I was nervous when I came to the other side of the counter and met the eyes of Yen Can, the owner of a very sympathetic local café in eastern Helsinki. (https://www.facebook.com/yesterdaycafe.fi/)

“Do you remember the Christmas card workshop?” I started. (She couldn’t have forgotten about it. It had been a month ago.) It had been a lovely experience on my part.

And now I had a new idea for a workshop, for Valentine's, or Friend’s Day, as it’s branded in Finland. The last time the suggestion to give a workshop had come from Quan, Yen’s spouse. This time I was making the initiative.

And maybe that was the reason for why I felt so nervous. I had cold feet for all the time of planning the event. Even when I had had a concept in mind from the start. What if it turned out very embarrassing, and it had been my idea? I couldn’t say this hadn’t been of my own initiative, a fact which could have protected my ego last time.

And some of the people I told about my workshop thought it was an odd idea.

Was it? Really? Was it such a funny idea to make simple cards for friends with a small complement on the other side? It had seemed such a beautiful idea, floating in the empty space between my temples.

Weird or not, on the 11th February my fiancé lifted the cardboard box of equipment and we set off for the morning under an open sunny sky.

And it turned out my ego needed little cushioning and the idea wasn’t quite so extraordinary as I had feared. Where my Christmas card event had been heartwarming, light and fun, this one turned out to be mostly meaningful. I spied at least one person tearing up as they wrote the secret part behind the design. I saw a couple hug. And yet again a group of friends stayed for an hour to craft out designs I am not at all sure I could have made myself.

My aunt came to give me a handmade Valentine’s gift. A friend came to buy a card to give to another friend. This surprised me. He isn’t usually the type to hand out such small gestures. But he is his own kind of a knight in white armor, so maybe it was partially for me. A third friend came as well to compose a meaningful note to someone. She took her time to seriously meditate on the note, so I am sure the recipient felt her effort.

I got some compliments myself. Surprisingly, I sold at least a dozen cards. That in itself is already great in my books. But on top of that, most of the buyers actually took the time to tell me the cards were very beautiful. And two people had seen the advertisement on the door or on Instagram, had remembered me from the last workshop and came just to buy cards! I don’t think I have felt this flattered since my mother-in-law bought one of my paintings in my first exhibition.

I was again absolutely exhausted after the day. But also very content. I had already decided I wouldn’t give any more free workshops… But maybe, just maybe, I could still scrape together the raw materials for yet one more.

These two workshops have given me a feeling of mutual charity. I have felt I have been able to give other people something a bit special. And have received myself a sense of purpose and even a bit of spare coins from selling cards.

Some people in this country got a small handmade card, with a personal note, from a friend because of my efforts.