Something New Is Coming to Oysters & Pearls… Our Greeting Card Stash ✉️
We’ve been plotting something new behind the scenes at Oysters & Pearls.
And we’re rather thrilled with it.
Greeting cards are coming to Oysters & Pearls — hopefully this week.
But, naturally, we couldn’t just make a few cards and leave it at that.
Oh no.
We’ve been creating our very own greeting card stash collections.
Because we can’t be the only people who suddenly remember a birthday tomorrow, need a card for someone who’s moving house, or go hunting for a sympathy card only to discover three Christmas cards, an envelope with nothing in it and something we apparently bought in 2017. 😂
So we thought: wouldn’t it be lovely to have a stash of genuinely good cards already waiting at home?
Because a lovely card doesn’t have to be a big card.
Sometimes a smaller card with a brilliant illustration, a few perfectly chosen words — or a joke that lands just right — can pack far more of a punch.
Our stashes are designed to be small enough to keep easily, lovely enough to be proud to send, and affordable enough to have waiting in the drawer for whenever you need one.
Less space. Less fuss. Plenty of personality.
And so, our first five Oysters & Pearls card stashes are taking shape…
🎂 The Birthday Pick & Mix
Sixteen birthday cards — and not a boring multipack in sight.
There’ll be cards for Mum, Dad, Sister, Brother, Daughter, Son, Grandma, Grandad, Niece, Nephew, Someone Special and a Wonderful Friend, alongside general birthdays, a belated birthday and one for those occasions when perhaps we’d rather not discuss the number of candles. 😉
And the designs?
Deliberately different.
Funny ones. Beautiful ones. Slightly cheeky ones. Quirky ones.
Because the people we send cards to aren’t all the same, so why should their cards be?
🌊 The Coastal Crew
Well, we are Oysters & Pearls.
There was always going to be a slightly unruly collection of characters from beside and beneath the sea.
Our Coastal Crew will be appearing on cards for birthdays and other happy occasions — congratulations, thank you, good luck, new homes, new adventures and those moments when somebody simply deserves a smile.
Expect lobsters, crabs, seagulls, octopuses, sardines and assorted other salty characters to start turning up.
Percy may already have put himself forward.
Nobody invited him. 😂
🦒 The Funky Zoo
This lot are shaping up to have rather a lot of personality.
Expect fabulous giraffes, zebras, elephants, flamingos and assorted creatures who have absolutely no intention of behaving like respectable greetings-card animals.
The Funky Zoo will cover birthdays and other happy occasions — congratulations, thank you, good luck, new homes, new babies and life’s other little victories.
And definitely not just for children.
Frankly, we think the grown-ups deserve the best animals. 😂
💌 For the Moments That Matter
Not every card is sent because something funny happened.
Some are sent because somebody needs to know we’re thinking about them.
For the Moments That Matter will include cards for sympathy, thinking of you, get well soon, weddings, anniversaries, new babies and other important moments.
But while creating it, something occurred to us.
Not everybody celebrates the same milestones.
Our families, cultures, faiths and traditions are wonderfully different, and we don’t want to pretend that life’s important occasions fit neatly into one list.
So this stash will also contain a selection of beautifully illustrated blank cards — suitable for the celebrations, milestones and meaningful moments that matter to you.
No prescribed occasion. No assumption about what you celebrate.
Just a lovely card with room for your own words.
🗄️ The Everything Drawer
You know the drawer.
The one containing batteries, a mystery key, two elastic bands, a takeaway menu, something that belongs to an appliance you no longer own — and, if you’re lucky, exactly the thing you were looking for.
That’s The Everything Drawer.
A stash of useful cards for the occasions that have a habit of sneaking up on us — birthdays, sympathy, thinking of you, get well soon, thank you, congratulations, new baby, wedding, anniversary, new home, good luck and a useful blank card too.
In other words:
“Oh thank goodness. I’ve got a card for that.” 😂
But before we finish them, we’d like your help.
We’re already busy designing, and we’re hoping to have the first cards arriving at Oysters & Pearls this week.
But rather than sitting here deciding what everybody else needs in their card drawer, we’d much rather ask you.
If you could have 16 lovely cards waiting at home, which cards would you want in your stash?
Are there occasions you always seem to need?
Are there cards you can never find when you want them?
Is there something we’ve completely forgotten?
Tell us — because we really do want to know.
And then there’s family…
We’ve already discovered that even this isn’t quite as simple as it sounds.
Mum or Mummy? Dad or Daddy? Grandma, Granny, Nanna or Nan? Grandad, Grandpa or Papa?
Every family is different.
So we’re also wondering about a smaller 8-card Family Birthday Stash, where the cards actually suit your family rather than somebody else’s idea of what a family looks like.
Would you like one?
And if you could choose eight family birthday cards, who would you put in your box?
We’d love to know.
And what about the moments we don’t always see on the card-shop shelf?
We live in a wonderfully multicultural world, and the important moments in our lives don’t all look the same.
There are Christenings and First Holy Communions, Confirmations, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, naming ceremonies and many other faith, cultural and family celebrations.
We know we won’t have thought of everything — and we don’t want to pretend that we have.
So we’d really like your help.
Are there celebrations, traditions or important milestones that you struggle to find a lovely card for?
Tell us what we’re missing.
Because if Oysters & Pearls is going to make cards for life’s important moments, we’d like them to reflect the lives people actually live.
So… what would be in your greeting card stash?
We’re genuinely excited about these little stashes, and the first designs are already taking shape.
But before we decide we know best, we’d rather hear from you.
Which of our five stashes would you choose?
What cards would you want inside it?
Who have we forgotten?
And is there a card you’ve spent years wishing somebody would make?
Tell us. Your answer might just end up inside an Oysters & Pearls card stash.
Hopefully, the first ones will be appearing this week — and we can’t wait to show you what we’ve been creating.
Until then, we’d better get back to the drawing board…
The card drawer is about to get considerably more interesting. ✉️
Oysters & Pearls Quirky treasure hunting, with a little salt in the air.
Comments