A Little Christmas Hug Sea Glass Keepsake Card

About this card

A printed card with a small frosted charm wired to the front. The card carries a winter scene and one line of text. The charm lifts off and goes wherever the person who received it wants it to go, onto a tree branch, into a coat pocket, onto a bedside table. Six versions, each with a different charm and a different line: snowman, star, cardinal, angel, heart and tree. It does its job when the message has to be short and you will not be there to say it.

The card

Printed cardstock measuring about nine by twelve centimetres, which is small enough for a stocking and large enough to hold a winter illustration without crowding it. Pines, berries, pinecones, a cabin, a scatter of snowflakes, a few gold-toned accents. There is a blank panel on the back for a proper message, and it takes a pen without showing through to the front.

The charm

Roughly five centimetres, frosted and translucent in the way sea glass is, with gold-toned wire and a bead or two worked around it. Every one is finished by hand, so the frosted tone and the wire sit slightly differently from card to card. That variation is the point rather than a fault, though it does mean the one that arrives is not a pixel-perfect copy of the photograph.

What each of the six says

Snowman, star, cardinal, angel, heart and tree, each with its own short line printed on the card underneath. They are written to someone you are missing rather than to an occasion, which is why the card works for a friend who has moved away, a grandparent, a teacher, or somebody going through their first Christmas without a person they loved.

Sending it

The charm travels attached, so nothing has to be assembled before posting and nothing arrives loose at the bottom of an envelope. It goes into a stocking on its own, or ties to the ribbon on a larger gift, or sits flat inside a Christmas card as a second small thing. At this price it is worth buying half a dozen and keeping them in a drawer for the people you have forgotten.

Specifications

Type	Keepsake card with a detachable charm
Card size	About 9 x 12 cm, printed cardstock
Charm size	About 5 cm, frosted with gold-toned wire
Designs	Snowman, star, cardinal, angel, heart or tree
In the box	1 printed card and 1 detachable charm

Where it ends up

1. Posted in an envelope

   The card is a standard small format and the charm travels wired to the front.

2. On the tree

   The charm has a loop, so it hangs without any extra ribbon.

3. In a pocket

   At five centimetres it sits in a coat pocket unnoticed until somebody reaches for it.

4. On a nightstand

   At that distance the line printed on the card is doing most of the work.

In the box

• 1 printed keepsake card
• 1 detachable frosted charm with gold-toned wire

Care

Keep the card out of direct sun so the print holds its colour, and wipe the charm with a soft dry cloth rather than a damp one. The wire is soft by design, so if it gets bent out of shape it straightens again by hand without much argument.

Choosing one