Tag: hobbies

My Crafting Space

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I built a dresser (pre-Covid-19).  Well, the hubs and I built the dresser.  Basically, I started it.  I did the body, he came in halfway, said “I want to help”, then built all the drawers cause he’s awesome like that.

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It’s like legos for adults.

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After many hours we got it finished!  Huzzah!  All is right with the world!

It is now in its proper place in my craft room!   See how nice it looks with my pegboard.

Why yes, I do have a ribbon habit.

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I’m really happy with how much storage this dresser has in it.  Right now I have one drawer empty.  I’m assuming that will get filled up with fabric.  Or, quite possibly, I just need to go through my fabric collection and donate what I never plan on using so that other drawers are freed up.

Nah.

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And with that, my craft room is mostly done!  I say mostly because whose craft room is ever actually finished.  I am patiently awaiting the day I want to add more stuff.  It’ll happen.  Just you wait and see.

 

Used Book Haul

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So I recently spent some time perusing the shelves at a variety of used book markets, both online and off.  I might have bought a few things.

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The books just followed me home, I swear!  And the ones I bought online?  Those just wandered in the locked front door!

Several of these books are ones I need to complete a series where I already own the books on an e-reader.  Some of them are for series I want to read but haven’t started yet.  And some of them are just because.  I mean, who doesn’t want more books?

I usually get my used books from Half Priced Books, and that’s where a majority of that stack is from.  But I also use Thriftbooks.com.  Both are great.

There are a couple of downsides to using online retailers for used books though.  You don’t always know what condition you are going to get your book in.  For example, I bought a book that said it was in good condition, and the cover is all banged up.  Maybe I’m just a book snob and want my books in great condition.

The other downside is that sometimes when order hardback you may get a library copy, and they don’t always tell you it’s a library copy.  Personally, I don’t mind library copies.  It means the book jacket will survive a long, long time.

My First Book Club

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I joined a book club.

While this may seem small to you, it’s huge to me.  I’ve never been part of a book club before.

Which is very weird because I’ve always surrounded myself with people who loved books.  Apparently we just never got our act together and formed a book club.

So very, very weird.

I mean, I suppose I could start one with my friends now, but they live in a different city and we wouldn’t be able to get together once a month to talk about books.  That would make for a lonely book club.

So yes, I joined a book club.  And the first book I got to read for it was on last year’s TBR!

The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman!!!

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What a terrible picture.  This is what happens when you take a picture after you have cracked the spine!   Anyway…

I’m so excited to go to my first book club meeting!  I can’t wait to meet all the other awesome ladies and talk about my first love!  Books!

 

Sketching Out A Gift

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One of my favorite hobbies is embroidery.  Among other things, I find it soothing and relaxing.

The hubs and I are gaining a new niece this year!  How exciting!

These two things are connected.  I promise.  I’m not just randomly talking about two unrelated events and/or occurrences.

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See, I am going to be making an embroidered gift for the new baby.  I’d been looking for ideas on ETSY, something I could take inspiration from without actually stealing their work.  That is no good the stealing of work!

I stumbled across this one Etsy shop.  I can’t link it for fear that my sister in law might see it and have the gift spoiled.  Suffice it to say, inspiration struck.

I spent the last couple of days looking at line art online.  and I managed to come up with something pretty cool.

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I’m excited to get started on the actual embroidery part of it.

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Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and buy all the DMC at the craft store!

 

Embroidering the Day Away

Lauren1 Comment

Everyone has a hobby.  That small thing they like to do to get them through the more restful (Re: boring) moments of their lives.  Some people like to build model trains, make bullet journals, or knit.

I embroider.

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I got this as a full kit here.  While this particular kit is no longer available, this Etsy shop is full of kits that are great for beginners, which is what I am.

I started this hobby last year in about July.  My sewing craft of choice has always been needlepoint, but there aren’t a lot of kits available that I haven’t already done/don’t want to do.  I needed something I could sit and do to keep my ADD from going bonkers.

It does that sometimes.

And this isn’t the same embroidery that you usually think of when you think of embroidery.   For example, I love this kit, which you can find here.

Etsy is full of wonderfully unique pdfs to download and full kits to do.  I have quite a few that have been favorited that I will be purchasing as soon as I finish the ones I have already collected.

If you are interested in getting started yourself there are some great samplers out there to learn basic stitches.  I recommend this one and this one.  Both are simple and easy to learn from.  If you need further help or want to take your skills to the next level, YouTube has some fantastic tutorials, I love the Handiworks channel.

This is a hobby that I didn’t expect to love as much as I did, but I am glad I found it.