Cherry Blossoms are blooming (Feb).

Not your typical Mother’s Day (May)

This isn't a gift guide. This isn't a Hallmark card. This is the real, raw parts of motherhood and life that we hope to celebrate. This year we're standing with the mothers on the edges where grief and motherhood go hand in hand. This holiday can be bittersweet as we have lost our mothers or our babies and have friends and family members who have lost theirs too.

But rather than opting out of Mothers Day this year, we want you to opt IN.

We want you to join IN with your grieving friends in a hard season. We want you to lean IN to the memories of your own mama, and we want you to feel seen IN this day that celebrates the strength and amazing ways that women with all backgrounds and stories will never be forgotten. Legacies matter and journeys matter. We stand with you IN hope and love.

As someone who understands the pain of losing my mama 7 years ago, I wanted to offer a way to honor moms in a special way this Mother's Day.

Creator of Memorialight, Kimberly Boyle and I started talking about the hard parts of our story. And that is where this idea was born.

What if women had a quiet way to acknowledge each other on this day? Sweetly touching those spaces in between words that could mean so much. Providing a way to say, “I see you, friend.”

We are excited to announce the launch of the limited Memorialight x Victory in Art Forget Me Not package!

Gifting Memorialight to a friend is a special way to show your love and respect for people who are in the middle of loss. This gift is designed to provide comfort and support during this difficult time, and to help celebrate the life of a loved one.

We came up with the idea of including an original Forget Me Not canvas piece (made by me - that's my role in this!) that can be set in a special place as a visual reminder of the things she misses the most. So, you get two keepsakes in one gift!

Never mind sending flowers that just fade quickly. You can give something that can always be before her, allowing her to take quiet moments to pause, reflect, and just breathe.

We know that this Mother's Day may be difficult for you or for your friend, but we hope that our special collaboration gift can bring some comfort and solace during this time.

Please know that we are here for you and that you are not alone in your grief.

To order, we will be linking the limited edition of Memorialight on Kimberly's Etsy page.

They will only be sold from May 1-9 to ensure shipping arrives on time.

Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your journey. We hope you find ways to connect to others and join IN with us.

We will never forget,

Michele (and Kimberly)

Kimberly's Etsy Shop

February Collection is HERE!

Landscape Collection (February)

Hello friends - new and familiar!

Our newest collection offers something I haven't ever done before - landscapes. We are letting these lush landscapes loose into the world for the first time!

When Ellie and I gathered to plan our first adventure, she was already working on watercoloring some favorite spots in Virginia. And I was thinking about all of the inspiration pictures I had taken in my area.

Yes, some of my pictures came from moments where I pulled over to the side of the road to catch that glimmer of sunlight hitting the backdrop of a mountain view.

That's how this collection was born!

Ellie has a gifted style of creating landscapes with deep colors and rich shadows. I'm just developing my style but I love the misty views and any tree top mountain-scapes.

If you are a fan of views in Virginia, there is something special in this collection for YOU.

All of the landscapes are 4X6 and are made on a unique textured watercolor paper Ellie acquired in the UK. Like, we don't have any paper left after divvying it up between us. So, when we say this collection is limited - it really is a limited supply.

The good news is that we plan to make printed cards sets too.

But wait….there's more.

There will also be a limited number of bookmarks with leafy designs as well. The front will have a Scripture reference and the back will have the entire verse for you to practice. We hope you will use them as a tool for your study in this new year. And give them as gifts…

So, stay tuned. We will release this collection to subscribers (like YOU and any friends you invite to subscribe) on Ellie's site on February 6.

Everyone else will get access in the days that follow. You get first dibs!

Keep following on Instagram - we are doing lots of Reels to show off the babies (Is that what you call these pieces of art being birthed in our minds, poured out onto precious papers, and placed in your hands?)

Either way, consider yourself warned - good things are coming!

As I wrapped up my thanksgiving holiday, a feeling of exhaustion set in. I spent most of October and November traveling and working on projects. That heavy schedule led to missed sleep, travel fatigue, and a bit of the excitement I usually have for the holiday being stripped away.

I don’t know if you noticed but, in anticipation of what was coming, I skipped a collection for November to give myself some margin. Thank God for healthy boundaries! That saved my bacon!

In reflection of all that He did in the last two months, I realized that He had been pouring so many things into me that I hadn’t even processed yet.

