Treasure

Treasures are in the eye of the beholder. This was never truer than the day our son rescued my mother’s brooch, pictured above, from certain peril. Our carpets were being cleaned that day and with respect for the vocation of carpet cleaning, I explained that we would have strangers in our home for the day and advised our young son not to leave any valuables out in his room. He took the precaution quite seriously and began to roam the house, “securing valuables”. Later, he whispered for me to come and look at what I had left out! Carefully, he led me down the hallway to the very last room and revealed the treasure I had left unguarded. Looking both ways with slow, protective eyes and then sliding his hand smoothly into his pocket, he slowly drew out, with Faberge flair and a Tiffany touch, the rescued valuable… my mother’s old, dusty rhinestone brooch.

The brooch was never measured in terms of money, but simply by the special place given in our home and memories. It actually had very little monetary value and with it’s two missing rhinestone “gems”, a clasp that went to sleep years ago and dusty crevices from passing decades, it certainly would have been passed over by many as invaluable. But, in the eyes of our son, the glittery rhinestones were priceless facets and the sparkling turquoise and pink “carats” beckoned a rescue. It had value beyond measure in his little eyes.

It had value because of the worth that it had been given.

It’s a value not unlike ours. Regardless of how others perceive us, how we perceive ourselves, or how dusty the crevices of life have been, God sees us as having great value, great worth and being absolutely irreplaceable. He runs after us and gathers us up with tenacity far greater than our son did when he secured the family “treasure”. And a quiet heart can almost hear the sigh of relief that comes when He rescues us or when we draw close to Him. You are so valuable.

Even His descriptions of you are made with jewel-toned words, faceted with love. This one glimmers in my mind whenever I look at my mother’s brooch.

“Oh afflicted one, storm –tossed and not comforted. I'm about to rebuild you with stones of turquoise, foundations with sapphires, towers with rubies, gates with jewels, and all your walls with precious stones.” Isaiah 54:11

So, let the re-building begin. A foundation of sapphires? Towers of rubies? Gates of jewels? That’s a description of you. Why, I think you’re beginning to “catch the light” quite beautifully.

Laura

P.S. A special thank-you to my mother, Rose Skinner, for the priceless heirloom…a glittery pink & blue brooch and our son, Caleb, for the “rescue”.

Daphne Life

It’s the dead of winter. Flower beds are forlorn and forgotten, trees are stripped to skeleton sticks and the landscape is zipped up in a winter coat of frost. The garden has a cold shiver to it that seems to have snatched away all movement and stilled any life among things green.

Is anything even alive out there? Can this garden live again?

At first glance, it seems impossible that anything could grow, and yet, in my father’s garden, a burst of flowers has appeared. A wintery bouquet has come to life, sporting a creamy pink blush and a fragrance that envelopes, surrounds and chases you down in the garden. There’s no escape from its permeating presence. It wraps itself around everything in the garden and seems to shout out loud, “I’m flourishing! I’m alive!”

New life has come into what appeared to be dead.

If you inhale the heady aroma of a daphne odora in full bloom in the cold depths of February, it will take your breath away and make you believe in miracles again. You’ll realize that new life can come out of things that look as if they’re all dried up.

Perhaps you’re walking through a dead of winter season with only dry bones on the landscape of your life. If so, let this daphne bush, that flowers and flourishes in winter, encourage you to remember that new life can be breathed into the most barren of landscapes. It’s a truth echoed in a story found in Ezekiel 37. Take a moment to read it and you’ll find new life being breathed into your circumstances. It will make you want to jump up and shout to the “dry bones” in your life to “Live again!”

“I’ll breathe new life into you and you’ll live” Ezekiel 37:14

Laura
P.S. A special thanks to my father, Clarence Skinner, for his photograph of the fragrant daphne blooming in his garden ...in February.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to our "Platinum Advisor" (aka James Rhodes) from the Velvet Lime Girls. Your inspiration, support and art direction are so appreciated and we celebrate you today on your 60th birthday. We have to admit, you have the creative energy of a 30 year old and your funny, sharp-witted humor with a trace of witty sarcasm, brings joy into our studio and each of our lives.

Marybeth was inspired to create this original artwork with an assortment of varied fonts and descriptions of James. It's a fun design that may serve as a springboard for future artwork.

Happy Birthday James!!!

The Velvet Lime Girls

SHINE BRIGHT

“The ways of right-living people glow with light; the longer they live, the brighter they shine.” Proverbs 4:18

This proverb was the inspiration behind our sunflower artwork and with the sun shining bright in Atlanta today, it’s a promise that is warming our hearts.

We had originally used a translation of this proverb with the expression of living life in a brighter and brighter manner, because of our right standing, our connection with God, made available all because of His Son, Jesus. Today, when we read the Message translation, we glowed with a new illuminated insight. We felt like little lightning bugs pulsing with the presence of God within us.

Warm little lights glowing brighter and brighter and shining the longer they live. That’s God’s description of how our lives should be. Wow, it’s enough to give you a hot flash even if you’re not a woman.

We hope you feel the warmth in our new, slightly revised sunflower. We’re only able to give you a peek, to protect our original work. For a fuller view visit http://www.paintedplanetlicensing.com/velvet-lime-girls.html

Shine bright today,

The Velvet Lime Girls

Snow and Sunny Expectations

It’s snowing in Atlanta this morning! As Southern girls, we can’t believe it’s snowing (actually more of a light dusting) and find ourselves peeking out of our windows every five minutes, just to make sure it’s still falling. J Normally, we’d be outside letting the snowflakes fall on our faces, but today is a special day for the Velvet Lime Girls… more about that in a moment. This surprise dusting of snow this morning has made Laura recall one of her favorite songs of all time, “Somewhere It’s Snowing” by David Stearman. A beautiful soft, snowy sort of song, that she and her husband, James, first heard sung by David himself in the early ‘70’s, while they were all college students together. James & Laura say the words still embrace their hearts like they did years ago and we’d like to share it with you today as the snowflakes fall in Atlanta. http://www.davidstearmanministries.org/getmusic.html

We hope you take a moment to pause and let the words carry their message to your heart.

