ThePlaid Pinecone

Keepsake postcards · Real mail

Cultivating connection, one real card at a time.

Your photo and your words, printed edge to edge on heavyweight cardstock, cut and stamped by hand, and mailed to someone you love. Nothing you text will ever end up on the fridge. This will.

Make your first card See the collections

Postage included · mailed on the date you choose

Hands holding a photo postcard of two smiling women in matching red glasses, more cards spread across a lace tablecloth
Two hands holding photo postcards, the photo side in one hand and a handwritten message in the other

Why we exist

Intentional, in a world built for speed.

The Plaid Pinecone is a small company with one big belief at its center: the people we love deserve to feel loved in personal, intentional ways. A surprise card in the mailbox is one of the loveliest. When so much of life happens on a screen, a photograph chosen just for them, with words they can hold, prop on the nightstand or tuck onto the fridge, becomes something rare.

A card delivers more than a photo and a message. It opens a conversation: the excited phone call about what they found in the mailbox, the story the picture brings back, the smile each time they pass the fridge, the friends it gets shown to at lunch. A text is lost in the scroll by evening. A card keeps giving.

Made to be kept

How it works

A few quiet minutes from you. We handle the rest.

  1. 1

    Choose a photo

    One from last weekend, or one from decades ago. Sometimes the best photo to send is the one they haven't seen in years.

  2. 2

    Write a few words

    A memory, a birthday wish, a simple thinking of you. Your message is printed beautifully on the back.

  3. 3

    We print, stamp & mail it

    Every card is checked by a person, cut and stamped by hand, and sent to arrive around the date you choose.

Postcard collections

For one moment, or all year long

Both sides of one card: a Thanksgiving photo of a couple on the couch, and the handwritten-style message on the back

A Single Card

$5 · one keepsake postcard

For a birthday, a thank-you, or simply because they're on your heart today.

  • Your photo and your message
  • Mailed to arrive around your chosen date
  • Postage included
Make one card See details
A fan of photo postcards: a Valentine road trip, matching red heart glasses, a curly dog and a message on the back

Special Occasions

$32 · 8 cards

Birthdays, holidays, anniversaries and the days in between, all ready whenever you are.

  • Eight cards to send across the year
  • Send to one person, or several
  • Make them now or as moments come
Choose Special Occasions See details

Most chosen

A year of photo postcards scattered on linen: family gatherings, holidays, a grandmother smiling and a curly dog

Adoration

$45 · 12 cards

A card every month for a full year. A steady rhythm of love, and something new to look forward to.

  • Twelve cards, one for every month
  • Schedule them all in one sitting
  • Our best price per card
Choose Adoration See details

Also available: 3 cards for $14 or 6 for $25. Cards are printed on heavyweight matte cardstock and mailed within the US, postage included. Secure checkout through Postcard Studio.

Where the cards end up

Sometimes the best photo isn't a new one.

One of our first customers sent her mother a family portrait from the 1970s. A card like this doesn't get tucked in a drawer. It finds a place of honor, where it's seen every day.

A 1970s family portrait postcard on a nightstand beside a tray of perfume bottles
Beside the perfume tray
A 1970s family portrait postcard propped beside a ceramic angel with a gold laurel
Next to a treasured angel

“Also, my mom got the postcard! She loves it. It is the topic of conversation!”

Nancy, one of our first customers

Kind words

From the people who send them

“These are WONDERFUL, TANGIBLE ways to connect to loved ones! The quality was high end and the delight these gave our parents and other loved ones was the total goal!”

Nicole B. ★★★★★

“The quality is absolutely beautiful and my mom loves them!! Bonus is that it also created more connection… We are fortunate to see mom daily but she can never have too much support.”

Elizabeth A. ★★★★★

“The picture was amazing. The color was fantastic. The texture was perfection… It did go all the way to the edges. Easily framable.”

Nancy, on her first card

From the same workshop

Letters that make magic for children.

The Plaid Pinecone began with letters. Each season, a small cast of characters writes to children by name, with stories, maps and treasures tucked inside real envelopes.

Kringle Letters Weekly Christmas letters from Pip the Elf at the North Pole Visit kringleletters.com → Summer of Magic Summer adventures from Finley the Gnome, $29 See the series →
A letter being handwritten on berry-bordered paper beside a glowing lamp

A note from our founder

“I know I can't bring Christmas all year round, but I can bring connection all year round. And that is just as magical.”

Lily

Our promises

  • We never sell addresses, emails or phone numbers.
  • No advertising, ever, inside your cards.
  • Every card is checked by a person before it mails.
  • If something isn't right, we make it right.

Questions

Good things to know

What are the cards printed on?

Heavyweight matte cardstock, with your photo printed all the way to the edges so it feels like a real photograph. Each card is cut and stamped by hand.

Can I send cards to more than one person?

Yes. Every card in a collection can go to anyone you like, so one collection can cover a grandparent, an aunt and an old friend.

What if I don't have my photos or words ready yet?

That's completely fine. Your cards wait for you in Postcard Studio, so you can make them all at once or as each moment comes.

Can the photo stay private?

Most people love that a postcard gets seen and talked about. If you'd rather keep a photo just between you, choose the envelope option.

Do you take custom requests?

We'd love to hear what you have in mind. Email plaidpinecone@gmail.com.

Someone is on your heart…

Send them something they can hold.

Make a card