Melanie Toye's Hobbies

Image by Mircea Iancu from Pixabay This is how I start a conversation with a person I sort of know, or have never spoken to ... after the initial... Hi, I am Mel... etc etc.  "Do you have a hobby?" I ask. It is a simply question and one that generally sparks a surprisingly response. It honestly surprises me when people say, they don't have a hobby. This is intriguing to me. Because, if you don't have a hobby (and absolutely no judgement here) but if you don't have a hobby ... what do you do with your spare time?  I also find it interesting, reading in retirement Facebook groups (and no, at this stage I am not retired) ... but so many people say... I don't have a hobby. I am extremely bored. I don't know what to do with my time. And this is the case for many people. Many people just do not have a hobby. A hobby can be anything, I wrote a blog post, about what is a hobby.  Have a read after you read this blog post to spark some ideas, if you don't have ...

Image by rawpixel from Pixabay So as my readers know, I have sold my eBooks on Amazon (all Amazon sites) and also Draft2Digital. Interestingly, not many self-publishers are aware of Draft2Digital but I have seen as much success from book sales from Draft2Digital (D2D) as I have from Amazon.  So why self-publish on both platforms?  Firstly, you will see a greater distribution of your ebooks on a variety of stores. For example D2D has multiple online book stores they promote to, such as Barnes and Noble, Sony, Apple and more.  So your eBook gets promoted on more than just one site. But Amazon also promotes your eBook to their Amazon sites around the world. So your eBook is getting published at multiple places around the world - impressive. How much do both platforms cost? Zero dollars.  Yes, it’s free. But this is where I say … sort of free. Everytime your eBook gets a sale, they (Amazon and D2D) take a percentage of your royalty.  Why this doesn’t matter to me?...

Image by tengdu xiao from Pixabay I have some great news... if you are starting out with diamond painting, the good news is that diamond painting is one of the easiest hobbies. On my hobbies blog, I mainly write about crocheting, scrapbooking, diamond painting, writing and sometimes reading ... out of the above hobbies, diamond painting is the easiest. Let me explain. Why is diamond painting an easy hobby? There is not much to set-up. If you used the basic kit for diamond painting. The only possible extra thing you might need is, mini zip lock bags for each colour of the drills (the diamonds), so you don't lose them and they don't fall on the ground (this happens ... alot).  You can literally get started on your diamond painting immediately. Just peel the sticker layer on top of the diamond painting a small way (don't take it off completely). Put your pen into some of the wax. Then pour some of your drills into the small container provided in the kit. Place your open onto ...

Image by carla Bron from Pixabay So... When I started crocheting amigurumi I crocheted faces ... as a beginner. Which is great!  No one should fear crocheting faces ...  Although, as time and experience continued to grow, I started to drop the faces. I felt that some of the crochet creations were ruined by the crocheted face. Then of course, I crocheted heaps of amigurumi in the year and you wouldn't believe it, non-crocheters would say, "Hey, a face would have been great to have been added."  I was shocked... what do non-crocheters even know about the face? But deep down it was because, I just lost confidence with faces.  And fair enough, to me, it could ruin a perfectly good amigurumi that I spent a few hours to a few days crocheting.  I would love to hear your thoughts on the faces issue... do you crochet faces? How long have you been crocheting faces? Is the face always the same, or do you change it up with the eyes, nose and smile? Do you even use differen...

So you want to write?! That is awesome. Congratulations you have decided to enter the world of ideas, brainstorming and creating worlds that never existed.  So where do you begin if you want to write?  First off, everything you write you may feel is not good enough and it actually might make you want to quit before you start. I’m here to tell you, what you write is good enough! It might even be great!  So why not try it out? The best part, if you are really worried, you don’t even have to show anyone. So just start writing. I would suggest, to write in a notepad with a pen first. Especially if you have barely written much in your whole life. Because using a pen, I find, feels so much more easier to create then just typing away.  Just write as much as you feel each week. It doesn’t have to be long and it could even be one sentence. It doesn’t matter. Nobody is watching you, remember?  Things to think about when writing... Don’t focus on a niche. So many people sa...

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay I don’t know about you but I love gift making and as the New Year has begun, I am also already behind. Hah. What do I mean by that? I crocheted a year of gifts and gave them away at Christmas but now I have friends and family experiencing life events and I want to give them a gift from my heart. Through crocheting, I am gifting a piece of happiness from my heart to theirs. And this is why even in today’s age, where you can even buy crochet gifts online or at the markets, it feels so much more when you make it and then gift it. This is why gift giving, and any type of home made gift is just priceless. See when we make something for someone who we think might like and appreciate it, we think about them throughout the whole project. For example, first you think … I should make them a gift. And then you think what would they like? And then as you choose what to make … you think as you crochet the gift, they are going to love this. And you think about ...