Skip to main content
LETTERSFROMEMBERVALE™
Become a Founding Family
Seen from inside a mailbox at dusk, a girl with warm light on her face reaches for a kraft paper envelope.

A PERSONALIZED 12-MONTH ADVENTURE DELIVERED BY REAL MAIL

A year of letters. A lifetime of connection.

Give a child you love a magical adventure that arrives in their mailbox, one personalized letter at a time.

Over twelve enchanting months, your child becomes the hero of their own story, exploring hidden realms, meeting extraordinary creatures called Meldlings, and collecting magical treasures along the way.

And someone very special to them becomes the Elder Guardian, the person who once walked the paths of Embervale and now passes the adventure to a new generation.

Twelve personalized story letters. Twelve magical realms. A whole year of wonder to share.

$195 + $12.95
opening-gift shipping

One payment. Twelve months of adventure. No monthly subscription fees. All monthly letters and surprise mailings are included at no additional charge.

Become a Founding Family Read the First Letter Free

Founding Families opens October 29.

Founding Families is now open.

Christmas Magic delivery available Ages 7 to 13

275 numbered Founding Family places, October 29 to November 8

Jenni’s red Embervale wax seal, pressed with a heart wreathed in flame.

How the Magic Arrives

  1. The opening gift laid out together: a Chapter One letter, the Heartforge Amulet, The Guardian’s Field Book, a How to Draw Bunnycorn sheet, coloring pages, trading cards and a sticker.

    First, a Magical Opening Gift

    The adventure begins with a special delivery containing the Heartforge Amulet, a personalized Call to Adventure from the Elder Guardian, a Guardian’s Field Book, and the first treasures of Embervale.

  2. A stack of kraft Letters from Embervale envelopes addressed to Lily Sparks, sealed with red wax.

    Then, a New Adventure Every Month

    For twelve months, your child receives a personalized story letter, a collectible Heart Sigil for their amulet, trading cards, stickers, coloring pages, and a How-to-Draw activity.

    Special surprise mailings bring even more moments of magic throughout the year.

  3. A smiling boy on a video call, holding up his Heartforge Amulet to show the grown-up on the other end.

    And a Connection That Lasts All Year

    The Elder Guardian receives monthly story updates, recaps, and conversation starters by email, making it easy to share the adventure from across the room or across the country.

    We handle all the writing, personalization, and mailing. You simply share the magic.

Your Year of Magic

One year. One payment. A whole world to share.

$195 + $12.95
opening-gift shipping

$195 for the complete twelve-month adventure, plus $12.95 opening-gift shipping. No monthly payments or additional mailing charges.

Become a Founding Family Read the First Letter Free

Founding Families opens October 29.

Founding Families is now open.

Somewhere along the way, the magic got quiet.

Maybe they live a plane ride away. Maybe they live right across town. Either way, school, practice, work, screens, and ordinary life can squeeze your time together into the edges.

You ask how school was. They say, “Fine.” And you find yourself wishing for something more to talk about. Something that belongs to the two of you.

Embervale does not ask a family to give anything up. It gives a child something wonderful to wait for, and it gives the two of you a whole world to share.

Jenni’s red Embervale wax seal, pressed with a heart wreathed in flame.

Remember running to the mailbox?

A letter with your own name on it felt important before you even opened it. Waiting made the arrival bigger. The envelope mattered. The anticipation mattered. Letters from Embervale brings that feeling back, one month at a time.

For grandparents, bonus grandparents, grandparents of the heart, aunts, uncles, godparents, and every grown-up who loves a child like their own.

Meet the friends waiting on the other side of the mailbox.

Embervale is a hidden land of twelve realms, from Whispering Meadows to the Frozen Depths. Each realm is home to a Meldling, a magical creature made from familiar animals in wonderfully unfamiliar combinations.

There is Bunnycorn. Frogon. Octopuppy. Pegabear. Owlephant. Dinofly. Racoonagle. Draxolotl. Hedgeling. Chameleokitty. Narwing. Dragicorn. And traveling beside your Guardian is Fireling, a small dragon sprite with a very big personality and a habit of getting a little too close to open flame.

Every realm holds something worth rediscovering: kindness, courage, loyalty, gentle strength, wisdom, growth, creativity, healing, authenticity, truly seeing others, hope, and unity.

Your Guardian will not sit through a lesson. They will live the meaning through the story.

