My Fountain Runneth Over {And Little Women/ Mermaidling Paintings Update}

My dear friends,

What a week this has been. I would indeed love to flourish you with dainty words and happy thoughts, for I have had an epiphany! I have been taken up for the last few weeks, through some deep and consistent meditation, and I feel ready for many new adventures. I feel a new lease on life, dear friends.

The summer days are upon us; I am as bright~eyed and bushy-tailed as they come.

I feel excited about the new ideas I have for my blog's future, authorship and my artistry. I am hoping to receive many more commissions for my Little Women/ Mermaidling paintings. I really miss the happy days of waking up, throwing the covers, and walking to my treasure room for the day of splashing paints about and rabbit undertow. The sounds of Debussy on the gramophone and the cool breeze blowing through the lace curtains. Is there anything more magical? I don't believe so. A sweet friend of mine sent me a message about painting little commissioned place cards and menu sheets. She said she would gladly pay for them, as she has many dinner parties. A pretty little place card would be such a delight at each plate. It reminded me of my dear, Beatrix Potter. Painting greeting cards and place cards are just how she began her career, too.

I wrote about my little commission pieces a few moons ago, but I was a bit lackadaisical in my efforts of promotion. I shall improve, indeed.

If you are curious about my paintings; below is a description of what I do to make each painting. I used to be on Etsy, which I may be for a bit longer; however, my new website will have an e~commerce store called; The Mer~Cantile. Its a little play on words for mermaid + mercantile, such as the Victorian days. Isn't it delightful? I used to have a little craft booth in the year 2000 with the same name. I sewed and made all of my items from yo-yos. Do you recall the yo-yo? It is such a sweet form of quilting. I should like to make a quilt for my sleeping room. It's very time consuming, but I love it ever so much. Have you ever made anything from yo-yos?

Little Women/ Mermaidlings 

An original custom Mermaidlings/Little Woman illustration is 4" x 6". Each little painting is in sepia ink and painted with watercolours. I infuse the paper with aged seaweed, flower tinctures and floral notes; that I've personally created from my garden here at Staffordshire Cottage. My water has been charged with crystals of rose quartz and moonstone. I believe that sending my paintings into the universe with a little magic adds a touch of love to all those that purchase my art.  Each painting is $20.00 sand dollars. My paintings have begun to have more detailing, and with the extra details, I have decided to add on a dollar per detail/pet. So, for instance, if you'd like a pet added, that will be an additional dollar.

Each painting comes with a hand-selected shell; that I have collected from years of beachcombing.

I am looking forward to painting for you. Last year, I had the opportunity to paint Christmas cards, addressing them with calligraphy and wax seals. They were exquisite and so beautiful, with the little added touches of gold leaf, they turned out beautiful. Another idea is to memorialise your pets. I have done many of those; they seem to be a real pleaser.

Send me your request by emailing me at Raquel@Raquelcarter.com
and I shall have a whale of a time painting for you!

Most affably yours til my next swim, Raquelxxx

Ardently Mothering

My dear friends,

Good Morning and Salutations. I am happily hot~handed writing to you on this cold crisp dewy damp day from Florida. I have been desperate for the cold, and I awoke this morning to receive a gift from the weather gods. I'm still bundled up, having tea and some scrambled eggs with cheese for breakfast. It's a delight to have fresh eggs from my chicken ladies.

How To Leave A Legacy Through A Mermaid Methodological Educational Revolution

My dear friends,

I hope you're doing well.  Might you pour some tea? After leaving all social media except for my facebook page, I have been able to spend much more time productively working more on my blog. I want my blog to be the mothership of my business. 

La Jolla, California

Back about six years ago, I took a course on blogging and the instruction was to niche my blog very specifically. Well, I knew I had a fascination for mermaids, but I wanted my niche to go even further than just mermaid lifestyle blogging. I wanted to have mermaids be the forefront, but also incorporate my love for being an inspirational orator/ law of attraction {teachings of abraham}. I know there are numerous spirituality blogs, but nothing like mine. I love living the law of attraction, but something I have noticed over the years is that I have never seen a blog or youtube channel, that had an old-fashioned aesthetic. I have only seen space, science looking blogs. I wanted mine to exclude something, not like anyone else. I know my blog is still in the infancy stage, as I am always expanding, but I feel I am creating a place that will be exciting and inspirational to swim to. not only inspirational but informational. People are inspired by blogs for two reasons; for entertainment or information. I want mine to be for both. I wanted to share all the things I've learned and how to implement them into a forum on what I have become an expert in, which is being a mermaid professionally {30 years experience}, but also law of attraction, spiritual growth, happiness, and to provide you with a way for you to create a life you love.

 Have you ever noticed my painted mermaid art, all the mermaids have patches on their tales? I paint those patches on there as a way to remind us that even though we as women may have lives that may have not been unpleasant, with wounds, that we are still delightful and perfect in our own special way.  There have been many times that life has thrown me into a rock wall and resulted in a mangled and torn tail {metaphor for my spirit}. But that we can repair our lives and we can still be as beautiful of a mermaid as ever before.

This is for sale in my Etsy shop. 

Now let's go back and reverse engineer what my niche is. I wanted the methodology/metaphors that I was teaching to circle back around to the foundation of what it means to be well balanced as a woman/girl. If I can give tactical tips, valued information, and DIY in a fun informative way through the perspective of being a real mermaid, I thought that would definitely give you my dear friends a way to learn, but also a fun way to learn. I figured out many years ago, as I was teaching my children by creating their school curriculums was to teach using a specific passion. For instance, when I homeschooled my children, I noticed if I niched their education towards a particular interest they had, they would learn very quickly and It was never a struggle to teach them. They soaked the knowledge like a sea sponge. So that's what I began creating. I put systems in place for each child and created the angle around their likes. My son Sawyer loved rap music, so I created an entire curriculum around his love for rap music. I did the same thing with each child.

Then, as I was thinking about how I wanted to create a legacy, I created The English Settlement aka {Mermaid Junkie Academy} implementing The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People with a twist of Mermaid methodology and the law of attraction.  My dream is to eventually find philanthropists, gifts in kind, and donors so that I can create schools where women/girls can go to workshops and learn. I want the schools to be old plantation homes and mansions. I have this idea that going to a workshop and learning, while also having tea time and dressing in old-fashioned attire would be such fun. It will feel like fairytale magic.  I plan to ask? I plan to use my book sales, a line of home goods, planner systems, a whole line of housewares, essential oil blends, my art, organizing tools, furniture line, a clothing line to fund the workshops. I know with full awareness this is indeed an undertaking, but I wake up every day excited at working away at it. It never feels like work to me. Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, Tony Robbins, Walt Disney, Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart... they all started somewhere. And just as Steve Jobs was known for having said, " All the dots will connect." I believe that statement deeply. I have spent my life living all the things I am going to teach. I am desireth of leaving a legacy worthy of all those that i dearly love.

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Always believe in yourself. It's so important to give yourself room to dream. In your day, set aside moments to do something for you. Too often we hear these words, but I know too often women don't actually do it.
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I want you to hold yourself accountable. If you don't hold yourself accountable, no one will.
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We have to love ourselves enough to be healthy and a balanced mermaid.

I shall write again soon.

Most affably yours til my next swim, Raquelxxx