The hydrangeas are here.  Full blown, bountiful heads of blooms are everywhere.

Pink heads, blue heads, fuchsia heads, celadon heads and heads dripping with colors beyond imagination are swaying all over our garden.

Each morning a new shade comes out from hiding and slowly spreads itself across the expansive heads of blooms. These evolving color hues bring a fresh kind of osmosis inspiration into our studio each day.  Oh, we will so be using these colors in new artwork!

These hydrangeas just pour themselves out for us.  They give and give and give, becoming better as their gracious and generous nature unfolds.

They’re a bit like people.

 When we pour ourselves out for others or refresh others, a surprising result occurs …we’re refreshed ourselves! 


Refreshers are refreshed. 


St. Francis of Assisi recognized this phenomenon clearly and captured it in the lovely expression, “it is in giving that we receive.”

So, for those of you who’ve been pouring yourselves out for others lately, or giving when you just didn’t think you could give anymore, take a look at these hydrangea blossoms.  They just become more beautiful in their giving.  And so will you.  You’ll be enriched, refreshed and renewed.  Don’t be surprised if you see some new hues of joy and strength spreading across the landscape of your life.

The Velvet Lime Girls

“If you are generous… and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.”  Isaiah 58:10

View from our studio

He Knows Your Name

This solitary flower still blooming in mid November holds an intimate love story in its petals. Created beautiful enough to stop a casual gaze across the barren pre-winter landscape, it creates a standstill when viewed up close. Intricate detail and exquisite color palettes reveal the work of a master. One who is interested in every single, solitary, tiny detail … down to the last star-studded stamen. Who would take time to sculpt such a petite fireworks display and place it in the heart of a flower? Someone with a connection to that flower… someone who knows it by name.

The flower served as a gentle reminder that God knows us by name. We have a connection with Him. We are not forgotten. The One who poured such creativity into a flower like this, pours infinite care, concern and attention into each of our lives. He actually says that He knows us by name. A powerful thought. Talk about name-dropping! The Creator of the universe… He knows my name. He actually calls me by my name, (Isaiah 45:3). It’s enough to create a little fireworks display in your own heart.

The Velvet Lime Girls

Painted Planet Licensing Group

Gratitude. It’s the overwhelming emotion that mounts in our spirits, swells up through our expressions and spills out into every crevice of our lives lately.

G R A T I T U D E.

Here’s one of the reasons why…

Painted Planted Licensing Group is now representing our artwork!

http://www.paintedplanetlicensing.com/velvet-lime-girls.html

We’re thrilled beyond expression as we busy ourselves around our design studio pouring out new artwork in a continual stream. Like young mothers about to give birth, we’re filled with that amazing burst of energy that comes shortly before their little “dream” meets the world. Overwhelming, overflowing, creative energy just floods our studio each day as we begin to give birth to the dream we’ve nurtured for over 4 years … creating artwork to encourage & inspire.

It’s so moving when other people believe in your dream. We honored that Jan Draheim, President of Painted Planet Licensing Group, picked us to be a part of the team. And we’re soaking up the art direction that Creative Director & Art Licensing Consultant, Julie Hosley, is providing. We love working with these girls!

So, if you feel a little breeze lately, it’s just the whirlwind of creativity we’re stirring up here in our studio under our new licensing name … Velvet Lime Girls. We hope you’ll be seeing a lot of us! J

Thanks for all the encouragement so many of you have given us. We have treasured every phone call, email, comment, tweet and expression you have given!

With Gratitude,

The Velvet Lime Girls

Living Water

This waterfall in a private garden on Roanoke Island was bubbling, rippling and pouring life-giving, thirst-quenching water all over the place on a hot, dry summer afternoon. The sound of the splashing water filled the air with an expectation of abundant provision … this waterfall was connected to an eternal spring … it would never run dry. The waterfall just had to stay connected and open and this refreshing supply would always flow.

We could relate.

Bubbling over … that’s how we’ve felt lately.

We’re little conduits, waterfalls in a sense. Overflowing with ideas, images and creations.

Swirling.

Swelling.

Cascading waves of creativity surge inside us…spilling out onto the canvases in our studio and our lives.

We’re amazed. We do little to produce this flow. We just stay connected to our Source.