What exactly is Embervale? The whole story for grown-ups

  • A white bunny with a rainbow unicorn horn, holding a daisy in a flowering meadow.
    BunnycornWhispering Meadows
  • A green frog with curled horns and small dragon wings, sitting in a lily pond.
    FrogonMisty Marsh
  • An orange puppy with octopus tentacles among bright coral and bubbles.
    OctopuppyCoral Cove
  • A white bear with feathered wings standing on a snowy mountaintop above the clouds.
    PegabearCloudpeak Mountains
  • A brown owl with an elephant’s ears and trunk, perched on a mossy branch.
    OwlephantElderwood Library
  • A spotted orange little dinosaur with green butterfly wings, flying under a rainbow.
    DinoflyRainbow Valley
  • A raccoon with an eagle’s wings, perched on a canyon rock under shooting stars.
    RacoonagleStarfall Canyon
  • A pink axolotl with leafy dragon fins, swimming among glowing crystals.
    DraxolotlCrystal Caverns
  • A mint-green hedgehog with small wings in a mossy forest hollow.
    HedgelingThornwood Hollow
  • A kitten with a chameleon’s colorful scales and curled tail, on a sunlit desert rock.
    ChameleokittySunstone Desert
  • A turquoise narwhal with shimmering butterfly wings among ice crystals.
    NarwingFrozen Depths
  • A purple dragon with a glowing unicorn horn, standing on volcanic rock.
    DragicornFirst Flame Peaks
Fireling, a small red-orange dragon sprite with a flame cupped in her hands, in a cave of lava and glowing crystals.
FirelingYour Guardian’s companion

Peek inside the very first adventure.

In Month One, your Guardian travels to Whispering Meadows to find Bunnycorn, the gentle Meldling of kindness, before a creeping grey mist called The Forgetting closes in. The letter is the story. The artifacts make it feel real.

Everything from the first month’s mailing laid out on stone and autumn leaves: the opening gift standing open with its Founding Family card, letters and cards inside, Meldling and realm trading cards, the Chapter One letter, the Heartforge Amulet, a How to Draw Bunnycorn sheet, coloring pages, a Whispering Meadows sticker, a specimen card, The Guardian’s Field Book and a burlap-wrapped bundle.

A Peek Inside Chapter One

Lily ran toward the edge of the mist, toward the last line of flowers before everything went grey.

“We are running TOWARD the terrible fog?!”

“Trust me!”

They ran along the edge, and Lily searched every shadow, every hollow, every place small enough to hide in.

Behind them, the grey crept closer.

Ten feet. Eight. Six.

Then Lily heard it.

A whimper.

Want to find out what happens next? We’ll send you the whole first adventure, free.

Shown with a sample name. Your Guardian’s letters use their own name and the name they call you.

Most gifts are opened once. This one keeps arriving all year.

The opening gift

The adventure begins with a special delivery. Inside, your Guardian finds the empty Heartforge Amulet wrapped in burlap and string, a personalized Call to Adventure from the Elder Guardian, The Guardian’s Field Book, and Fireling’s first pieces.

The amulet comes to life, one piece at a time.

The opening gift includes an empty Heartforge Amulet. Every month, a new story letter arrives with a collectible Heart Sigil to add to it. Over twelve months, your child gathers all twelve realm pieces. In Month Twelve, a special center heart completes the amulet and the adventure.

Every piece is included in the gift. Nothing more to purchase.

  1. The empty Heartforge Amulet, with twelve open settings waiting for their Heart Sigils.
    At the beginning
  2. The Heartforge Amulet partly filled, with colorful Heart Sigils in some of its settings.
    Each month
  3. The completed Heartforge Amulet, with all twelve Heart Sigils and the gold center heart in place.
    At the end

For Founding Families, the final center piece is their exclusive Founders Edition Heart Forge Sigil.

Every month for a year

  • A personalized chapter letter from Embervale, written at the reading level you choose: Ember or Flame.
  • A new Heart Sigil to restore to the amulet.
  • Meldling and realm trading cards.
  • A three-sticker set for The Guardian’s Field Book, a water bottle, or wherever their collection grows.
  • A How-to-Draw sheet and two coloring pages.
  • Special surprise mailings throughout the year.
  • Three stamped coloring postcards during the year for your Guardian to color, write, and mail back to you.
The completed Heartforge Amulet, with all twelve Heart Sigils in place, resting on weathered wood.

