Easter Blessings

One of the highlights of the year around our studio is the celebration of Easter.  It's much more than bunnies, chocolate and Easter egg hunts for us. Although we do joyfully participate in all these fun traditions, Easter is really a time when we pause, with honor and respect, to remember the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on our behalf, and on Sunday we celebrate the glorious resurrection of Jesus from the dead. We hope you'll pause to read the full historical account of the first Easter as recorded in the Bible. You'll find it over in chapters 18, 19 & 20 of the book of John. Today we're sending out a lighthearted Easter blessing to you and we hope you'll feel free to pass it along to others. It's a vibrant little graphic to share as we remember the greatest blessing ever given to all of us at Easter.

The Velvet Lime Girls 

You're Loved

We're sending you a Valentine sentiment today to remind you of just how very loved you are. It's a tender, heartfelt expression from God, the one who knew you before you were born and who has promised to never leave you.  Just listen to the way he talks about you:

"You are precious and honored ... and I love you."  Isaiah 43:4

Whoa...precious, honored, loved.  That beats any box of chocolates, flowers or sweet sentiments you may or may not receive this Valentine's Day.  YOU are LOVED by GOD.

So tuck this little Valentine in your heart today and let it's sweetness just melt-all-over-your-soul.

You are so loved,

The Velvet Lime Girls 

P.S. Thank-you to Legacy Publishing Group for the Valentine's Day gift to us of this coaster ... with our artwork!  They've also featured our artwork on calendars, cards and stationery.  Love working with this great team! 

Snow & Ice

 

Okay, we were expecting to be making lots of big, puffy snowmen this weekend here in Georgia, but instead we woke up to sprinkles of snow and lots of ICE.  It made us think about BAD ICE, one of our snowmen who didn't make the art licensing tour with any of the manufacturers we work with...yet. He has a few bad habits that he needs to get rid of before he can become a respectable snowman and join the ranks of other licensed snowmen who hang out on cards, wrapping paper, gift bags, napkins and wall art.  We're working on his tattoos, his clothing choices and some of the friends he's been hanging out with.  You know, bad company just has a tendency to rub off on you and BAD ICE'S yellow spot is a perfect example of what bad friends can do to you. 

So, out we go into the snow today!  Right after we put-out BAD ICE'S cigarette.

Looking out for yellow snow,
The Velvet Lime Girls

P.S. Our Let It Snow snowman can be found at Fine Art America as a canvas, metal or wood print, at Walmart as a poster, and at Legacy Publishing Group,  where he enjoys the company of some of our other cards we created for them.  We hear our snowman has just packed-up all of his Christmas decorations and is ready for Christmas 2017 in this boxed set at Christian Book.  Enjoy the snow!

Hello 2017!

Hello 2017!  We've been waiting for you! We started thinking about you over a year ago as we created artwork for each of your twelve months. Legacy Publishing Group gathered all those sketches together, wrapped them into a beautifully packaged calendar, and made you look so good!  (Thank-you Legacy!) So 2017, we thought we'd show-off a few of your months today as everyone welcomes in this new year!

                                                  

Looking forward to each of your 12 months,
The Velvet Lime Girls
 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”  Isaiah 43:18-19

P.S.  We focus on creating fun artwork here in our studio and do not offer the calendars for sale, but we hear they are still available at Hobby Lobby, Amazon, Calendars, Sarah J. Home Decor, Ebay, and Bundy Online. Let us know if you see them at your local Christian bookstore or gift shop.

SWOONING

We're swooning today.

SWOONING: To be emotionally affected by someone or something that one admires, to be ecstatic.

Yep, that's us...swooning.  Ecstatic.  We  find ourselves humming that lively line from an old song:

"Look what the Lord has done! Look what the Lord has done!" 

And we just can't help thinking about this beautiful promise:

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him.”  1 Corinthians 2:9

(Yes, all you Bible scholars out there, we know this verse is specifically talking about the wonderful gift of salvation and eternal life with our God in Heaven, that our Savior, Jesus Christ, made possible to all who will receive Him... and our grateful hearts receive this with great reverence.)  

When, however, we experience a little glimpse of God's goodness in our daily lives, a little evidence of Him preparing something beyond what our mind has imagined ... could it be that the ripples of joy reverberating in our hearts are a glimpse of the eternal joy God has prepared for us who love Him?

