Melanie Toye's Hobbies

When hobbling I think it’s really easy to fall into the trap that what ever you are making will end as the same result as the picture. I’m here to tell you, sometimes and most of the time, it won’t look exactly as the picture.  There are a few reasons to this, such as:  It could be your first time ever starting that hobby and for a beginner, it may not look like the picture because it is an advanced outcome.  When we hand make something it’s hand made for a reason. And being hand made means it’s different outcome every time you make it. That’s the beauty of handmade. Each craft is made slightly different.  So we shouldn’t expect perfection each time we make something, especially if we are just starting out in a new hobby or even in the first year of working on that hobby. Lower your expectations and enjoy the journey of working on your hobby and always learning and improving.  I recently crocheted two pumpkins using the same pattern and they both turned out comp...

Image by gefrorene_wand from Pixabay I have to say crocheting is one of the hardest hobbies I have done and I’m not alone in that thinking. I see in crochet Facebook groups all the time beginners seeking help.  So what makes crocheting so hard at the beginning?  First of all, I thought, if I just find a pattern I will be able to learn how to crochet from that. Nope. No.  The very first thing you can do to learn crocheting is look up and then practice how to crochet different stitches.  From the patterns I have used for amigurumi they are some similar stitches for most patterns. Ch, sc, inc and dec.  If you learn these four stitches you will be able to complete a crochet pattern.  Please note though if you are wanting to learn how to crochet a beanie, those use different stitches. So work out how you want to crochet. Then look what pattern stitches are used. Then learn those stitches. So how do you learn the crochet stitches? YouTube is great for learning s...

So if you are new to diamond painting, drills are the little diamond squares or circles you place on the diamond painting. Here are 10 ways to use your left over diamond painting drills 1. Save them  This is the most important part of diamond painting. There will come a time where you are in the middle of diamond painting. You go to reach for your drills packet and there are no more packets of that colour. How does this happen? You still have so many left on the diamond painting that need that colour. Or when you bought it, in the pack included a wrong colour that isn’t involved in the picture and             you are missing the correct colour. Does this really happen? Yes. It does. It has happened to me about 2 times and I have completed about 6. And I know from Facebook diamond painting groups, this happens to others as well.  If you save your left over drills, put them in miniature ziplock bags and write the colour num...

Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay Blogging is fun I must admit. At one time, I had 10 blogs at once. Mainly because I wanted to write about a range of topics that didn’t fit into one blog. The other reason, is I wanted to create passive income from blogging, so thought having 10 blogs would really give me the best opportunity to make that happen. So what does blogging look like as a hobby? First of all the theme. Not the design theme of the blog, I am talking about the theme of the subject of the blog. What can you write about? Blogging theme activities: First off, write down 5-10 subjects/themes that you love talking about. Then, write down 5 blog topics (not the actual blog posts) that you could write about over 5 weeks. Do this for each theme. Now ask yourself these questions: Which one was the easiest to write for? Which theme do you spend time on already as a hobby or in your professional life? What do you think you could talk about to someone about you...

Image by Phuong Luu from Pixabay Are you new to writing but want to get started, however are you unsure how to begin? Let’s start with the basics. What do you need to start writing? 1.        Exercise book and pen, or 2.        Your mobile: You can use documents as a writing app if you have an iPhone, Samsung would have an equilvant writing app. Or you can use your Notes app in your iPhone. Or you can create a blog online and write directly into that. 3.        A laptop and use Microsoft Word to write in. What do I recommend you use? If you are writing one blog post a day about 500-1000 words, I suggest you type this directly into your mobile. It’s quick and easy. However, if you are writing a book, I suggest you write it down in pen first in a notebook and take it everywhere with you, incase inspiration arises. Or use your laptop. The reason for this is, as a blogger, I write ab...

Image by Deborah Hudson from Pixabay I enjoy reading books. But I also don’t enjoy the price tag. Between $25-35 AUD for a new book. Sigh. I also like to buy about 10 books at a time … so this price point is just not something I can sustain. Here are 3 ways to read a book cheaply     1. The library, it’s free The library is a good place to read books for free. Libraries where I am, actually let you hire eBooks and audio books as well as paperback books. You can even ask for books for free to be ordered at your local library, which I think is super cool. The problem I find with the library is, I hire 10 books at once. The library places a one month timeframe for all the books you hire. The problem is I am a slow reader. I just can find it hard to get into the book. So I read a few chapters, put it down and then read another book. Unless the book really grabs me or I have nothing else to read, I don’t always finish books. I know and I am a writer! But I will not judge...

Image by  Надежда Дягилева  from  Pixabay  I have to say writing this blog topic and then thinking about all the hobbies I do, I have to question myself… what hobby is the cheapest?  Considering if you have read my blog post about how much craft supplies you should have, you would know I have a year’s worth of craft supplies for nearly all of my hobbies. Because let’s face it, buying hobby materials is just as fun as making the hobby itself. So let’s talk about these hobbies and how much it costs to find the answer together what is the cheapest hobby. Now, I can’t write down all the hobbies in the world, so I am just going to write down all the hobbies I do (which is a fair amount). Plus, I live in Australia so this is based on AUD currency. 1. Crocheting I have said before crocheting isn’t a cheap hobby. It appears cheap. The yarn is only $2.50 for Acrylic 8-ply. The supplies, such as hooks etc are relatively good priced. From $2.50-5.00 for one hook or about $...

Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay  Painting a wall mural is so much fun! And you can either keep it simple or make it how you want it. To paint a wall mural First design what you want to paint on an A4 page. Write down the colours needed and for what parts of the painting. Are you going to paint a wall mural on a single wall or have it cascade to multiple walls in the space?  If you have wall mural ideas for multiple rooms, just focus on painting the one room first before buying the resources for a second room. To ensure you like it.  What resources do you need to paint a wall mural? So to paint a single room wall, you will need: Sample paint, each colour comes in a small tub. a fan,  and plastic for the floor. You don’t need it for the whole space, if you are just painting one wall.  Plus, painter’s tape to put down on the sides and top and bottom of the wall. A painters brush, paint holder, and a paint roller A pencil.  You basically need the same equip...

Image by WOKANDAPIX from Pixabay Shopping for scrapbooking supplies is a lot of fun. You can definitely get carried away! And it is so easy too, because if you are like me, you have 250 photos for one album and there are so many themes within that, you want scrapbooking supplies for all the themes. If you check out my blog - you can read about how much I recommend you have before you stop shopping for more supplies. So what do you need as the bare basics for scrapbooking shopping supplies? *Please note, I am affiliated with AliExpress.com and use their affiliate links inside this blog post. What this means is, I receive a percentage of the sale price if you purchase something I recommend. Personally, I love shopping on AliExpress.com and that’s why I recommend it. Scrapbooking paper Whether you are looking for mermaid scrapbooking paper or perhaps ocean scrapbooking paper , AliExpress has a huge range of scrapbooking paper, that I literally just type in the type of theme of...