For you

  • A monthly email to the Elder Guardian with the chapter they just read, a short recap, and conversation starters, so the next phone call starts with dragons instead of “How was school?”
  • Two note cards and two postcards, already addressed and stamped for your Guardian, so you can send a little Embervale magic of your own whenever the mood strikes.
  • Optional after purchase: receive the grown-up companion materials on paper instead of email for a $99 upgrade.
Two Embervale postcards, Coral Cove and Misty Marsh, painted like vintage travel posters, on a wooden table.

Christmas Magic delivery

Christmas Magic: the adventure begins as a Christmas gift, and the first monthly letter follows after the holidays. Shipping dates will be shared as soon as they are confirmed.

What your Guardian receives across the year

  • 1 opening gift to begin the adventure.
  • The Heartforge Amulet, 12 realm Heart Sigils, and the final center heart that completes the amulet.
  • 13 personalized letters, beginning with the Call to Adventure from the Elder Guardian.
  • Trading cards for the Meldlings, realms, Fireling, and special discoveries across the journey.
  • 36 stickers and The Guardian’s Field Book to collect and keep them.
  • 13 How-to-Draw sheets and 25 coloring pages across the opening gift and monthly mailings.
  • 3 stamped coloring postcards to mail back to you.
  • Wax seals, parchment, antique Heartgold, and old-world packaging that keep the world feeling real.

And for the Elder Guardian

  • A welcome letter by mail shortly before the opening gift, with a keepsake copy of the Call to Adventure.
  • 12 monthly companion emails with the chapter, recap, and conversation starters.
  • 2 note cards and 2 postcards, stamped and addressed, for sending magic of your own.

$195 + $12.95
opening-gift shipping

One payment of $195 for the full year + $12.95 opening-gift shipping. Every monthly letter and surprise mailing after the opening gift is included at no additional charge.

Paid once, up front, so no child’s story stops halfway through.

That is about $17 a month including the opening-gift shipping, for a year of real mail, shared story, and something wonderful to look forward to.

Become a Founding Family Read the First Letter Free

Founding Families opens October 29.

Founding Families is now open.

Extra treasures, only for our first 275 Founding Families.

The first 275 families to join Embervale will always be part of its beginning. Each Founding Family receives a number assigned in the order families join, along with pieces made only for this first circle of families.

The Founding Flame Token held between two fingers: antique gold with deep red enamel and a faceted gold heart crowned with flame.

The Founding Flame Token

An exclusive antique-gold token with rich First Ember enamel. The back reads FOUNDING FAMILY and FIRST FLAME with the Letters from Embervale™ mark. This piece belongs only to the first 275 families.

A Founding Family collector card, hand-numbered No. 003 of 275, resting on burlap.

The Founding Collector Card

A 4.25 x 5.5-inch rounded-corner collector card, hand-numbered “FOUNDING FAMILY No. ___” to match your family’s place in Embervale history.

A Founding Letter from the Creator

A personal letter from Jenni, written especially for the first 275 families who helped bring Embervale to life. A heartfelt thank-you for believing in the magic from the very beginning.

Read Jenni’s Founding Letter

The Founders Edition Heart Forge Sigil, set with four red stones around a faceted gold heart, the center piece that completes the amulet.

The Founders Edition Heart Forge Sigil

In Month Twelve, Founding Families receive the exclusive center Heart Forge Sigil that completes the amulet, with the family number engraved on the back.

The Founding Promise

Your Letters from Embervale price stays $195 a year for as long as your family stays on the journey.

Founding collectibles are made in small batches and checked before they ship, so some may arrive separately from the opening gift. The Founders Edition Heart Forge Sigil arrives in Month Twelve, when it completes the amulet.

When Founding Families closes, these pieces close with it. New families will always be welcome to Embervale, but these first 275 numbers will never be issued again.

Become a Founding Family Read the First Letter Free

Founding Families opens October 29.

Founding Families is now open.

Only 275 numbered families Closes November 8 or when all 275 places are claimed

Jenni at her worktable among Embervale opening gifts, trading cards and burlap, signing a Founding Family card with a feather quill.

How Embervale Began

For more than twenty years, I’ve taught children art in my bright little studio here in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is a real place filled with paint, paper, laughter, half-finished projects, and children discovering what they can make. I’ve had the privilege of watching their imaginations catch fire again and again.

The idea for Embervale came home with me from a Florida beach trip. I had watched children drift toward screens even with the ocean right in front of them, and I kept thinking about what childhood used to make us wait for: letters, stories, surprises, the next chapter.