Here’s a snapshot:

God spoke some words over me about healing coming through art therapy in the New Year. Isn’t it amazing when God does tell you what’s coming next? Oh, and I wasn’t even praying about my OLW yet but tada…its HEALING!

Had the privilege of teaching a watercolor class and led a devotion at a creative design retreat in the Shenandoah Mountains. We already scheduled next year’s trip - more details to come on that as you are all invited!

Received a first time commission from a business for holiday cards. Just shipped those out today!

Learned two new projects in Procreate (Thanks, Jen Barbe!)

Took a staff work trip to Tennessee with NorthStar for the LifeWay Women’s Leadership Conference.

Spent time with new family due to a recent proposal of my oldest son, Isaac, and his new fiance, Brit. Hooray!

Enjoyed some fun and rest with my nuclear family.

Designed a new backdrop for church to ring in the Christmas season.

Whew! It’s been a good busy. But, truly busy!

So, this month’s commission involved some quiet work with another artist and friend, Lisa Brass. We hope to bring some rest and quiet to your “post-holiday” season. Our collection is available now but it’s to be used from Christmas Day to Epiphany (December 25-January 5).

The collection is about bringing slowness to your days after the holidays and soul-charging reflection through God’s Word. It’s a simple way to reflect on a theme, look up a passage, and memorize a truth nugget from those pages of God’s Word. Of course, it has our artistic touch to make the cards a beautiful keepsake.

We hope you can find some time to reflect, rest, and refresh yourself in God’s Word too. We hope to make that a little easier this month!

Merry Christmas to you and yours! I hope to share with you one more time before the New Year arrives!

I’m so thankful for all of you!

Scripture Card Collection

(December)

Featured Product

These Scripture Cards can be used so many ways. Keep them by your favorite chair to enhance your quiet time. Use them for Scripture study from December 25-January 5. Give them to a friend who needs encouragement.

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Songs of the Season (October)

When my mom died, the person living with her wouldn’t give me all of her belongings. What I wanted most was a gold shamrock with my grandparents wedding date inscribed on it and all of her Christmas decorations.

I didn’t get either one.

But about two months after her passing, I was digging through the Target clearance section to randomly find a gold shamrock about the size of that relic from my past. I snatched it up and took it to Things Remembered in the mall to have it inscribed. It wasn’t the same as the one I wanted but I felt like God was saying, “I will redeem the things you lost!”

For Christmas every year, we try to buy the kids each an ornament and we also pick one up from whatever travels that year. I realized last year, as I decorated with carols playing in the background and a fire burning, that my tree was now full! It was eye-opening. For all of those scant years, I barely had anything to hang on the pine boughs. After 25 years, God was good to remind me, “I will redeem the things you lost!”

Each year since my mom’s passing, the holidays are the hardest time of year for me. It’s Thanksgiving, then her birthday, then the date of her passing, then Christmas, then my birthday, and then a New Year arrives, and I’m not ready for any of it.

It all seems to go by in a blur.

In that first year, as I was in the midst of grief, God reminded me that I was not alone. So many I talked to lost loved ones during that same season. They were grieving too! It wasn’t all sleigh bells and train whistles!

So, that sparked an idea - we could host a Hope in Stillness moment for our church and for those in our community who were grieving. We gave an ornament to everyone that attended as a reminder of their loss in the middle of the joy of the season.

I did one of these services when I arrived at my new church right as Covid was peaking and we gave everyone an ornament they could plant with imbedded seeds - so they could see the glory of God growing and blooming new things in the next season.

This year, my friend Koryn and I decided to make homemade ornaments to mark the season.

Several of mine are blue - the color for grief in this season.

Each one is hand painted, beautifully designed, and intentionally planned for your family and friends. These gifts will bless those who receive them because of their beauty, the hope inscribed with God’s Word, and the sentimental touch of you thinking of them this season.

It could be a hostess gift for someone in your neighborhood, or someone who has a birthday around Christmas, or it could be for someone in your family who needs a beautiful addition to their ornament collection this year!

It could also be for the person in your life this year who miscarried, or is struggling with a child in need, or dealing with a diagnosis, or who lost a loved one earlier this year. You could help another redeem what they lost this year.

Either way, these ornaments are our labor of love for you to pass along to those in your life you want to impact with hope, peace and joy this season!

All of the ornaments are hand-painted acrylic, protectively coated, lettered with lyrics from a Christmas carol, and provided in a gift box that can be used from year to year!

For ease of sale and shipping, all of the ornaments are listed on Koryn’s site!

