Melanie Toye's Hobbies

Image by Aritha from Pixabay ^Please note, I use affiliate links in this blog post. This means I receive a percentage of the sale from the seller.  The cool thing about diamond painting is you can literally start with smaller diamond painting projects or you can start big and not just do a diamond painting kit but do a super large diamond painting kit. This blog post is going to help you find different ways to diamond paint. So personally, I have only ever completed diamond painting kits.  What is a diamond painting kit?  Well, you choose a picture you want to diamond painting kit, order it and you receive the drills (diamonds) the canvas of the picture, a diamond painting pen, wax and a tray. Sometimes you might receive a few other things in kits but this generally sums it up.  The diamond painting kits tend to start at 20x20cm and can go up quite large. My large Suzume diamond painting  was the size of a full table. So you can go quite big in size. I will sa...

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 tengdu xiao from Pixabay I have to say, it was a year ago where I heard about mystery diamond paintings. I am part of hobby groups on Facebook and someone posted their myserty diamond painting. I thought this is pretty cool. So what is a mystery diamond painting? Sit down for this. You can buy mystery diamond paintings online. The store owner provides a product where you receive a diamond painting kit but have no idea what the image is until you finish diamond painting it! Pretty cool huh!? So everything comes in the kit is for the image. All the correct coloured drills etc. It takes out the amount of time we spend looking through pictures we like, and have someone else decide what that picture will be.  There are no clues either. Normally, there is a little image of the picture on the diamond painting side of the canvas. But for a mystery diamond painting there is no image of it. You literally have to wait till the end to see it. You can select what type of drills you wo...

Image by Daria Głodowska from Pixabay  Crocheting can be hard, long and tedious but also incredibly rewarding once you complete a project, especially for the first time. Better yet, when you make two and they look the same! Today, we are going to look at 3 easy bookmark projects to make for book lovers. 1. Crochet a bookmark for a gift I am a reader, but I do this thing, where I read part of a book, then I open a completely different book and read part of it and then I keep reading more books. It's not because I am bored of the book or topic, it is just I am digesting what it saying for that theme. I mainly read non-fiction books, because I am always wanting to grow.  So crocheting several book marks can really be ideal for the book lover. You can use different colours. So here is my crocheting pattern you can have to create your book reader friends a book mark, or several book marks! It is very easy to make and as said above, you can make them using different colours! They d...

Image by rawpixel from Pixabay Check out my  Etsy store  for heaps of digital products Whether you have a craft room or a place to put your craft, you need to work out how to set it up so it's convenient and works for you. The first things to do when setting up a craft space: You need to create sections for all your different craft hobbies. My hobbies, are all very different and all require different storage. So decide where you will put which hobby in your home.  Work out what you will need to store everything. Break down your craft space based on your hobbies.  Ok, let's work out all of your hobbies. Write down, what are you hobbies. Then write down exactly what you have in resources for your hobbies. This includes any tools you use and exactly what you have to store. Break it down into categories. For example, if you have a truck load of stickers, write it down. Because they will need to find a home. If you have heaps of diamond paintings not yet used, write down...

Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay So, a routine is when you want to do something on a regular basis to in the end achieve something.  So how do hobbyists and crafters need a routine?  Routines are good for those with limited time or those with ample time. Ok, a routine is for everyone. You can also set boundaries during your routine for your hobby. For example, I will not focus my attention during this time for hobbies on any cleaning or other things to do around the home. I will also not book appointments or events during this time because this is my hobby time. Obviously, you can be flexible. But if you book one hour every Saturday to do your hobby but then book other things in, you lose that precious one hour for your hobby and then might have to wait a whole week to try again.  So because I have so many hobbies, I try to focus on a routine that works for them all.  For example:  I write about on this hobbies blog and actually work on, crocheting, scr...

^Please note, I use affiliate links in this blog post. This means I receive a percentage of the sale from the seller. Unfortunately, this year, I still have 10 diamond paintings in stock and a half one left to finish... so I will live through you if you go shopping for more diamond paintings.  I thought for fun, wouldn't it be cool if we went window shopping for diamond paintings together.  I'm thinking we go window shopping for 12 (one a month). Personally, I mainly use Aliexpress.com as my place to purchase diamond paintings. I just feel they have a wide selection. In most cases, they sell diamond paintings where the entire image has to be diamond painted. Rather than in some shops, only the image is diamond painted, leaving the white canvas, well white. You can shop wherever you like for your diamond paintings. I hope this inspires you with new ideas. Alright, let us go shopping! 12 Diamond Painting Ideas for 2026 1. Jasmine from Aladdin. Ok I won't lie, I have three Jas...

^Image of square drills in a diamond painting  It's the old debate, whether to diamond painting with circle drills or square drills. Everybody has their preference.  Firstly, what is a diamond painting drill? A diamond painting drill is either circle or square shaped *diamond* to be placed on the diamond painting using a waxed pen to create a cool picture. It's similar to paint-by-numbers or colour-in by numbers and at the end you create this cool picture. However, with diamond painting it is extra special because it sparkles at the end.  Let's look into circle drills: There are benefits to circle drills for diamond painting: You can just place the circle drill in the spot. It doesn't necessary have to be a precise fit because its slotting next to another circle.  For more precision, you can use a metal circle drill ruler. The problem with the metal rulers, is they can snap (I have seen it happen). They get stuck on the waxy canvas. Drills get stuck in the holes. But...

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...

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...