When I was a girl, a letter with my name on it felt like an event. My mama was an elementary teacher and later an education professor, and we dreamed that one day we would make children’s books together, her words and my pictures. She passed before we got to do it. For a long time, I could not imagine making that dream without her.

On that drive home, something shifted. I realized the stories could arrive as letters. The child could become part of the adventure. And the grown-up who sent the gift could stay part of the story all year long.

The Meldlings grew from an art project I have taught children for years at schools and here in my studio: combining animals into creatures that are surprising, funny, and completely their own. Embervale grew around them from there.

I am a grandmother of the heart, and I know how powerful it is when a child feels that an adult chose something just for them. That is what I want every envelope to say:

Someone believes in you.

With love,Jenni

Peek Inside Jenni’s Studio

You could have heard a pin drop.

When I read the first chapters to a room full of my art students, nobody moved. One little girl needed the bathroom and refused to go because she did not want to miss the ending. Ever since, the children ask me the same thing every week: “When’s it going to be done, Miss Jenni?”

Jenni reads an Embervale story aloud to three children on a sofa. One girl leans in, open-mouthed, and a boy covers his mouth in surprise.

My grandson lives so far away. I can’t wait to gift him Letters from Embervale. We talk on FaceTime and the phone, and I’m so excited to have something meaningful we can share all year long. I can’t wait to be one of the first members!

Alisa, grandmother

The Guardian’s Guarantee

I want every family to fall in love with Embervale. If yours does not, simply mail the opening gift back with everything inside within 30 days, and I will refund your full $195.

You cover the return postage, and I will take care of the rest.

Your 30 days begin when the opening gift is delivered, not when you order. If you set a gift-opening date at checkout, they begin on whichever of those two dates comes later, so you will still have time to open it together, read the beginning, and decide.

Jenni’s red Embervale wax seal, sealing the guarantee.
The Young Guardian’s Key from First Sparks, antique gold with a flame-crowned heart, held in an open hand.

Got a little one, too?

First Sparks: A Little Journey to Embervale

For ages 5 to 6, First Sparks is the gentle beginning. Bright stories, a wall map that comes to life one realm at a time, wooden treasures, coloring pages, and a Young Guardian’s Key give little readers their own way into Embervale before they are ready for the amulet quest.

$145 for the whole year + $9.95 shipping

Explore First Sparks

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to write or mail anything each month?

No. We write every story letter, personalize it, pack the monthly pieces, and mail everything right on time. You receive your companion material by email so you can follow along without doing homework of your own.

How does my child receive all the amulet pieces?

The empty Heartforge Amulet arrives in the opening gift. Each monthly story mailing includes one new Heart Sigil to add to it. In Month Twelve, the final center heart completes the amulet. All of these pieces are included in the full-year gift.

What ages is Letters from Embervale for?

The flagship journey is for ages 7 to 13. Choose Ember for newer independent readers, about ages 7 to 9, or Flame for confident readers, about ages 10 to 13. First Sparks is the separate beginning for ages 5 to 6.

Is this only for grandparents?

Not at all. Bonus grandparents, grandparents of the heart, aunts, uncles, godparents, and dear family friends are welcome. Every letter uses the name the child calls you, and in the story that special grown-up becomes the Elder Guardian.

What about brothers and sisters?

Each child receives their own opening gift, amulet, personalized letters, and collection. Add a membership for each child at checkout. Younger siblings ages 5 to 6 can begin with First Sparks.

Will my child need to be crafty or artistic?

No. They can read, collect, stick, draw, color, or simply enjoy the story. Nothing is homework.

Can a child really wait a whole month for the next letter?

That is part of the magic. Looking forward to something is half the joy, and children rarely get to practice it anymore. The waiting gives the next envelope weight.

Why only 275 Founding Families?

Because 275 is the real number.

I ordered 300 sets for the very first run of Letters from Embervale. When they arrived here in Chattanooga, I went through them, and 25 weren’t good enough for me to send to a family. So I set them aside.

That left 275.

And I decided that was exactly how many Founding Families there should be.

These are the first 275 families who will help bring Embervale into the world. Their sets will be numbered, they’ll receive the special Founding Family pieces, and they’ll always be part of the beginning of this story.

Once those 275 places are claimed, there won’t be another first group.

What if I miss Founding Families?

You can still give Letters from Embervale. After the founding window closes, the regular $195 membership remains available, but the numbered Founding pieces and Founding Promise do not.

What happens after the first year?

The first twelve realms are only the beginning of Embervale.

