List of Hobbies

Paper Quilling

admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:24:55 +0000

Do you like working with paper? Do you like paper crafting? Then you might also like paper quilling. It is fun and you can create something delicate and beautiful as a result. Many people make cards and decorations out of paper quilling. If you are new to paper quilling, you can start small and inexpensively. Just cut a long strip of paper and use something sharp and pointy, such as a bamboo skewer, to roll the paper. You may not get a delicate and nice finish product using these crude supplies but you will get a hang of what paper quilling is like and decide if it is something that you want to pursue further. If so, there are basic supplies and tools that will help improve your paper quilling projects.

What is paper quilling?

Quilling, paper quilling or paper filigree is an art form that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs. The paper is wound around a quill to create a basic coil shape. The paper is then glued at the tip and the coil shaped, these shaped coils are arranged to form flowers, leaves, and various ornamental patterns similar to ironwork.

Basic paper quilling supplies and tools

When starting out, you will not need all the tools and supplies. You might just want to get nice paper and just a quilling tool. A quilling tool has a metal end with a tiny slot so that you can slide paper in and keep the end there while rolling the paper. With this tool, anyone without any experience, can roll paper strips nicely and make beautiful finished projects.

If you are ready to start paper quilling or need some paper quilling ideas or instructions, then here are some book suggestions. These books will help you with ideas and they also have step by step paper quilling instructions for lots of different projects that you can do.

New Concepts in Paper Quilling: Techniques for Cards & Gifts

Paper Quilling for the first time

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Shoe Making

admin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:16:29 +0000

Shoe making can be challenging but some people love shoes and they just cannot seem to find shoes that they love in stores so they make them themselves. It is fun to make shoes if you know what you are doing and you like making, designing, creating, sewing and so forth. Shoes can be made of many materials such as leather, cloth, plastic, or canvas. Leather shoes are popular because it stops feet getting too hot but sewing leather can be tricky if you are not used to it. There are many grades of leather, some are tough and hard to work with whereas others are more delicate and, of course, more expensive.

How to make shoes?

Shoes are not something you attempt to make if you have never sew, designed or created anything. Start with something easier than shoes and get used to sewing and creating something simpler. When making shoes, you need to be precise and cannot make errors or your shoes will not fit or they will be extremely uncomfortable to wear.

Shoes are made on models of feet called lasts. You first need to design your shoes. You need to draw a pattern for different parts of the shoes such as vamp, quarters, tongue, and counter. You then need to cut the different parts out of whatever material you are going to make the shoes from. Then you need to sew the pieces together. Then the insole is nailed to the bottom of the last. The upper is stretched over the last. The edges are glued to the insole and so on. The process of making great shoes is long and you need to pay attention to every little detail.

If you want to start making shoes as a hobby, you can get some books to help you. Here is a suggestion below.

Make Your Own Slippers and Shoes (Do It Yourself Projects!)

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Needle Felting

admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:03:40 +0000

Have you ever tried needle felting? It is a great, fun and exciting hobby for many crafters. Needle felting is sculpting wool with a specialized needle. It is somewhat a new hobby that some say has been around since the 1980s.

What you need to start needle felting?

You need some basic tools that are not expensive such as:

felting needles
a firm foam block
sheep’s wool
dyed wool (Rovings)

There are also tools that will help you with needle felting but some of them are not necessary so you can start this hobby with little money and then grow your supplies as you see fit. Some of these tools are carders, card blanks, threads and beads, thimble, jewelry pliers, pipe cleaners, and so on.

Techniques used in Needle Felting

When you are learning how to needle felt, you will learn many techniques. Some of the basic techniques are needling, making ball shape, shape forming, using an armature or a skeletal structure, blending colors by carding, etc.

If you are ready to learn needle felting or you want to start and need some ideas and step-by step instructions, this is a great book to start off with.

Beginner’s Guide to Needle Felting

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Pressing Flowers

admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:01:25 +0000

Flower pressing is a great hobby for people who love flowers. By pressing them, you can keep your favorite flowers longer and use them in creative, craft projects such as making cards, pictures and other decorative items. Some flowers are easier to press than others. You need to learn which ones are great for pressing and which ones are no good so that you will not waste your time. You will learn to recognize great flowers for pressing with experience.

