A Cupid's Tea (Victorian Mermaid Paper Dolls And St. Valentine's Day Cards)

Hello darling merfriends,

The weekend before St. Valentine's Day is called Cupid's Tea. It's the day the Victorians set aside to make handcrafted cards.
Oh, the joys of Love's own day. As delightful as St. Valentine's Day is, the cleverest store-bought cards can not match the splendour of a handcrafted paper confection. In a bid to preserve this dying custom, Mrs Carter of Stillwater is here to model the tune of that Victorian and assist in creating a happy home circle memory. Let us fashion some homemade cards from paper, glue and loads of imagination. Mrs Carter has decidedly gone off-piste and plans to make a mermaid victorian paper doll as well as happy-hearted cards. 

First, let us assemble the materials. Quality paper -lace doilies are a must heart-shaped round and square in white, ivory, red, pink and gilt.

Mrs Carter has also provided you dear hearts with late nineteenth-century illustrations so popular on victorian Valentine's. For victorian verses, poetry books are an incredible inspiration. So, once you've completed your Valentine's, making them lavish and sentimental as you might possibly imagine, it's time to post them.

Once they have been sent off with the raven carriers at long last, It's time for a delicious and rewarding late afternoon tea party. 

Mrs Carter has worked as cupid's assistant, and she's prepared tasty heart-shaped biscuits, homemade clotted cream (both biscuit and cream are Queen Elizabeth's II receipt) and homemade strawberry preserves from her potager garden. 

(The episodes for making the cards, paper dolls, biscuits, preserving strawberries with wax seals, and the making of clotted cream are exclusives on Mrs Carter's Patreon subscription, The Curious Mind of Raquel Carter, published Monday, February 14th, 2022.)

Most affably yours til my next swim, Raquelxxx