Now, back to our special day today. Do you remember being a kid and trying to go to sleep the night before something really fun and exciting? Maybe it was anticipating a birthday, a favorite relative’s visit, summer vacation, Christmas, or the circus coming to town. Whatever it may have been, it kept you fully alive and charged … ready for the big day to arrive.

That’s how we feel right now. We’ve been kind of quiet about it lately, but, our art collection will be making a debut this weekend at the Atlanta Mart. We’ll be on display at the Painted Planet booth on the License & Design floor. They were kind enough to even feature us in an ad that is pictured above.

Our new little home on the License & Design floor features art and design for license or sale to a variety of industries including: apparel, linens, decorative textiles, needlework, wall & floor coverings, tabletop, giftware, home decor, greeting cards, gift wrap, stationery, scrapbooking and much more.

We feel like kindergarteners with our pack of crayons, standing next to some Michelangelo type of artists. Really. The creativity that surrounds us is amazing and we have deep respect for these experienced artists. And still, we know, that our artistic message of inspiration and encouragement is unique. There’s no one who expresses it quite like we do. And we are thrilled to see the designs we’ve worked on in our studio for several months placed on display this week in Atlanta.

It’s like being all dressed up for a first date.

We’ll be showing glimpses of our work this week on our blog. To see the entire portfolio, register with Painted Planet Licensing Group, or stop by the booth this week at AmericasMart, Building 2, 774WW.

Thanks to all of you who have supported us and encouraged us. Our hope is that our artwork will draw people like a magnet to the inspiration and encouragement that comes from God… and the “good grace”, mentioned in the song above.

The Velvet Lime Girls

P.S. Sun is coming out and the last of the feathery snowflakes just blew out of here!

If you have a little time, here are the words to the snowy song:

“Somewhere it's Snowing”
by Stephanie Boosahda & David Stearman


I once read in a poem
When snow covers the earth
That it hides the world's scars and
Gives nature new birth.
And they say when a man turns
From sin to the Lord
That forgiveness like snow
covers him evermore.

(chorus)
And somewhere it's snowing,
See the soft drifting down
As the snowflakes surrender
To the hardening ground.
Like the good grace of Jesus
That now covers our sin
In the kingdom of heaven
it's snowing again.

And it's told that the angels lift
Their hearts and rejoice
When one traveler turns homeward
From his way to the Lord's.
If somewhere someone's turning,
He's giving his all,
Then God's grace like the snow,
Is beginning to fall.

(chorus)
And somewhere it's snowing,
See the soft drifting down
As the snowflakes surrender
To the hardening ground.
Like the good grace of Jesus
That now covers our sin
In the kingdom of heaven
it's snowing again.

Joy

“There are souls in this world which have the gift of finding joy everywhere and leaving it behind them when they go.” Frederick William Faber

Ditto

These little joy bundles are Laura’s granddaughters, Sophia, Lilly and Alexa. They’re often the source of inspiration around here, along with Marybeth’s daughters, Madison and Katie. The effervescent joy they all seem to have bubbling inside is not only contagious,it lingers, long after they’ve buzzed off to brighten a new landscape.

We love it when they are around the studio and their little positive ions recharge the entire spectrum of our lives.

We’re transformed into joy bundles ourselves.

Sunbeams lifting the fog of any day.

All because of a few sparks of joy.

We hope you’ll look for the little joys in life today. Yours may not be the simple pleasure of a swing on a new swingset, or a smile at the first snowfall, but joys are out there, just waiting to turn your plain ordinary, tap water day into a sparkling, effervescent day of seltzer smiles.

The Velvet Lime Girls

New Doors

Doors. They serve as entries and exits. Beginnings and endings. These old doors, along the Outer Banks of North Carolina, have a little history and Laura’s Dad, Clarence Skinner, tells their story best in his own words and photographs:

“These old garage pictures are representative samples that still remain along the old beach road in parts of Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills. The garages were built very close to the road and used wooden ramps to connect the garage to the road. Beach houses were located closer to the ocean, often over three hundred feet behind the garage. Autos of that era, 30’s and 40’s, were two wheel drive and did not do well in sand, without skilled drivers and some preparation, like reducing tire pressure. Normal operation was to avoid getting your car in the sand, thus the wooden pallet type driveways and the garages close to the road. City folks also did not want their cars left exposed to the salt air. Of course, this meant that everything that was taken down by auto had to be hand carried from the garage to the beach house, through loose sand.”

These rough, beaten down, barely standing garage doors, have a rustic, nostalgic beauty about them. Like the tough times and challenges that many people have weathered this past year, these old relics are still standing. And the old doors with their rusty, salt-crusted hinges almost make you think they can still swing open. But, they don’t have to anymore. A new day has come. A better way of doing things. And although the old ways have been put aside for new ways, they have not been put aside.

They stand.

Salty reminders of silent strength.

So, if you’ve weathered a “north-eastern” storm of sorts this year, take a good look at these old structures. They stood when times were tough. And they lived to see better days. Days when doors opened to a better way.

“I see what you've done. Now see what I've done. I've opened a door before you that no one can slam shut. You don't have much strength, I know that; you used what you had to keep my Word. You didn't deny me when times were rough.” Revelation 3:8

The Velvet Lime Girls