We’re launching something gorgeous this week, and I’m so excited to share it with you at last. Some beautiful postcard-sized gifts for sea-lovers: our Inspiration for Sea Souls tins of postcard prints. Designed with love – to inspire a deeper connection to the sea, and to kindness.
You can find them in our shop now – and today I wanted to share a little more with you about how they came into being.
In today’s blog, I’ll tell you more about these easy-to-post gifts for sea-lovers, how the idea of postcard prints came to life, and what to do on a launch weekend…!
But first, here’s the extremely professional little film that my lovely daughter recorded on the morning of our instagram launch yesterday…
Introducing our postcard-sized gifts for sea-lovers!
So what have I created, and why?
I’ve designed two different but complementary sets of postcard prints, all stored in a gorgeous keepsake tin.
– the “Sea Seekers” edition aims to deepen your understanding of the sea’s wisdom, awakening your ‘blue mind’. You could use these cards to connect more deeply to nature and the ocean, exploring the sea’s many inspirational lessons for us.
– and the “Be Kind to Yourself” edition focuses on encouraging and empowering words. You could use these cards and their compassionate blessings to soothe anxiety and create a daily self compassion, meditation or journalling practice to boost inner peace and kindness.
Both sets of postcard prints use the same 10 Sea Soul Blessings as their inspiration, chosen because they’re the guides we could all use right now. And each edition uses slightly different – but complementary – images.
That means they look really beautiful when they are displayed together. So if you just can’t choose – and want to get all 20 postcards to use together – you can get our ultimate Inspiration for Sea Souls set.
If you’d rather just get a few postcard prints to see how you like using them, we have two mini sets of 5 available too, wrapped in tissue: here’s set one, and here’s set two.
My hope is that each postcard-sized print offers you some thoughtful inspiration, epic beauty, and wisdom that you can keep at hand, connecting you to your love of the sea, and encouraging you forward.
I also love the idea that you might choose to send a set as a meaningful and long lasting gift to the sea lover in your life.
Even and especially if that sea lover is you…! I’ve sent postcards to myself in the post before, and it’s always really lovely to receive one – but you can just keep them in the tin along with your other sea treasures if you prefer.
How much are they?
The sets of 10 postcard prints in a keepsake tin are each £16. For the ultimate sea-lovers’ inspiration, you can get all twenty cards packaged in a tin for £24. Or a set of 5 postcard prints without the tin for £7.
How can I get some?
You can visit our little online shop to find out more and purchase your pocket-sized gifts for sea-lovers
I’ve been so grateful for all the support and encouragement, shares and orders since I first shared them on instagram yesterday – I can’t wait to send the very first sets out, and to see them bringing a bit of magic sea into your homes.
How these postcard-sized gifts for sea-lovers came to life…
During lockdown, we sold out of our little packs of 5 Sea Soul Blessings postcards (maybe people were sending more love and sea in the post? sounds like a good way to cope with a pandemic to me…). These were very simple – all featuring a large version of the ‘steps into the sea’ image from our Sea Soul Blessings cards.
Instead of just reprinting, I wanted to redesign the postcards – to explore whether I could use my sea photos to create something that used evocative images to bring new aspects of Sea Soul Blessings’ words to life.
But I didn’t know whether it would be possible to bring lots of different images together in a way that looked and felt coherent. Cue LOTS of time spent playing with different images, until I found a style, tone and colour palette that felt both calm and inspiring…
Designing the postcard prints
I wanted these new postcards – individually and as a whole set – to feel really special – more than just a postcard.
Something you could send to encourage a friend in need of a boost, but which would also be beautiful enough to frame or display – bringing the magic and inspiration of the sea into your home.
I started by choosing ten of the Sea Soul Blessings to focus on – ten reminders that felt especially needed right now. Messages that I’d personally found strength from this year – and which I knew had resonated with others.
I also decided to look more closely at two distinctly different aspects of the Sea Soul Blessings cards – their roles as a tool for ‘blue mind’ mindful nature awareness; and as an aid to shape a simple daily self compassion practice.
I played with sizing – making them a little bit bigger than the standard postcard so they felt luxurious, but small enough to pop in the post.
Being kind to the environment
As the visual ideas started to come together, it was time to explore ways to make these postcard-sized gifts plastic-free and sustainable…
Time to bring on the tins!
