them to help celebrate the season.

In Bloomington, Ill., the Northwest Neighborhood Association is continuing a tradition that began in 2000. Neighbors are creating their own yard art. Prizes will be awarded Dec. 20.

Twila Braden, the association’s program chairwoman, was quoted in the Pentagraph newspaper:

“I just thought it was such a neat idea,” Braden said. “What a more wonderful way to give neighbors a greeting.”

The Robertscon County Times in Tennessee tells of a group of firemen who have been creating yard art as a fundraiser for Toys for Tots for about 15 years.

Kudos to these firefighters for their efforts. One firefighter cuts the yard art out of plywood with a jigsaw and the other firefighters paint them as time allows, according to the Robertson County Times.

And in Northwest Indiana, residents set up at Southgate Plaza in Homewood, Ind., to paint yard cards, a tradition for seven years in this community. Painters pay $95 to participate.

However, as an artist and a business owner, I’m concerned about a couple of quotes from these news stories.

From the firemen, regarding how they got started creating yard art:

Back then Yates saw a man selling similar items on the side of the road. He said he bought a reindeer, just to get the pattern.

And from the artists who paint their yard cards in the Indiana mall:

Artists chose Christmas cards with a picture they liked and had transparencies made of them. The transparencies were then put on an overhead projector and the images traced on to the large boards. The boards were then painted and will be illuminated with spotlights.

For all I know, the guy at the side of the road may have given the firefighters permission to use his designs, but here’s the part that alarms me. Over and over again, I’ve witness people do exactly this — buy someone’s yard art (or any other creative product, for that matter) and use it as their own pattern to reproduce it.

And the artists in Indiana may have some sort of special arrangement worked out with the greeting card companies that allows them to shine the card designs with a projector and recreate them.

But without permission from the owner of the copyright, it becomes copyright violation, folks, and that’s not cool.

It’s a frequent topic of conversation for the Lawn Greetings Association, where we try to mentor newbies to the industry and help everyone (newbies and old-timers) understand so they don’t cross that line and steal someone else’s intellectual property.

A lot of people simply don’t understand the concept. So many people have told me, “Well, I saw it on the Internet so it’s free, right?”

Ignorance is not bliss.

Reproducing someone else’s artwork (or another form of intellectual property) is the same as walking into a store and shoplifting.