It’s so thrilling that we just want to shout an invite to anyone in a dry patch … “Come on over and be refreshed … connect with the Source of real life and never be thirsty again!”

So refresh yourself today in our waterfall photo. Wash away any dry spells and splash around with the Source of life giving water.

Laura & the Velvet Lime Girls

“All who are thirsty should come to me! Streams of life-giving water will pour out from anyone who believes in me.” John 7:37-38

Run Your Race

“Let us throw off every weight and run with endurance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1

We’ve all been running a lot this summer and that makes us think of feet. Those wonderful workhorses of our body that move us through our journey here on earth. This photo of a magnificent sculpture in south Louisiana had a magnetic pull on me last summer. A swift runner captured in flight. Running her race with determination and tenacity. Sure of her course and the prize ahead. The sculptor fashioned the delicate feet with attention to detail and the layers of weathered years, moss and lichen, now etched into her surface, only added a depth to her message … "Run your race with diligence."

We’ve been running our races with diligence lately. Always checking to make sure we are hearing God clearly and doing exactly what he has created us to do on this earth. (We’re learning a clue to this is usually doing what we find great joy in… kind of what’s already in our DNA from God). This passage has been our running fuel and the sideline cheering force to some of our new artwork. We brainstormed about it recently and Marybeth began creating again … the result is a celadon and sea glass colored palette of artwork that just makes your spirit soar and with the sentiment attached, it is heavenly. It’s kind of under wraps now and will be peeking out in 2012, but you can take its inspiration below today and begin to run your race with new enthusiasm. Especially when you realize that your path has already been marked out for you.

As every runner knows, one of the great things about running is that exhilaration that infuses your entire body at the end of the race. You did it! You finished! What a great feeling! It’s the kind of feeling expressed years ago by a man shortly before he moved to heaven … “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” II Timothy 4:7

So find that path that’s been marked out just for you and enjoy your journey today… really enjoy it. Travel it knowing that it's been pre-arranged just for you. No one else can run this one except YOU.

Laura & the Velvet Lime Girls

Leftovers

“Leftovers” … that’s what the salesperson called them. The scraggly end-of-the season flowers left in a corner at the local gardening store. They were dry, brittle, and tossed on a refuse pile. I saw their potential and wanted to rescue them and give them a chance to flourish. I did. These leftovers are now the stars in my garden! Thick dark green succulent stems now hold buttery yellow faces that shimmer in the sunlight. They make me smile each time I look at them, because they remind me of the value and beauty that can be found in every “leftover”.

They also bring to mind a sentiment Marybeth expressed recently.

Marybeth has been a quiet inspiration to all of us over the past few years as she has said good-bye to three loved ones. She has traveled through these valleys of loss with her soul anchored to a strength that comes only from God … and journeyed on to mountains of joy with family, friends, faith and the creative expressions of Velvet Lime Designs. Recently she penned a few thoughts regarding the last good-by and they seem to fit in with the sentiment of finding beauty in leftovers that really matter. Here it is in her own words:

“I recently spent a few days helping go through what I term "the leftovers" -- what you leave behind when you are gone. This is the third time I've had to do it in my life and it never gets any easier. Sure, people make provisions for insurance policies, stocks, homes...that's all written on paper. It's the "leftovers" that bother me the most. Obviously, they meant something or they wouldn't have been kept. What about that high school track medal your son earned in 1974? Will he want it now? Or the mementos of your children's birth? Will it mean anything to them? What happens when you find that envelope with YOUR name on it and it contains mementos of YOU? Sometimes it's a little tough to swallow...these “leftovers." Deciding what stays and what goes.

I've decided when I am old and gray and it's my time to go, I will tell my family to happily throw it all away and remember me for the immaterial leftovers in my life. Keep what you must...but I want to be remembered for those things pertaining to the heart.”

“A good and honest life is a blessed memorial” Psalms 10:7

Marybeth & Laura

A Season of Greater Things

The seven foot tall swamp flowers in our summer garden are bent over now. All the way to the ground. Along with the other flowers in the garden, they gave everything they had in a show of color and fragrance all summer long. Hosted hummingbird visits, bumble bee sleep-overs, caresses & sniffs from granddaughters.

The flowers in the garden have a burned-out kind of beauty. Their show is over. They gave every drop of color, fragrance, and effort they could give. They think the best days in the garden have passed.

