Lima Cruz started illustrating professionally in 1921 at the age of 12 for the magazine Ilustração Portuguesa. She first exhibited her art in 1921 in an exhibition with her mother who contributed only two paintings. She would go on to have around 40 individual exhibitions in Portugal and France, spending some time in Paris in 1934 under a government scholarship. While in Paris she achieved success with costumes designed for Corina Freire, the Portuguese actress and singer, who wore them in a show performed with Maurice Chevalier.
