Melanie Toye's Hobbies

Image by Eli Digital Creative from Pixabay  So I did it again ... I have been purchasing books from my Apple Books ... and I thought it would continue this way, because the last time I bought second hand books ... they have only been read a little amount. So I thought if I keep reading Apple Books, I will actually read it. Also, non-fiction books are generally not as old as some of the books in thrift stores. But I had a day to myself and I really love exploring thrift stores to see what cool non-fiction books they do have (and if they have any craft!)... so I went back. Where I shop, there are about 5 thrift stores right next to each other. So if I only find a couple of books at one store, I can progress easily to the next one to see what they have. I also took a big thick bag to carry my books in ... but honestly, if I over did it ... I would just buy some more bags from the store to carry them in. I was really happy with what I got. I bought a hard-cover Bucket List, photograph...

Image by Uwe Walker from Pixabay Personally, I love crocheting and I have given away a lot of my crocheting from amigurumi to blankets and scarves. But this year, what if I don't just focus on gifts but also crocheting for my home. So I decided to share my home crocheting projects with you, so you too can decorate your home with cool crocheting decorations. Although it is summer in Australia at the moment. I am in the middle of crocheting two blankets. One for my sister (been over a year in waiting) - a white one and one for me a multi-coloured pink yarn colour. Although, I don't want to stop there. This is how I envision my adult blankets. At least have two different coloured blankets for my lounge. Why two? So when I am cleaning one I have another blanket I can use in the interim.  Also, these adult blankets are perfect for winter because the Acrylic yarn 3ply that I use, is incredibly warm. Unsure, where to find an adult blanket pattern. Check out one of my earlier blog pos...

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...