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All the young dudes carry a Bowie DS case
Okay, so maybe not all the young dudes, and in this case the dude is actually a dudette, but we're still impressed by this hand-made DS Lite case. As you may have noticed, the thing that separates Miss Fina's case from the hordes of (also impressive) others is David Bowie's face. Or, perhaps we should say the face of Ziggy Stardust.There's more images of this sweet craft after the break, along with some "Magic Dance" action that you know you shouldn't enjoy, but do.
Wear this Bob-omb jewelry at a safe distance
Craftster user False_desire calls herself a "one woman jewelry workshop," a pretty accurate description considering her prolific output. Wading through her assortment of Rainbow Brite, Care Bears and Hello Kitty creations, we stumbled across these adorable (non-exploding) Bob-omb earrings and matching necklace. Hand-sculpted from FIMO (damn fiddly stuff, let us tell you), both of these cute one-offs are available now on eBay (here and here), so grab 'em while you still can!
Show and Tell: Clay Creatures
We love Eco Creatures, and it looks like we're not alone! While it may not be surprising to hear that sometimes, some folks in Japan might like things that are cute, we were surprised -- in a good way -- to receive the above picture from reader Shiba-San. A friend made these adorable clay critters, because the animals in Eco Creatures (or, over there, Ecoris) are just begging to be recreated in a variety of media. We heartily approve.Are you shaping cutesy creatures -- or other game characters -- in your spare time? Show us! We like thingamabobs and doohickeys and swag of all sorts, as well as food and furniture and anything fun ... so long as it's related to Nintendo! Just take some pictures, tell us what's up, and send it all to showmeit [at] dsfanboy [dot] com. We'll take care of the rest.
A bevy of buttons
The very moment we saw these buttons, we had an irresistible urge to not only buy them, but arrange them on some sort of button-friendly surface or fabric in a way that recreates their positions on the NES controller. Of course, then we'd be forced to recreate NES game music using nothing but our mouths (along with rhythmic head-bobbing, of course). Frankly, we shouldn't be allowed out in public. Lucky for us, these adorable buttons sold out almost immediately (we're saved from embarrassment), but the seller indicates that s/he can "remake most of what I list."Etsy craftster Slevin11 has a variety of other shiny Nintendo buttons that are not sold out as well. You can check out a huge array of Pokéballs just waiting to be snapped onto a bag, or a variety of sprites. There's some, y'know, other stuff also, but we're a little single-minded about these things.
Dig up this Animal Crossing necklace
We love Etsy. We just can't help it. The online craftster's marketplace seems to have a never-ending supply of Nintendo-related goodies. Well, never-ending until each one sells out, of course, but not to worry -- more items pop up to replace those that disappear. This one certainly popped up (oh, forgive us our puns) when we were digging around the marketplace this afternoon, and for Animal Crossing devotees, it's just adorable.Also, it glows in the dark, which is an automatic win.[Update: Except, like, it's not a necklace at all, as was helpfully pointed out by commenters. However! It's still cute. Who's with me? Yeah?]
Tetris scarf warms our hearts, overheats our necks
We're not really scarf people. We can attribute this to two major causes: It's November, and we face the danger of melting every time we go outside A distinct lack of Tetris-emblazoned scarves This scarf from Etsy seller paintedfire goes a long way to address the latter, obviously, though even the most excellent Tetris scarf does nothing to ameliorate the sweltering heat of our home environment. We're quite tempted to buy it, though, and wear it until we pass out. It's just that nice-looking.We quite appreciate the attention to detail here: the playing field is 10 blocks wide and at least 15 blocks tall (a true Tetris playfield is 20 blocks tall, and we can just assume that the falling piece has decended five spaces.) We prefer our game scarves as accurate as possible, thank you.
Tote your fandom around
Etsy shopkeeper rainbowswirlz has a pair of the cutest tote bags we've ever seen, but of course, when they're sporting spiffy Mario designs, we're a little biased. The sizeable totes weigh in at $8.99 apiece and are just perfect for hauling things, including all your portable gaming gear. Or, y'know, other stuff, but when they're imprinted with Mario, it just feels right to pack your bags with gaming items!
Show and Tell: Contra goes with everything
Here it is -- the proof we've been waiting for, folks. It's now a fact: everything goes better with Contra ... even Perler bead crafts. One reader, whom we shall call Cyborgface, sent us in this great Flickr set with some artistic takes on one of our favorite franchises, and of course, we couldn't resist showing them off. Check past the break for another peek, and head over to the set to see them all for yourself!So what do you have to show off? From crafts to cakes to collections ... whatever you've got, if it has a little Nintendo flavor, we want to see it. Just take some pictures (or copy your web album links) and send them to showmeit [at] dsfanboy [dot] com. We'll take care of the rest.
