Whether it’s squeezing in a daily morning jog, collecting postcards or blogging online, side hobbies provide a welcome escape from the monotony of daily routines.

Twenty five years ago, Ragini Patel of Mumbai discovered her leisure-time distraction in making project work which has now developed into a full time profession which includes a wide variety of hobby courses such as flower making, paper flowers, lamasa flowers, ribbon flowers, etc.

“It all started as a hobby in my teens and my interest rekindled while making project reports for my young children which soon became a part time hobby and I got various other project work requests” Says Ragini.

Ragini has since expanded her repertoire to include lamasa & parchment and she specializes in Punchcraft and Paper flowers.

Self-taught, Ragini uses an array of tools to make her gift range, arrangements, themes, etc……

"The list could go on and on," she said jokingly.

Learning the craft was challenging for Ragini at first, and she said it took “lots and lots of books, lots of Web-surfing and lots of screw-ups”  to progress to where she is now. She said she especially values the freedom it gives her.

“I can literally make just about whatever I can think about catering to clients from across the globe today,” says Ragini. “Sometimes I have to wait for my skill set and my abilities to catch up with my brain.”

“In fact, there were quite a few enrollments that I had who wanted to try and learn to make something as a festive present for their relatives or friends,” says Ragini.  “It comes from the heart when you make it yourself, and believe in what u do.”

Her basic belief is not in following a particular method used in doing a particular type of art where as she believes in mix-matching different techniques and methods to come up with something new, Ragini describes it as connecting your thoughts with your creativity which results in oozing out the talent within you.