Confetti is one of the happiest things on the planet and I love making it. Thinking of confetti as “a mess” is not in my system – when people bring that on as a reason not to sprinkle confetti, my brain just suffers a little black out… Confetti can, in at least 97% of the cases, brighten up my day. Now today did not need brightening up for me, but maybe someone’s out there who may need some cheer! Here you go, a home-made-confetti heart, I hope this helps :-)
Tag Archives: compassionista
A Heart A Day #44
A Heart A Day #43
Not only was yesterday International Peace Day. It was World Gratitude Day, too! So my heart for today is inspired by gratitude.
I like gratitude. Every morning and every evening I write down the things I’m grateful for. At least 3 things in the morning and at least 3 in the evening. In the beginning it felt a bit strange and it seemed hard to get to 3 things. But a year onwards and I easily write a list of 6 or 7 things, sometimes even 10. The smallest things, the most random things, all those things I tend to take for granted. The longer you do this, the easier being grateful comes to you. Magic! And the good thing is, gratefulness, like happiness, shines. It beams right out of your face! So I’m turning into this advocate for gratitude…and before you know it, so will you ;-)
At this very moment I’m grateful for so many things, that I’d like to share some with you. In case it might be inspiring to you…
I’m grateful for my very loving and golden friendships; I’m grateful for my amazing and loving parents and brother; I’m grateful for the sweet and thoughtful responses on my hearts; I’m grateful for my creativity that’s boosting; I’m grateful for the fact I live in a country where there’s no war; I’m grateful for you, reading this blog!
And now onto the heart of today. I drew one heart, created two others out of it and then failed to choose one. So you’ll get 3 hearts from me. An amazing 3-for-1 deal! Enjoy!
A Heart A Day #42
Today, September 21st, is International Day of Peace. My heart of today is dedicated to this wondrous day.
Peace, peace, peace…writing it down is so easy. Saying or reading it multiple times and it becomes a weird word, like all words that are said or written a lot of times in a row. But somehow, to me, with the word ‘peace’ this seems the case: the weirder it feels, the better it suits.
So many fires are burning at the moment, so much hatred and frustration and miscommunication scattered around in the world. What is peace these days? Well…peace is a general concept, but sadly not available to all. What does peace look like? I guess my country is living “in peace” at the moment, but that doesn’t mean this country is Heaven on Earth. On the contrary. The tension is high, hatred simmers underneath the surface. Lambs and lions don’t play together.
In other countries, of which we all can say that there is no peace at the moment, the concept of peace is just that: a concept. There is no time for exchanging thoughts on peace, just for surviving.
So you see, I think overall ‘peace’ is complex. But it is non the less important. Important to think about, talk about, spend time trying to create small-scale peace. Maybe in your neighbourhood. Not just for one day though. Every day. Peace definitely needs effort, from all of us.
For me peace means ‘a judgement-free world in which we live side by side, all of us equal to one another’. What does it mean to you?
A Heart A Day – Major Catch Up – Part Two
Hello there!
Another catch-up. I’m getting there! One heart I made, as a reminder to act if you want to achieve your goals. I made it beautiful and dreamy, so that it’s a kind note to self ;-)
Last week I was in a creative mood and took inspiration from the materials used.
This week, pages were the triggers of my fantasy, and origami crane birds.
Here are 9 new catch-up hearts! How are your hearts getting along?
With love,
Tess
PS: Have you created or spotted a heart this week? Share it with me! Use #aheartaday and social media may overflow with hearts…
[I love love and I love hearts! But oh, this world needs more visible love. So let’s change that, step by step. Away with pessimism. Away with hate. Let’s fill this world with love. And hearts! To show compassion towards each other, towards the planet, towards ourselves. It proves to be difficult for so many of us. But instead of judging it’s more meaningful to show love, to respond with love, to act out of love. Say it with hearts.
So I’m sharing A Heart A Day. Every day I will draw, stitch, paint or otherwise create a heart and post it on this blog. Will you help me make love and hearts spread like a contagious but healthy disease?]
A Heart A Day – Major catch-up, part one
Here’s a major catch-up, part one; hearts 24 – 32. And I realise I’ll still be behind, as today should be day #36 of my challenge. Do I have a good excuses for this delay? Well, yes. I got food poisoning… When I was finally back on track I did pick up continuing making hearts, but simply didn’t get round to posting them. Life is what happened :-) But once I’ve caught up, I’ll be determined to pick up where I was, as creating a heart a day is the best challenge! The focus I now have on self-compassion and compassion towards others is what I was looking for. It triggers my brain every day!
So here we go, 9 hearts as catch-up part one. Descriptions underneath each photo.

#24 – my ode to food poisoning, as sea fruits were the cause of it all. Took me a couple of days before I could look at shells and create this heart ;-)
- #25 – note to self. Pictures of the sketch and final drawing combined.
- #26 – note to self. Pictures of the sketch and final drawing combined.
- #27 – note to self. Pictures of the sketch and final drawing combined.

#28 – you have to look closely to find the banana-candy heart. Inspired by the colours of the picture underneath which I took while baby-sitting.

#29 – KISS MORE! Inspired by a good week for kissing ;-)

#30 – my flower heart as an apology to you. Sorry I kept you waiting for more hearts…
- #31 – accidental as I wasn’t planning on creating a heart while clearing out my house… But then I found these, which I once made. In a very Dutch-flag mood.
- #32 – look away if you have a toe phobia! This is the real deal when it comes to ‘accidental’. Painting my nails, my eyes suddenly noticed this tiny read heart!
With love,
Tess
PS: Have you created or spotted a heart this week? Share it with me! Use #aheartaday and social media may overflow with hearts…
[I love love and I love hearts! But oh, this world needs more visible love. So let’s change that, step by step. Away with pessimism. Away with hate. Let’s fill this world with love. And hearts! To show compassion towards each other, towards the planet, towards ourselves. It proves to be difficult for so many of us. But instead of judging it’s more meaningful to show love, to respond with love, to act out of love. Say it with hearts.
So I’m sharing A Heart A Day. Every day I will draw, stitch, paint or otherwise create a heart and post it on this blog. Will you help me make love and hearts spread like a contagious but healthy disease?]
A Heart A Day #22
Today’s heart from me to you is a cheesy one. In light of tonight’s full moon I cut a little heart out of cheese. As children’s stories say the moon is made out of cheese, it seemed logical. For the background I used a photo of the moon in its fullest glory. And they match well together, moon and cheese! What if those children’s stories are true…?
With love,
Tess
PS: Have you created or spotted a heart this week? Share it with me! Use #aheartaday and social media may overflow with hearts…

#22
[I love love and I love hearts! But oh, this world needs more visible love. So let’s change that, step by step. Away with pessimism. Away with hate. Let’s fill this world with love. And hearts! To show compassion towards each other, towards the planet, towards ourselves. It proves to be difficult for so many of us. But instead of judging it’s more meaningful to show love, to respond with love, to act out of love. Say it with hearts.
So I’m sharing A Heart A Day. Every day I will draw, stitch, paint or otherwise create a heart and post it on this blog. Will you help me make love and hearts spread like a contagious but healthy disease?]