Which flowers are easy to press?

The easiest flowers to press are open-faced flowers such as pansies or bell shaped flowers.

When is a good time to press flowers?

The best time to press flowers is when you just picked them so they will not wilt first. You want to start with flowers that are undamaged and have fully opened. The flowers should be dry, not wet. Summer is a great season to press flowers because there are many colorful flowers that are blooming in the summer.

How long to press flowers for?

Usually, you need to leave flowers pressed for about four weeks.

Fun things to do with pressed flowers

Once you have pressed flowers, there are many fun things you can use them in. You can make them into cards to give to your friends. You can make bookmarks. You can make gift tags or you can use them in your scrapbooking projects.

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Landscaping with Native Plants

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:05:46 +0000

Some people love to do landscaping as a hobby. But, how about landscaping with native plants? Landscaping with native plants is great way to reduce the amount of runoff that leaves your property. It is also easier than landscaping with non-native plants because, usually, native plants require very little maintenance since they have evolved and adapted natural defenses to local conditions.

If you live in areas with drought, nutrient poor soil, severe winter conditions, disease and insects, non-native plants may not survive but native plants could. By doing your landscaping with native plants, you will save time as well as money. You may not need any lawn chemicals or even irrigation to maintain your lawn when working with native plants.

What are native plants?

Native plants are trees, shrubs, flowers, grasses, ferns and other plants that originate and evolve in a region over time. They have adapted to local climate and ecological conditions.

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Decorating Eggs

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:47:30 +0000

Egg decorating is a fun activity and a hobby. It is most useful and heavily practiced around Easter but there are people who love decorating eggs and do it all year round for fun. It is a creative hobby that is very cheap to do. If you keep decorating your eggs, by Easter time, you will have plenty of eggs to sell and make some money! You can be as creative as you want when decorating eggs. You can use poster paints, stickers, or any other embellishments that you can find.

How to Blow an Egg?

Some people use fake eggs instead of real eggs. If you eat eggs, it might be cheaper to just use the real eggs. But, you can to be careful how you get rid of the content of the egg. Eggs break easily so you need to be very gentle. To blow an egg, you will have to make a tiny hole in one end and a bigger hole in the other end. Use a needle to do this. Hold the egg over a bowl and blow into the small hole hard. All the egg should come out of the big hole. Then you need to wash the egg thoroughly. Rinse with cold water and let dry by sitting it big hole down.

You can start egg decorating as a hobby today if you would like. You can use whatever you have lying around your house. If you need more ideas and want to learn more techniques of what you can do to decorate your eggs, then here is a good book for you. You can choose others if you prefer.

The Art of Decorating Eggs

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Picnics

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:48:17 +0000

Having a picnic is a great hobby. It is relaxing and it is a great way to socialize with your friends or hang out with your family. A picnic can be anything from a sandwich in the yard or park to a big feast planned for months in advance with tons of guests involved. Instead of just hanging out with your friends, you can invite them to a picnic spot. Each person can bring one thing to share. A picnic is best on a sunny day but even on a rainy day, there are places that you can stay dry while having fun with your friends.

Themed picnics

You can make your picnics more fun by adding a theme to each picnic you organize. You can have a Halloween picnic where there are Halloween themed plates and decoration. You can have ghoulish snacks and food too. Different themes make things more interesting and keep people interested and entertained so they will keep coming back to your picnics.

Grilling Out

People usually love outdoor cooking at a picnic. When there is outdoor cooking involved, more planning is needed and you want to invite as many people as you can so that it is worth the time and efforts it take to grill out.

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Pond Watching

admin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:31:38 +0000

Is there a pond around where you live? There are many things you can study there. Lots of people are fascinated by different creatures that they can find in a natural pond. In Spring, it is a great time to visit a pond because plants are flowering and small creatures are hatching. There are many interesting things that live in water but be careful though, some of them may be dangerous. Pond watching is a great hobby for children learning who are often fascinated by different creatures.

Taking Samples

At some ponds, you can take samples of the pond water for scientific analysis. You can also take a clean glass jar and put what you find in it to study. It is best to put plants of animals back into the pond when you are done looking though or you can kill them. A magnifying glass and a binocular can also come in handy if you are going to spend some time at the location. While you are at the pond, look for birds that may be around trying to catch fish from the pond (if there is any!)

