Melanie Toye's Hobbies

Image by Agata from Pixabay New Year New Hobby Projects Happy New Year! I hope this year is amazing for you! I am very excited about my hobbies in the New Year. I hope to bring you even more cool hobby blog posts and cool hobby digital products at my Etsy store:  MelanieToyesHobbies - Etsy Australia . This is my hobbie projects for the New Year: Diamond Painting  I am still working on one arty style one for the last year. I love diamond painting but I don't make time for it. This year, I am going to focus on finishing the diamond painting (about half way through) and completing another diamond painting. I have about 10 in stock. So it's going to take awhile, if I only complete one a year. So hopefully I will complete more but at this stage, lets just finish this diamond painting that has taken me a year! I may even frame it! Why not? Crocheting I look back at what I created in 2025 and I feel it wasn't as much as I wanted. Maybe that is a theme. I always want to do more. I...

 I love unicorns. I love the magic and their beauty so I decided to scrapbook a unicorn theme. Scrapbooking Background I started with the background. I went for something dark, magical and mystic. I simply used two different sheets and glued them to an A4 paper: Scrapbooking unicorn tape I had some space on the outer edges and I absolutely love this unicorn tape. It's like masking tape. Actually it maybe masking tape. But its thick and sturdy and just too cute to pass up! I bought it from Daiso awhile ago. I don't use it too often because it is so big and wide. So when I do, I get excited. The tape itself is a bit fiddley. This tape I used is just tricky to handle and to cut. But I still recommend it! Please note though I am not affiliated to Daiso so can't send you a link to their site... I'm not even sure if they have a website but if you go into their store, they do have a lovely unique section for scrapbooking. It is very cute. I also added a thinner unicorn washi t...

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay ^Please note, I use affiliate links in this blog post. This means I receive a percentage of the sale from the seller. Hobbies are fun! Even more fun is working out the space where you will place all your resources for your hobbies. Let's look at what storage solutions are great for your hobbies: Draws for craft storage: Draws are fantastic for small things (a lot of small items)... I use one set of 5-draws for some of my scrapbooking. Such as stickers, washi tape and other things like stationery, such as sticky notes, small items for scrapbooking such as cute beanies and buttons etc.  Inside the draws, you can create your very own sections to portion off different resources. See my blog post here on for some ideas on how to do that.  Whatever, neatly you can fit into draws, then do that.  Tubs for craft storage: Tubs with lids are so important. Lids offer the barrier of no dust or grime to your resources. I use tubs for sto...

 So I am so excited to be starting my very own Etsy store. I have wanted to for a very long time and now I have. I am thrilled to be sharing with you the products I currently have in store but also know it is forever growing. I aim to have 2 new products a week, if not more listed. So do check out my store as often as you want!  I also have the link to my Etsy store on my Home Page at the top navigation panel.  So what do I have at my Etsy store? I sell my crafty eBooks. Plus digital printable templates, for crocheting, diamond painting, goals, wellbeing and even quotes.  Here are some items for sale right now: MelanieToyesHobbies - Etsy Australia Crocheting Products Keep track of your crocheting projects and yarn stock, with these cool printable digital templates. Simply print and update as per the instructions on the template. Here are some sample printable digitial templates for sale: Plus my eBook in PDF format: The journey of crocheting for beginners filled with...

Image by MissKarin from Pixabay As a beginner to crocheting, small projects that are less than 30 minutes to complete are ideal to start with. This way, you literally don’t have to be counting stitches for too long and you can reap the results pretty quickly.  I would suggest, crocheting as many of the same pattern as you like to, to really feel confident with the stitches and the pattern.  So let’s work talk about 8 ideas you can crochet as a beginner:  1. Crocheting a scarf A scarf is quite sizeable but only requires two stitches if you don’t mind it being curly on the ends. It can take 2-3 weeks completing a scarf which is good practice of your stitches, if you are casually crocheting on it. It may take several hours. But I do recommend, taking crocheting slow at the beginning. It’s a lot of focusing and counting of stitches.  2. Crocheting a sun A sun only take 30 minutes to crochet but you do have to sew on the edging at the end, otherwise it’s just a yellow c...

Image by beasternchen from Pixabay  I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas. No matter how you spend your day today, I hope you are either crafted out and just enjoying a day off from crafting. Or you are just spending the day crafting! Enjoy!  I wanted to thank you for this year. I appreciate that you have been visiting and reading my Hobbies blog and buying my ebooks. I hope this day, whether your time is filled with being family or maybe you are by yourself. I want you to know you are not alone and what brings us together is our joy of hobbies. I want you to think about what you made this year in your hobbies and celebrate your successes and your hobbies that didn’t quite turn out how you liked. Christmas is about a feeling of specialness and magic. You can create this by crafting your very own Christmas decorations and decorate your home with. And if you are spending Christmas by yourself. Why not make something Christmassy on Christmas Day for you to feel proud of an...

Image by Couleur from Pixabay  Christmas Eve is so special. Whether you have children too excited to sleep or you are just preparing for extended family tomorrow. Finalising Christmas presents is a tradition on Christmas Eve. If you bought my book- Melanie Toye’s Handmade Christmas Craft . You will have made or still making some cool Christmas gift tags, Christmas cards and maybe even Christmas bags to name some of the crafts in the book.  So the special part is turning on some Christmas music. Wrapping the Christmas gifts and adding on those handmade Christmas crafts. It just makes the Christmas Eve night so special as you get to see the magic happen- yes you part of the magic because you took the time to craft for Christmas. Homemade Christmas craft is just super special, especially when received on an already magical Christmas Day.  I normally sit on the ground, as I wrap Christmas gifts and add the special handmade touches. I just find I have more room than sitting a...

Image by Andreas from Pixabay If you enjoy scrapbooking you will love this Christmas fun.  It’s simple, we are going to create a photo Christmas decoration, which you can tie to your tree. Your Christmas tree will showcase memories of the year or even later years.  Let’s begin. What you will need: Scissors Stick glue Cardboard (thick or thin) Christmas paper  Photos Hole punch Christmas ribbon Christmas stickers  Cut out some cardboard. You can cut out from cardboard from a parcel box that you may have received filled with Christmas gifts. Or you can use thinner cardboard from cereal boxes and chip boxes. The bigger the box the better but cut out each side of the box in full and you will have a range of sizes.  Then cut out the same size in Christmas paper. It doesn’t matter how thin it is, but try and avoid wrapping paper, as it’s so thin it might rip. Glue the Christmas paper to the cardboard. Then together, cut out Christmas tree, rectangle or square shapes....

So I decided to cut out my media opportunities, paste it into an art book and scrapbook it. As I am quite proud of what I have achieved through out the years writing.  Let’s begin with my greatest achievement. A two-page spread interview in the Courier Mail, Career One section. The third largest newspaper in Australia. It is huge so I had to fold it up into the page, which is fine.  The next media, is a press release I wrote for a printed magazine, The Messenger, which also included two images of my first ever book, Entice Me. I used to write short stories in My Town magazine, which was a local printed magazine. As you can see on the right my novel, Entice Me book covers are pictured.  I am proud of this article I wrote for The Dollar Stretcher, an American magazine.  Also, in terms of scrapbooking, I bought a tonne of books, writing and quote stickers for this scrapbooking and I used all the above book washi tape in one sitting. I have never done that before. I...