Imperishable Beauty

Otherwise entitled: “Yes, he has two older sisters.”

“For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

Wordless Wednesday is hosted 5 Minutes For Mom.

The first part of this tackle had to do with my personal blog, and so the second half has to do with my business blog. I’ve been busy ironing out some bloggy wrinkles today since I (FINALLY) got my Etsy store set up last night. Here’s what I’ve been working on:

• Set up my Etsy store (last night.)
• Removed Flickr from my sidebar and added Etsy Mini instead (I didn’t know they had that when I set up Flickr.)
• Added my new store logo, and uploaded the new signature (which as I pointed out in Part 1 is still too big.)

Also this past week I:

• Added RSS Feeds.
• Created my Support I.B. page.

I’m glad to have all this behind me. Setting stuff up and tweaking all the details takes time. Sometimes A LOT of time. Now I can focus on the blogging part more. Although this blog does serve as a “portal” to my Etsy store, I plan on blogging about a lot of related topics such as true beauty, attitude, honoring God, love, serving, stewardship, etc. I’m excited to get to that part more and stop messing with the “behind the scenes” so much. On the other hand, even though I hope to develop a business that will honor God and please my husband, I don’t want to spend so much time on it that it interferes with taking care of my family and home, etc. So with that said - Off to work on the laundry! God Bless!

Tackle It Tuesday is hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom. Thanks ladies, for keeping us accountable!

Psalm 139:14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

“A heart charm reads ‘Made with Love,’ which serves as a reminder that each one of us was wonderfully made by a wonderful God and inspires young girls to praise Him for making them exactly as they are.”

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This bracelet is now available in the Etsy store and it comes in Pink and Multi-Colored. More items coming soon. “Thank You” to everyone who has been waiting patiently!

• Read Psalm 139.
• Buy this bracelet.

One of the struggles I have, which I’m sure is a common struggle for mothers, is teaching my daughters about makeup, and why I can wear it, and they can’t, and all that that entails.

I don’t want to pass on the wrong image, that makeup is necessary, or that makeup is what makes me beautiful.

So I try to explain that I don’t NEED makeup. That it doesn’t MAKE me beautiful. God makes us beautiful, from the heart. But that it can help me to look really nice. And that that’s okay, if I want to look nice for the right reasons, like dressing up just a little before Daddy comes home.

But then I ask myself: How can I tell them I am going to keep and use something if I don’t NEED it. Usually, the rule about stuff is “If you don’t need it, throw it out.” And how can I say that I don’t need makeup to be beautiful and then turn around and dress up for Daddy by putting makeup on? Surely this must come across as a little confusing.

To clarify, I don’t wear a lot of makeup, and most days around the home I only wear mascara and lip gloss - if I wear any at all. And trying to look clean and well kept for when my husband arrives involves making sure I’m not wearing slouchy or stained clothes, making sure that I have remembered to brush my hair today (because, yeah, sometimes I need to check), making sure my teeth are freshly brushed, and adding a touch of makeup. It’s the whole package. Not just the makeup.

Still, actions speak louder than words.

Also, even though I only wear mascara and lipgloss, I’m not saying that it wouldn’t be okay to wear more than that. I just don’t.

So what do we tell our children?

What it boils down to for me is this:

I tell my girls that makeup does not make people beautiful. Makeup can enhance a person’s features. But attitude makes a person beautiful. Or not. Even a person wearing the best-looking makeup can come across with an ugly attitude, and that is what will stand out.

Also, makeup itself is not bad or good. Things cannot be good or evil. Our attitude towards them can. If we, in ourhearts, take pride in our beautifully made up face and spend too much time in front of the mirror making it just-so-perfect… that is sin. If we covet makeup products or foolishly spend too much money on them… that is sin also.

On the other hand, if the desire of my heart is simply to be clean and pleasing to my husband, or being clean and a good witness for Christ if you are single, then that…that is pleasing to God.

Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Thoughts?

I have many blessings. My hubby is just one of them. But I am very thankful for him. Not only does he work very hard for us, but this website wouldn’t be here as it is without his help. He’s a very talented and gifted man. And I thank God for giving him to me, and I’m thankful for all the work my hubby has put in.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Thankful Thursday hosted by Sting My Heart.

The Princess and the Kiss: A Story of God’s Gift of Purity is the charming tale of a princess and her first kiss, which God entrusted her parents with for safe-keeping on the day of her birth. The kiss was safely kept by the King and Queen until the princess was old enough to guard it on her own.

When the young princess came of age and suitors began to call, the princess now faced the task of finding a suitor worthy of her first kiss. Would it be Prince Peacock? Prince Romance? Prince Treasurechest? The wise princess knew that these suitors would not treasure her first kiss the way she did. Who would she choose; how would she find him?

This heart-warming story by Laurie Bishop sweetly teaches our daughters the virtue of purity through poetic writing and beautiful illustrations. I literally cry every time I read it to my little girls. Of course, every little girl loves stories about princessess, and this tale has their attention from beginning to end.

This is one of my favorite additions to their collection, and I’m sure we’ll treasure it for a long time to come.

• Read more about The Princess and the Kiss.
• Meet the author, Jennie Bishop.
• Find The Princess and the Kiss on Amazon.com.

I’ve added my product photos to the sidebar via Flickr - how neat is that? Each refreshed page will display different photos. It’ll be really cool once I get more products.

By the way, the photos were taken by my friend at Faith Photography. She thought it was a little strange that I was asking her to do a photo shoot with jewelry but fortunately for me she agreed. Thanks, Shelly!

I was surfing Etsy.com last night. People can search by color, location, newly listed items, categories…and the different search tools are pretty sweet. I enjoyed searching by color. That was a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to getting my store set up over the next week and selling with them. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

My goal is to have the Etsy store up by March 7th. Check back for more updates.

Welcome to the new and improved Imperishable Beauty website! I make jewelry (and maybe later other items as well) that represent scripture verses filled with wisdom for our little girls - verses about beauty, love, patience, gentleness, and their identity in Christ. I’m gearing up to start selling with Etsy and with this “new beginning” of a sort, it felt like a change was needed.

Over the next days and weeks, I’ll be filling out my little space here and making it home. For now, I leave you with the inspirational scripture for my business name:

1 Peter 3: 3-5 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful.

I realize that this passage is about wives specifically, but as mothers we are to teach our daughters the same things, training them up in the word. God willing, they too will be wives one day.