Newts

Most people find newts at ponds. These creatures look like small lizards but they can be very small and they are not scaly.

Tadpoles

Tadpoles are also common in Spring. Early in the spring time, frogs lay eggs called frogspawn in ponds. They become tadpoles. Each time you go back to the pond, you can try to see how the tadpoles have changed. After about 12-13 weeks, the tadpoles would have turned into tiny frogs.

The book below is called Pond Life and it is a great read and reference book for anyone looking to do pond watching.

Pond Life: Revised and Updated (A Golden Guide from St. Martin’s Press)

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Weather Watching

admin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:13:01 +0000

Weather watching is a hobby and it is a challenging one for people who take it seriously. The weather can change quickly without warning. It is a challenge to spot the weather pattern and accurately predict what the weather will be like in the future. Weather forecasters and Meteorologists use many scientific instruments to help them predict future weather patterns. If you just want to do weather watching as a hobby, there is no need to spend a lot of money on these advance and complex equipment. You can just watch the weather and learn to recognize signs. You can get some basic, low cost equipment if you choose to. With experience, you will learn to look for evidence and signs that will help you forecast the weather.

Wind Speed

The speed of the wind can be a give away of what the weather will be like. You can learn to notice cloud movement as well as other signs around you and equate them to a certain range of wind speed. For example, small waves on lakes and small trees swaying often mean the wind speed is about 19-24 mph. Although, you will not know the wind speed exactly, you will know enough to predict the weather pattern. After all, even Meteorologists with their fancy equipment often make incorrect forecasts.

Cloud Spotting

Clouds are made up of tiny drops of water. Their shapes are constantly changing. If you keep watching them, you will learn to notice the relationship between cloud patterns and the weather. For example, large, fluffy, white cumulus clouds usually indicate fine, sunny days. It is fun to be able to tell what the weather is like or is going to be like by just looking at the clouds. You will not always get it right but you may get it right most of the time.

Weather Watching Book

Here is a good book that provides you with all you need to know to follow the weather. This user-friendly, authoritative resource includes full-color photographs, easy-to-follow guidance, and diagrams showing you everything you need to follow the weather. As our climate continues to change, more than ever before we need to understand how extreme weather affects the world around us. This practical introductory guide offers all the know-how you need.

Weather Watching (Collins Discover)

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Skywatching

admin — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:57:18 +0000

Skywatching is fun especially on a clear night when you can see many things in the sky. Without a telescope, you can still see many stars and recognize the patterns they form. You can use a star chart to guide you. Since the Earth is always moving around the Sun, you will see different constellations from month to month. Constellations can be recognized by the lines joining the stars. You may even see a meteor or a shooting star on a good day!

Popular constellations include the:

Pegasus
Andromeda
Cassiopeia, and
Perseus

Andromeda is a constellation in the northern sky. It is named after Andromeda, the princess of a mythological kingdom Ethiopia in Greek mythology.

Pegasus is a constellation in the northern sky, named after the winged horse Pegasus in Greek mythology. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations.

Cassiopeia is a constellation in the northern sky. In Greek mythology it was considered to represent the vain queen Cassiopeia, who boasted about her unrivaled beauty. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century Greek astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today. Cassiopeia is easily recognizable due to its distinctive ‘W’ shape formed by five bright stars.

Using Telescopes or Binoculars

Skywatching is much more fun if you have great equipment to help you see very far away objects. Astronomers use telescopes to see distant stars. You can get cheap telescopes or binoculars but they will not be as powerful as expensive ones. They are still fun to use though. Skywatching can be a very good, educational, yet cheap hobby.

Here is a book that will help you with skywatching even if you do not have a telescope or if you have just a cheap, not-so-powerful telescope.

The Backyard Stargazer: An Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Skywatching With and Without a Telescope

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List of Hobbies

Paper Quilling

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Shoe Making

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Needle Felting

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Pressing Flowers

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Landscaping with Native Plants

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Decorating Eggs

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Picnics

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Pond Watching

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Weather Watching

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Skywatching

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