For a while, I’d been quietly exploring the possibility of creating a tin for Sea Soul Blessings as another plastic-free alternative to our current recycled / recyclable paper-based box. Because I know many people (including me) like to take their cards to the sea.
…While as sea-lovers, we also want to be plastic-free – and the gift set display case for the Sea Soul Blessings is gorgeous for use on land – I know it would also be nice to have a more water-resistant way to transport the cards and book.
When I finally sourced a tin to hold these gorgeous postcards – of a size that could also double as a handy stash-spot for the book and cards – I was thrilled. Even more thrilled when I realised that it was also exactly the right size to store your Sea Soul Blessings cards and book in if you have those too!
I also found a lovely tactile recycled card to use for the postcard prints, and a couple of different types of eco-friendly labels to experiment with. Some simple ones printed on recycled paper – and even better, some big ones printed on cane fibre biodegradable paper, which captured the exact matte feel I wanted. Yippee!
Taking a financial risk during a pandemic
Nonetheless, after a financially difficult 2020 and some challenges behind the scenes at Sea Soul Blessings, I was pretty nervous about investing in the first test runs. With a new idea, even a small production run involves a big investment – and is always a risk…
But there was something about the creative process of making the final cards that had the ease and flow of the process of creating Sea Soul Blessings, so I decided to trust in that again.
I also felt like this year we need kindness and a deeper connection to nature more than ever – along with ways to stay in meaningful touch with those who are far away. The time is surely right for a thoughtful gift that combines all of those things in one beautiful tin.
…So here they are!
Celebrating launch week
How have I celebrated bravely launching these Inspiration for Sea Souls postcard prints in a tin into the world?
Well, there’s been a lot of sea swimming of course – along with much waving of postcards and tins at fellow swimmers who have got just as excited as me! Thank goodness for that.
It also happens to have been the most beautiful weekend here in Cornwall – which has felt like an incredible gift and a good omen – especially when so much in the world is scary and challenging right now.
The first day of launch weekend was spent on a stunning family walk to the Lizard peninsula ( the UK’s most southerly point on the mainland).
I irritated my family by stopping constantly to take photos (you can see lots of them in this post, so they weren’t wasted!). Not just of the inspirational postcard prints in a tin – but of the sunset, which was an incredibly special one.
We had some family meltdowns, we all made up again, we drank lime mint tea. We got to see the old lifeboat station (in the photo above), the Lizard lighthouse coming on, and a huge moon rising just as the sun set in the opposite direction.
The next day – the day I knew I’d be launching officially on instagram, I swam at dawn in Penzance, soaking up the sunrise with my daughter as she ate crumpets and we shared a big flask of roibos tea.
We made the video for you that you can find at the top of this post. I felt sleepy, nervous and excited all at once. But I was in my happy place – I did handstands in the water, grinned at the gulls, thanked the sea and giggled a lot with my daughter.
That morning’s swim was as much about thanking the sea for its inspiration, as it was about celebrating bringing this new project to life.
So often, we race on to the next thing, without pausing to notice that we just did something of value. Quite regularly, I have to slow myself down, and pause to look back at how far I’ve stepped up the mountain already.
So I guess it’s no surprise that I create products that encourage us to pause and reflect – since it’s something I need to be reminded of too…
That afternoon, we headed over to Sennen so my husband could have a surf, and the kids persuaded me to play with them as the waves rolled in. Naturally, I managed to sneak in a few more photos!
We ended the day with another epic sunset over at Cape Cornwall – how lucky are we?
What an incredible launch weekend. Now I feel like I need to sleep for a week. But it’s going to have to be early nights for now – as there’s still lots to be done.
Now my tasks are more practical than celebratory. There are the last bits of the product to juggle, I need to make up the first sets, collate and post the orders (thank you so much for ordering!!!) – along with all the usual (and currently more unusual) preparations we’re making for Christmas.
But, honestly, I’m so looking forward to that first trip with these to the post office. I can’t wait to get these out in the post to you and your loved ones, and to see them being used in your homes – I hope you love them as much as I do!
Extra bonus
Of course, we’re also still selling our gorgeous Sea Soul Blessings original gift sets. And if you order one of those during December, we’ll add a free Inspiration for Sea Souls postcard print in there as an extra thank you.
Thank you for being here. Remember to pause and celebrate all that you have achieved today – the big things need acknowledgement and appreciation – and so often, the smallest of things are also big.