The source of all this joy today is a little spotlight article on us, the Velvet Lime Girls, and some of the amazing opportunities that have opened up for us. Hey, we're just three women who had a little dream.  A dream to let the love and grace of God that changed our lives, SHINE OUT through us and encourage others.  And now, look what the Lord has done!

May our story encourage you and draw you closer to God, so He can give you a dream, a vision, a joy in life, as you simply walk with Him, listen to Him, and Let His Light Shine Through Your Life.

 Thank-you to the team at Painted Planet Licensing for this lovely spotlight. Here's the full article:

Velvet Lime Girls

Velvet Lime Girls' Calendars @ Hobby Lobby!

We almost had a fainting spell when we walked into our local Hobby Lobby last week and saw Legacy calendars with our artwork!  Oh, we were so excited! That's what happens when you are blessed to create artwork for amazing companies like  Legacy Publishing Company.  You just never know where your artwork may go!  
So today, we're sending out a heartfelt thank-you to Legacy Publishing Company.  You all are amazing! Thank-you. This little calendar is popping up everywhere thanks to you.  We're told it's now found in many local Christian bookstores nationwide and at these links:
Amazon
Christianbook.com
Calendars.com
Jet.com
Bizrate.com

Here's a peek inside the calendar.  Legacy is an expert at calendars and they have featured a different piece of our artwork on each month, along with inspiring scriptures and ample space to write-in details for each day.  We've just hung our calendar up in the studio and are ready for 2016! If you're starting to get ready for 2016, we hope you pick up a calendar at your local Hobby Lobby or one of the online sites above!

Thank-you Legacy for making us look so good!

Grateful hearts,
The Velvet Lime Girls

Royal Color

How does the color purple bring such elegance to everything it touches? 
From those stately iris heads giving royal waves in the summer breeze...

To regal clematis blooms moving with grace...even as they drop their petals.
                         

The color purple just lifts a person up to a loftier place, a royal place, and it was the color we picked for one of our favorite pieces of artwork that called for a noble look ... our "You Are Chosen" artwork.

A study of Ephesians was the initial inspiration for the "You Are Chosen" artwork. As we read and reread the amazing verse that mentions our being "seated together with Him in high places",  we could hardly wrap our minds around that thought.  Us... being seated near God, in heavenly places?  Yeah, that's what the verse says:
"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus..."  Ephesians 2:6

Wow, we are really loved.

This verse painted a picture in our heads...a picture of a royal purple, plush chair. The kind you would just want to sink into and stay awhile.      

More cozy than stately.

More comforting than commanding.  

A place prepared with pure love and grace.

Marybeth, with her gift of turning the art in our heads into realities, created this initial piece of artwork in soft, pale purple watercolors and we wrote about it an earlier blog.  (Click Royal Seating  for earlier blog.)

The artwork evolved to a collage-style final stage for use on products with some of the wonderful manufacturers we work with. 

So, now this little message of grace and God loving us enough to seat us in heavenly places with Him, is now being shared around the world on journals, coasters, notebooks, memo pads and cards.  Thank-you so much to  Legacy Publishing Group,  Divinity Boutique and Painted Planet Licensing, for helping us pass this wonderful truth along to others.

Grateful hearts in Georgia,
The Velvet Lime Girls

Brave Bluebells

The bluebells are blooming in our studio garden.  They pushed their heads up through the dirt, moss, and pine straw last week and this morning they've been catching dew drops on their turned-up curly heads. We've caught them dancing around too.

We think it's because they've been brave.  
Brave enough to push through the hard, brown barrier that hung over their heads all winter long. 
Brave enough to believe their Creator had a purpose for them.  
Brave enough to trust the love they are wrapped in.  


When you've been so beautifully created, wrapped in such love, how could you not be brave?
When someone cares enough to trace the length of your petals with lavender love lines, mist your face with drops of dew from Heaven and wrap your heart in a tender embrace... you can push through anything.  

Love makes you brave.

"You make me brave, you make me brave,

 You call me out beyond the shore into the waves

You make me brave, you make me brave

No fear can hinder now the promises you have made."

                         Bethel Music

So take a cue from the bluebells.  Be Brave.

You can push through any challenge you face today with the strength that comes from being loved by God.

"Fear not, for I am with you;

Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you,

Yes, I will help you,

I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

Isaiah 41:10

The Velvet Lime Girls

Coaster with Velvet Lime Girls artwork, courtesy of 

Legacy Publishing Group