Right in the middle of this weary expanse a fresh new flower emerges. It thinks it’s springtime! It wraps and curls itself around everything in sight and it’s little green bud ends burst into hundreds of delicate white flowers. White puffy clouds of blooms envelope the entire garden. Floating over the skeletons of rose bushes, dried up trellises and anything that hints of fading. This autumn clematis blankets the garden every September bringing a fresh burst of life just when things looked faded and finished.

It brings multiple messages. A reminder that there are seasons for everything. Seasons to grow and seasons to rest. We captured this sentiment in an earlier piece pictured above.

A second sentiment has emerged now, with these white clouds of fresh flowers bringing new life to a garden that was spent. The latter state of the garden is far more glorious than the beginning… It’s latter is greater than it’s past.

So if you’ve gone through a weary patch, felt like you’ve given your all and the landscape of your life still looks a bit barren, let our artwork remind you that a new season can come. Good things are still ahead and your latter can be greater than your past. (Job 8:7)

The Velvet Lime Girls

Clematis climbing all over everything is a pass-along plant...originating in Pattie Lee Smith's garden, Laura's great-grandmother, dug up and passed along by Clarence Skinner, Laura's Dad.

Someone Cares

This feathery branch transcended all of its garden neighbors on Roanoke Island. The garden was filled with proud roses, boisterous bougainvillias and flowers everywhere who were absolutely misbehaving in an out -of -control explosion of color. This one though, softly spoke louder than all of them. Each tiny branch thread, covered with short strands of hair whispered a message of calm. It knew it was a creation that had been fashioned tenderly with great attention to detail. It was loved and cared for … someone had taken the time to dress it in countless wisps of smoky color.

It reminded me of us. Regardless of what is going on around us, we are loved and cared for. We’ve been tenderly fashioned with great attention to detail. I like the way a doctor named Luke said it years ago, “the very hairs of your head are all numbered, don’t be afraid” Luke 12:7

With the noise in our world today, it’s comforting to remind ourselves that there really is someone who cares for us. Someone who watches over every detail of our life … down to the number of hairs on our head.

Laura

P.S. Our landscape architect friend, Alex Brunson, believes our photo is of a Royal Purple Smokebrush. www.brunsonandco.com

THRIVE

Thrive … it’s such an encouraging word. It just makes you want to pull yourself up and reach for the stars again … like this little passion flower growing in my garden. She’s growing in a forlorn section of my garden, an area overlooked and covered with weeds. Who would ever think that such beauty could come out of this mess? But here she is, with her perky little head adorned with enthusiasm, dressed and ready to go, as if she’s strolling into a grand gala.

Wow, what an entrance she makes! She barely notices the desolation around her and instead brightens her entire surroundings.

We’re encouraged to live this way. And we can, when our strength finds its roots in the nourishment that comes from connecting with God. Years ago, a psalmist said it this way ... You’re a tree planted by streams of water… your leaf does not wither…whatever you do prospers. Psalms 1:3

So, no matter what surroundings or circumstances you find yourself in, sink your roots down deep, nourish yourself in connection with God... and begin to flourish and thrive again.

Laura

Sallie’s Seeds

A packet of zinnia seeds has slept quietly in my kitchen drawer for almost two years. Given to me by my friend, Sallie, they weren’t entirely forgotten, just neglected by daily schedules… the intent to plant them was always there, I just never seemed to find the time. Early this summer I was thrilled to have a morning free and eagerly clasped the packet of seeds and planted them in the rich soil of my flower garden. Ahhh, … I could just feel their relief to be in their new home … a place where they could flourish and become everything that was hidden inside of them. How amazing that these dry, brittle, unimpressive seeds that I thought might not even be alive could produce the creations that now cover my flowerbed. Brilliant, vibrant, expressive colors with little yellow faces have exploded from these unassuming little seeds. Who would have thought such beauty could be contained inside? It made me think of how God views us …. His little seeds on this earth. Many of us have yet to flourish and become everything that has been hidden inside of us. We need to plant ourselves in rich soil and that takes a little time. This week, find time to nourish yourself with a little time with your Creator. Sink yourself in the rich soil of prayer and reading His Word …. And get ready for the quiet explosion that will come. You are a seed just waiting to bloom.

Laura