Hello and welcome to my blog! I am Ashwini, a software engineer by profession based in Bangalore, India and a crafter by hobby. I have loved crafts since I was a little girl, when we used to cut paper into flowers and make garlands and bouquets. Its amazing how many forms paper can take, with folding, cutting and coloring!
My sister introduced me to Pinterest in 2013, which is when I came across card making. I began card making late 2013, started this blog in May 2014, when I thought to share my little talents with the world. And my love for paper and stamping only increased in the last few years.
The ‘etc’ in the blog title is for my all my crafty projects, other than card making – mixed media and sewing, and also some polymer clay jewelry and weaving along the side lines… I don’t know where I’ll end up with all these crafts, but I want to try them all!! 🙂
I hope you find something interesting or even inspiring in my blog! Please feel free to leave a comment if you find anything you like! Thanks for looking around!
If you would like to contact me, feel free to drop me a mail at
ashwini dot rao dot u at gmail dot com
Experiments With Card Making Etc 
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Hi Ashwini; I just love your #566 Coffee and Warm Wishes card…..especially your ‘homemade plaid paper’. Would you mind sharing the process of how you made that paper? I would love to make some of my own for cards. It is so nice. I can only imagine the many color combos you could come up with for plaid paper. Thanks much. Take care. (PJ)
Thank you for taking time to leave your comment here, PJ!
It is actually very simple to create the plaid. I used Zig brush markers, but I think even other markers might work (can’t say for sure since I haven’t tried any other). Just choose the colors you want, then draw the lines, one after the other, right next to each other.
Don’t worry about overlapping, or drying time. I even drew the criss-crossing lines without waiting for anything to dry.
Just make sure that your paper will hold all that color – thicker paper would be good, since this will leave a lot of juice in the paper.
Hope this helps! I’ll try to make a mini video (haven’t made even a single video till now, so I really don’t know how to!)..hopefully! 🙂
I’m always sad when a kind note – like yours – arrives in my inbox and I see the phrase ‘no reply blogger!’ Ashwini, thank you so much for your kindness – I’m sure I haven’t any secrets at all! Just luck most times, to have the right supplies! xx
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