Melanie Toye's Hobbies

So my home is decorated by my craft.  For example, I have a craft room where I store my craft supplies and have space to do my craft and then I have in my lounge room showing my craft creations (pictured above) and also storing craft supplies like yarn, where I love to look at and think about the possibilities of what I can do with my craft supplies.  It makes me feel good to come home and be surrounded by my craft.  And it’s ok to never have your craft room finished. For me it’s a work in progress. I am always changing it and my supplies and where to showcase my supplies. This is because my interests change. One month I may be heavily into crocheting so I don’t need a table for that, I can just sit on the couch. I really just need storage for my yarn and crochet needles and my half completed crochet projects such as draws to cater for these.  Another month, I may be into scrapbooking so I do need a table for this, my set of draws for the stickers and tapes and then ...

  I am thrilled to announce that this year, instead of focusing on hobbies that I think will interest others, I am just going to focus on what I want to do.  And I admit, last year, I did basically that.  But there are some hobbies, which I think I might be over. Like miniatures for example. I think that has died a slow death. I have re-attempted multiple times to create my own miniature creations or build DIY kits and I just don’t seem to enjoy the process as much as other hobbies.  I think because it is so fiddly. However, I have this little bit of heart for miniatures and I just feel I shouldn’t give up on it. I have made about ten miniatures and about 2-3 of my own miniature themed homes. I have put most of them for sale. Although, not my dollhouse. My dollhouse is where I make my own miniature themed house. And that is very fun. Because I know how to make miniatures, I have been doing it for years. So maybe I will keep the dollhouse for now. For another year and...

  If you are a subscriber to my hobbies YouTube channel @littlemissmel23, last week I posted a video on how to crochet a scarf. I couldn’t show the end result because it was already a long video, so I decided to show you on my blog. I have added the video to this blog post if you are interested in watching it for the pattern.  The final result: The final result is quite good I feel. I did a thin scarf and I ran out of pink yarn so I decided to add white. I’m quite proud of this scarf. I am going to play with the sizing and in particular the width of the scarf.  Now my kids have seen the first scarf, they are wanting me to make them one as well. They even chose the coloured yarn they want. One wants black and then white like my pink and white one pictured. And my other son wants a combination of blue white yarn.  As per the video, I plan to crochet 5-7 scarves for myself so I can wear one each day and change the scarf colour pending the outfit.  Scarf crocheting ...

Image by Kerstin Riemer from Pixabay   I feel I have a love / hate relationship with miniatures. And it’s because of this feeling towards miniatures that I can go for months without building miniatures.  Here are the reasons why it can be a negative experience: It falls apart in your hands  When building a chair for example, you hold the furniture in place, count twenty seconds, put the chair to the side and it falls apart.  Or after you have built the first chair, while the second chair is falling apart your hand accidentally hits the first chair and now both have fallen apart.  Now repeat this five times. Glue is messy to work with  Expect glue to be every where. All over your fingers and all over your board. I normally use card board but get embarrassed when shooting YouTube videos at littlemissmel23 and the cardboard has glue all over it from past miniature DIY creations.  Patience when building miniatures  I do not have a lot of it. But when...

  Hi there crafters For those who are new to crocheting, starting small is a good place to begin and practice those stitches. What I have made in the picture above is five different coloured crochet bookmarks.  I am currently reading five books, so wanted to make a bookmark for each book. Because, I like to stop and read one book and start another but then go back and finish the first book.  Here is my pattern:  Chain stitch as many as you want, based on how long you want your book mark to be. Then turn it over and single crochet down the chain stitches. At the end do one chain stitch, and then repeat one more row. Tie off. Leave a long tail so you can find your bookmark in your book.  I will be making a YouTube video on how to do this as well in the near future. Checkout littlemissmel23 that is my YouTube channel.  I hope you enjoy crocheting your bookmarks! Please comment below if you tried it.  #crochet #crochetbookmarks Check out my  Etsy stor...

Image by GraphicMama-team from Pixabay Hey!  I am Melanie Toye and I love all things craft. My current arts and craft hobbies are scrapbooking, diamond painting, paint by numbers, miniature DIY kits and more!  If you are seeking to sponsor someone crafty then choose me! I currently make YouTube videos @ littlemissmel23 which are about arts and craft. I am happy to feature a sponsor / products / review within the video or on my blog. Also, if you are wanting to submit a guest blog post for review, let me know and roughly what date you would want it published. Please note, I post on Saturdays.   I am only seeking paid opportunities. I have over 1,000 views on this blog. You may also be interested in my other blogs listed below:  Check out my walking for health blog:  https://melanietoyeswalkingforhealth.blogspot.com/?m=1 Check out my dance blog here:  https://melanietoyesdance.blogspot.com/?m=1 Check out my dreaming of Japan blog here:  https://melaniet...

  My friend messaged me and she was like, “Mel, I got you a gift.”  The next day she gave me this amazing gift. Three miniature DIY kits, medium size ready for me to build.  Small miniature DIY kits normally cost around AUD $50 online. But in shops they can drop to AUD $15 when on sale. You wouldn’t believe what my friend paid. Can you take a guess? She paid as little as $3 a kit and she bought three it’s for me. Two of which are mainly pink, which is my favourite colour and the other kit is a lavender colour.  I looked online and yes they had the price for AUD $29 each. So it pays to go to the actual store for any discounts. What a bargain and probably at least a one month project for each.  #miniature #diykit #shopping Check out my  Etsy store  for heaps of digital products To see all of my  ebooks available  for purchase Follow me on Pinterest at: @melanietoye Follow me on  LinkedIn Join my  hobbies Facebook group  If you li...