Shop Songs of the Season Collection

God’s Beauty - Declaring His Glory (August)

I think several of you know that a friend of mine gave me a Turkish fig tree when I moved into my new house. I was delighted! She said she learned several spiritual lessons from this meager tree. She hoped it would teach me and bless me too!

The tree had beautiful furry leaves with a non-traditional outline. I loved touching each leaf in my study. It even had a faint sweet smell to the leaves. This tree was small but mighty!

I was looking forward to learning some of my own lessons.

How would God use this tree to guide me?

My first lesson was how to keep the deer from eating the tree! So, we came up with stakes, chicken wire, wrapped that baby up, and set it in the full sun!

Then, the weeds were overgrowing the inside because we didn’t leave a space at the bottom to tend to the tree. We worked to undo all of the wires and stakes and rebuild the fencing again!

At last, it was thriving last August and I got my first few figs in September! What joy!

Fast forward to this winter, it went from thriving to dead. Yes, it was that quick!

It started to produce some leaves and buds and then we had one late frost. That’s all it took! She was gone…

I grieved. And then I was super hesitant to dig her up! My heart was sad to have lost the prize - I don’t give up easily and I don’t lose well. And I didn’t want to tell my friend I wasn’t as successful as she was. I felt like she would think I wasn’t faithful in stewarding her gift! (Even though that wasn’t coming from my friend at all, I thought it in my own heart!)

Finally, my hubby took apart the fencing and pulled the stakes and we planned to lay her to rest.

About a week later, I looked that direction in the yard. Lo and behold! I saw green! I went running over as fast as I could thinking, “It must be more overgrown weeds!”

Nope, my fig tree had resurrected! It was alive! She was alive!

I called my friend and showed her my jubilation! We had a moment and a few tears were shed! (yes, I cry over creation and nature experiences - where are my people?)

Next, my hubby got out the clippers, trimmed the old stalk, rewrapped her in fencing (careful to leave space at the bottom this time for weeding), and anchored her stakes.

Now….She’s thriving!

Isn’t that like the work Jesus does in us?

Just when we think something is impossible, dead, or too far gone, He shows His power over death! He shows that He never gave up on the fig tree! What an amazing Creator and Savior!

Matthew 24:32 says: “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.”

He gives us signs of the seasons. He is the Gardener! He controls all things. We don’t have to rely on our own understanding. We can believe and have faith past the point when it makes sense!

Don’t give up, friends! Don’t give up!

Bonus material:

If you are still reading this, then you are sure to be blessed!

I have to share that I learned a few more bonus lessons while studying these beauties!

Did you know that female wasps lay eggs in figs? We have likely eaten small broken-down wasps within figs (female fig trees have enzymes that break down the wasp body)!

Fig trees also have two crops!

The earlier, smaller "breba" crop is visible at Passover time (April). It doesn't produce very good figs—a lot of growers don't even bother to pick them—but still, they are a guarantee of the good ones to come. A tree with no breba figs is a tree that will be barren later on, when it really matters. How’s that for spiritual insight?

The later crop comes in September and is known to be the juicer and more bountiful crop! When you wait for the best crop, you have the best rewards! Sometimes God has us wait for reasons we don’t understand. We can trust Him even when we don’t have an explanation.

Don’t you know, I had to recently apply two of the lessons I mentioned above.

1. The “don’t give up” part was useful to intercept me thinking that this collection was never going to happen. I found out early July that I would need shoulder surgery in late July. I was organizing so many other things in my life that the art pieces didn’t come quickly. How would I get it all done? In the weeks of planning, He met with me and I was so happy with what surfaced!

2. Then, when surgery arrived, I got sick, and it was delayed. I knew I was waiting on the Lord’s timing because things surely weren’t happening in my own control! As I was waiting for the next surgery date, it got changed two more times! I couldn’t believe it. But, He had so many lessons to teach me in the “wait!”

Well, right there so many things surfaced…the second collection was born!

In the end, here we are! Again, God and me working together to bring forth His plans. Thankfully, I don’t work alone! I have God’s help, this community of support, and so many others that will join in the future - that is where my hope lies!

We have something special together!

Here’s one final thought to take with you and to hold tight to this month:

“As we pray and do life together, we have to reach past the trouble in our lives - with one hand on God’s peace and the other to grasp His victory - even when we don’t see the answers just yet!” (Author Jodie Berndt)

Holding for a bumper crop and sharing my lessons learned too,

Michele