Hearth to hygiene with World of Warcraft soap
A World of Warcraft fan has taught herself to make soap. Yes, soap. The amusing thing is that she taught herself to make a specific kind of soap -- soap shaped like WoW's hearthstones!It won't teleport you to the bathtub, but in theory it should at least help you stay hygienically sound. So prove those false stereotypes of MMO players as smelly, pimply slobs wrong! You can buy the soap in pairs for $14.87 at her Etsy shop ... if you're into that sort of thing. The male writers (at least) at Massively will probably pass, because buying special soaps might compromise our masculine credibility. We prefer simpler, more manly soaps (whatever that means).[Via WoW Insider]
Dress up those wrist straps
Plain white wrist strap got you down? No worries -- the legions of crafty folks at Etsy have your back. bs angel of Hawty McBloggy put together a few brightly colored examples to get you started on custom wrist straps, and we scoured the halls of the craft portal to collect a few more. Okay, that's a fib -- they all come from the same shop, run by wendigratz, who apparently has a thing for prettying up those plain straps. We're in favor of the idea, however. From the fluffy blue take on Wii safety above to a more gender-neutral beaded number, wendigratz has several strappy options. With the holidays coming up fast, one of these pre-made straps might make a lovely stocking stuffer for someone special ... or better yet, they may inspire you to do your own thing. We have seen some creative solutions over time ....[Via Hawty McBloggy]
Announcing WoW Insider's Hallow's End Costume Contest!
Psylah sent us this great pic of her in her "Big Bad Wolf" costume (complete with little pig) and suggested that for Hallow's End this year, we do an ingame costume contest. We couldn't agree more, and so we're proud to introduce the WoW Insider Hallow's End costume contest. Just cook up a great ingame costume (could be something from real-life, your take on a Warcraft NPC, or anything you can think of) before this Friday, November 2nd, and send a .jpg screenshot of it to us at wowinsidercontests@gmail.com (with your full name, age, email address, and street address) Then, the WoW Insider staff will judge the entries based on 1/3 Originality, 1/3 Creativity, and 1/3 Costume Accuracy, and we'll declare a winner after that.And what might you win for creating the best in-game costume? Glad you asked! WoW Insider has teamed up with the crafty (literally-- she makes crafts) Manaprincess to bring you a trick-or-treat bag featuring some of her favorite handmade crafts. The winner will get: Horde ribbon Alliance ribbon 2 hearthstone key chains 2 hearthstone cell phone charms Glowing hearthstone car light And because it's Hallow's End, we'll even throw in a Jinx Warcraft t-shirt, and a 60 day game card! Tastier than candy, and more useful, too!Here's the fine print: all entries must be in by 3pm on November 2nd, 2007, and all entrants must be US residents 18 years of age or older (sorry EU folks, but we've got to mail the package to you). Just send your entry (a jpg screenshot of an ingame costume you've put together) to wowinsidercontests@gmail.com, along with your full name, age, email address, and street address. Have fun putting your costume together, and good luck!
Mat, sweet mat
Craftster user obesolete rendered this extremely familiar scene from Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (or, as it appears on the Virtual Console and in the later console release, Not Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!) in cross-stitch. Bald Bull has just totally smashed the extremely undersized Little Mac, stripping him (we imagine) of the star he'd been saving up for an opportune moment.Cross-stitch is a good medium for game crafts, because, much like Perler beads, it naturally lends itself to designs formed from small squares. NES pixels, of course, translate perfectly. That doesn't prevent us from feeling a bit subversive sometimes for using traditional crafting methods to render weird, nontraditional stuff like game screens. No doubt obesolete got the same giggle out of doing this.
DS Daily: Inspiration
We love game-inspired art of all kinds, from crafts to drawings and paintings, and for good reason -- they're usually executed with an unparalleled passion ... or at least a deep understanding of things which are dear to us. Whether they're funny or serious, brilliant to sorta crappy, there's usually something to appreciate in most of the gaming-related projects we stumble across. This revamped Shadowgate screen from deviantARTist stalk-chan is a great example; it not only shows off one of this blogger's most beloved moments in gaming ever, but it's also a plea for a reappearance of the game on the DS. Shadowgate would be such a great fit, after all, and hey, it was a game, which means it's automatically qualified for the remake craze.But that's just one example. What we'd like to hear about are some of your favorite examples of game-inspired projects, from Tetris shelves to cakes to paintings. What kinds of things do you like best? For extra credit, roll out the links.