Each year brings a brand-new quest, with new adventures, mysteries, characters, discoveries, and treasures waiting beyond the next turn in the path. We already have at least nine years of Embervale adventures planned, so as long as your child wants to keep exploring, there will be somewhere new to go.

For Founding Families, your original annual price stays with you for as long as you choose to continue the journey.

Is there a monthly charge?

No. One payment of $195 plus $12.95 opening-gift shipping covers the year. Every monthly letter and surprise mailing after the opening gift is included at no additional charge.

Can I get my grown-up companion materials on paper?

Yes. The standard experience sends them by email. After purchase, you can choose a $99 paper upgrade in the welcome email.

Do you ship outside the United States?

Not yet. For now, Embervale mail ships within the United States only.

What if it is not right for our family?

The Guardian’s Guarantee gives you 30 days from the later of your opening gift’s delivery or the gift-opening date you set at checkout. Return the opening gift with everything inside and receive a full refund of the $195 purchase price. You cover return postage.

The mailbox is waiting.

Somewhere in Embervale, a little Meldling is waiting for a brave young Guardian. Somewhere close to your heart, a child is waiting for something wonderful to look forward to.

Founding Families opens October 29 and closes November 8, or as soon as all 275 numbers find their families.

Founding Families is now open. It closes November 8, or as soon as all 275 numbers find their families.

An opening gift. A year of letters. A story world shared across generations. And a reason to call each other with something better to say than “Fine.”

Become a Founding Family Read the First Letter Free

Founding Families opens October 29.

Founding Families is now open.

P.S. Remember the thrill of a letter with your name on it? You can give that feeling to a child you love again and again this year, and be part of what happens next. The Founding Family numbers will not come again. The phone call that starts with “Gigi, guess what happened in the Misty Marsh!” can.

Become a Founding Family

A Letter to Our Founding Families

Dear Founding Family,

Welcome to Letters from Embervale™.

There is something extraordinary about being there at the beginning.

Before the paths are worn in. Before every secret has been discovered. Before a world has been fully explored.

You are one of the very first 275 Founding Families to enter Embervale, and I want you to know how much that means to me.

I created Letters from Embervale because I believe children deserve more wonder in their everyday lives. I wanted to bring back the anticipation of real mail, the excitement of discovering something unexpected, and the simple joy of sharing a story with someone you love.

Now, because you believed in this dream from the beginning, your family will hold something that will never be created in quite this way again.

A special treasure is already finding its way to you.

The Founding Flame Token was created exclusively for our first 275 families. It will appear among your family’s early Embervale treasures. Some pieces of magic, after all, have a way of arriving in their own time.

Your family’s adventure will continue to unfold through twelve enchanting chapters, with letters, discoveries, friendships, and little surprises along the way.

And when the twelfth chapter arrives, your family’s Heartforge Amulet will be completed with an exclusive Founders Edition Heart Forge Sigil, marking your place among the very first families who helped open the doors to this world.

But more than any token or keepsake, I hope what stays with you is the feeling.

The anticipation of checking the mailbox.

The conversations that begin with a letter.

The moments when a child realizes someone far away is thinking about them.

Thank you for believing in Embervale before the world had a chance to discover it.

I am so glad you are here at the beginning.

With heartfelt gratitude,JenniJennifer StricklerFounder, Storyrealm Studios
Creator of Letters from Embervale™

Jenni’s red Embervale wax seal.

Inside Jenni’s Studio

Where the Meldlings Began

Long before Embervale had twelve realms, I had a favorite question for the children in my art classes: What happens if you combine two animals that have never met?

A rabbit and a unicorn. A puppy and an octopus. The possibilities were hilarious, surprising, and sometimes wonderfully strange. I loved watching children discover that they could invent something nobody had ever imagined before.

I founded Children’s Art Place in Chattanooga in 2005, and I still spend my days surrounded by paper, paintbrushes, works in progress, and children who remind me how powerful imagination can be.

The Meldlings grew from that classroom tradition. Their adventures became my way of bringing a little of that creative wonder into homes and mailboxes.

These are the real tables and the real studio behind the magical world. Come take a look.

The day our very first Embervale shipment arrived.
  • Three smiling girls in matching tie-dyed shirts with tree prints, arms spread wide, in front of shelves of art supplies.
  • A girl with a cockatiel painted on her forehead smiles beside her painting of a yellow cockatiel.
  • A boy blows through a straw into a bowl of green bubble paint at the studio table.
  • A grown-up and a smiling young artist hold up the child’s painting of a mermaid at sunset.