Finding A New Hobby - Photography

The beauty about this hobby is that it should cost you absolutely nothing to get started. There are so many different ways that you can set things up to shoot, lighting tricks that can be used, lenses, shutter speeds, you get the picture. (Sorry, had to use that pun at least once).
As many times as I have read about all the different things you can do, the best advice I ever got from someone was to just take pictures. The more you take, the more you learn. It is so much easier and more affordable to hone this skill and make it a viable hobby for you due to the fact that cameras can take digital images now. You can immediately look and tell if you were able to get the shot you were trying to get. These are some pictures that I was able to take with my phone...yep...phone. The first two pictures are of my daughter on Easter. This is an example of what you can do with the picture with editing and all the other fun gadgets and apps they have. I didn't spend a dime on any expensive software or even work on the photo from my computer. It was all done from my phone. No excuses, use what you got, and develop your hobby of turning pictures into art. 
There are also some websites that will take your pictures and help you create a digital scrapbook and will print and bind the pages for you for a much cheaper price than you might spend on actual scrapbooking.  You can still personalize your pages however you would like, it's just all done digitally.  www.shutterfly.com is a good site, but I liked www.mixbook.com better.  The prices are comparable so I suggest you play around with both sites and go with your own personal preferences.

 

Finding A New Hobby - Remake Your Outdoor Shed

I wish I could claim this idea, but this one comes from my Father- in -law.  My family and I packed up and flew up to New Hampshire to visit my wife's family for Easter weekend. While we were there, I got to see all the work my Father-in-law has been doing since the last time we've been up there.  He is always working to improve his house and property in some way, so I always come back with a wealth of ideas that I didn't have before. This is just one of the projects that I noticed:  the cover to the shed door outside.  Being from New England, my Father-in-law is very proud of their Colonial heritage and he was able to create a Colonial flag on the outer door to the shed in a way that looked weathered and had been there for years.  He measured the pattern for the stars and stripes exactly and made sure they were equidistant apart and proportionate (as all flag recreations should be-I learned).  He then sanded it to make sure it had the same weathered look as the rest of the shed.  He also mentioned that he was not quite finished with it;  he plans on putting a paint/glaze mixture over the flag that is the same color as the rest of the shed and then wiping it off immediately. This will  give the exposed wood the same worn/weathered look as the rest of the shed.  I thought this was so interesting and could see others doing something similar with many different inspirations that come from their own heritage.