Lon Lon Milk refills hearts of brave adventurers
If you've had a nasty run-in with an Octorok recently, or got in a scrape with a Stalfos, then there's only one thing for it, dear reader: you need Lon Lon Milk, and you need it fast.And right now, your nearest vendor is none other than Etsy user tiffanybell, whose Lon Lon Milk Bottle charms come packed with heart-filling, nutritious* Lon Lon Milk.Yours for a paltry 20 Rupees three bucks.* Probably.
There's no safer place than a rabbit's mouth
Craftster forum member N0A made this adorable fluffy bunny case to hold her DS Lite. Amazingly, according to her, it only took "a couple of hours." That's a higher cuteness-to-time ratio than we've seen since the prairie dog video. It looks useful, too-- that fluffy-soft material should keep the DS well-protected within the bunny's-- well, not mouth, actually, more like PEZ-style neck opening. Also found on Craftster today: this irresistible case from endlessly_intricate, featuring an embroidered image of Invader Zim's GIR. Not only does the images look great on the front of the case, but endlessly_intricate made one more crucial design innovation-- a taco! Is there anything tacos can't do?
Mario Coin Block Bank is perfect for gold coin hoarding
There's no denying it: our wallets and purses are in for an absolute beating this Christmas, with quality DS titles coming thick and fast. So what better way could there be to save your pennies for Contra 4 or any of the DS' other forthcoming delights than with this Mario Coin Block Bank?This charming piece of merchandise, constructed entirely from Perler Beads and contact cement, was whipped up by Etsy user lostmitten, who's charging $12 for the coolest coin bank in town. Oh sure, it's $2 less for the same block sans coin slot, but slots don't grow on trees, people. Sheesh.
Insider Trader: Tools of the trade
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products. It takes it to make it – and let's face it, craftspeople love goodies and gadgets. Addons for professions are some of the most satisfying, relieving the drudgery of tasks such as repetitive combines and character-hopping to verify inventories. Today's installment of Insider Trader is a reminder to revisit your favorite addons site and take a peek at what's fresh for craftspeople. New addons come out every week, and if you haven't surveyed what's out there recently, you just might be in for a pleasant surprise.Read on for a sampling of today's most downloaded addons for craftspeople – no profession-specific addons this time (we'll save those for a later installment), but rather a taste of some of the sweet little tools that make life easier for every profession. Don't forget to stop by to post a comment and share your own favorites.
Put Funghi all over your face
Just in time for Halloween, Atlus has added something to the download section of the Touch Detective 2 1/2 website: masks! Now you can make your own paper representation of one of the game's iconic characters. We can hardly think of anything more unsettling when it comes to cheap Halloween getups. Skip past the jump to see how the masks look in versions far smaller than your face.However, the masks will probably not be enough to win you one of the prizes in the Atlus Halloween Costume Contest being held on their official forums.
Decorative WoW soap bars
Manaprincess is at it again with the WoW crafts. I recently received my Horde ribbon magnet in the mail (and even though I had to sell my car because my new apartment doesn't have parking, I proudly display it on my fridge right next to the Warcraft magnets I got from BlizzCon), but she's opened up into a whole new realm of WoW crafting-- handmade decorative soaps.In all fairness, I can't say this stuff appeals to me near as much-- it's hard to seem Horde-ly when you get excited about decorative soaps. But I can admire her dedication-- these are all homemade, and while Hearthstone keychains are nice, Hearthstone (and Soulstone and Healthstone) soaps are pretty cool, too. I can't get a hold on the scale, though-- are these tiny, or are they "life" sized?And MP is enterprising as always-- she's got these on sale on her site for about $10 for two. If you really, really like decorative soaps (or just need a gift for a dirty WoW player), there you go.
It's a miniskirt: Maaario!
Apparently, Craftster forum member Vivifromage couldn't find very much of this Super Mario 64 fabric (where would you even find something like that? Oh, right) because she made herself not very much skirt. It's a nice design, with two pockets and everything! We're just far too modest for something so revealing, is all.Also found at Wonderland, where we found this: Remote-controlled Mario and Luigi golf toys, wool Donkey Kong, and a clock made from an NES Tetris cartridge. There's a clock just like that on our wall, except it uses a Gyromite cartridge instead of Tetris. Not to brag about totally having done it first, but, you know, it just happened to totally get done before this one. [Via Wonderland]
