Perler Beads: Super Mario RPG Coasters and Custom Sprites

We got another commission recently, this time for a wedding! We were asked to make Mario and Princess in a tux and wedding dress, which meant choosing existing sprites from a Mario game and recoloring them in the appropriate attire. Here's how it turned out:

Super Mario RPG Custom Sprites: Mario and Princess in wedding garb

The final product also included a perler piece saying "[blank] Family Est. Jan. 2014". The whole thing was framed by the person who commissioned it, which really added a nice finishing touch.

My other recent project was inspired by the commission, actually; in looking up Mario sprites, I discovered that Super Mario RPG already has sprites of each character's head in a circle, which happen to be just the right size to use for coasters. So of course I had to give it a try!

Super Mario RPG Coasters

I really like how these turned out too! Now I just need to put some cork backing on them, and I'll list them in our shop!

I thought January was supposed to calm down after the holidays...

... but instead it's been just as busy. This week I had things going on every single evening, and while they were fun things, I was definitely ready for a weekend come Friday night. (So much so that I bailed on my Friday night obligation in favor of staying home and playing Diablo III.)

So, quick recap:
- Monday was my birthday, which was delightful. Coconut milk ice cream, fun presents, and sushi, not to mention crepe paper covering my doorway in the morning.
- Tuesday we hosted book club, but it turned out only one other person showed up. It was actually quite nice. My dairy free/gluten free brownies turned out well, and I got to eat a lot of them myself since nobody came.
- Wednesday we went to the temple.
- Thursday I attended a service project extravaganza at church, where I helped make 100 valentines with goody bags for orphans. Then I hit up the Target for their clearance event, but I only found a few things that were worth buying.
- Friday we already covered.
- Saturday was Stake Conference. So was today, for that matter, though thankfully not in the evening for this session.

Work is going well, and Nathan's new batch of classes seem to be interesting (if a bit heavy on reading). I've been listening to audio books on my way to and from work (it's a 35 min commute each way; not terrible, but long enough that radio wasn't going to cut it) and in the last month and a half have managed to finish 4 and start on a fifth, all adult fantasy (two epic by Lois McMaster Bujold, two urban by Patricia Briggs, and the newest is Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman). I am definitely soliciting suggestions for what I should listen to next, so let me know if you have any favorites you think I'd like! I'm limited to what the OC public library offers, but they do have a pretty good selection from what I've seen.

Oh! And of course I almost forgot to mention our super secret project that has officially launched as of last Monday! Nathan is reviving his YouTube channel and has begun posting new videos every day. They're "let's play" videos, where he records himself playing a game with him offering commentary throughout the gameplay. As a special feature, once a week (on Mondays), the "let's play" he posts will also feature a simultaneous video of me making a perler bead sprite related to the game. These are called "Perler Play" videos, and after they are posted, we also offer the featured perler sprite in our etsy shop. Check out the first one here, and stay tuned for a new one tomorrow!

Perler Beads - Custom Starcraft Cubes

We got a sweet custom order in our Etsy shop before Christmas for a custom made perler cube with the three Starcraft logos on the sides. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out in the end, so I thought I'd share!

3 Starcraft perler cubes

Finished Starcraft Perler cube

Terran logo in Perler beads

Protoss logo in Perler beads

Zerg logo in Perler beads

This particular version has interlocking sides so that it can be used as a die to determine who to play in Starcraft 2, but I don't think it would be very difficult to modify my design to make it open and close. It would also be cool to have a version where the logos are attached to a white cube instead of being part of the cube itself -popping out of each side, sort of, to give more depth. So many possibilities!

Sunday Update

Just a quick weekend blog post to let people know what I've been up to. I'm hoping to do these every Sunday, or at least fairly regularly.

The new job is going well. I worked on brainstorming new product ideas this week and fleshing out my ideas to figure out which ones are feasible. If you have any brilliant ideas for dietary supplements that you wish you could find but seem to be sold nowhere, feel free to let me know. (I make no promises.) I'm looking forward to everything picking up a little now that the holidays are over.

Christmas vacation was lovely, and involved driving to my parents' house, visiting with them and a brother and sister, drinking fresh orange juice every day, going shopping, and relaxing. And we brought back tons of oranges, grapefruit, and lemons to prolong the enjoyment! Speaking of citrus, I also received a dwarf Valencia orange tree for Christmas from my mother-in-law, so I'm excited to have my own (small) source of oranges at some point. It currently has 4 on there that are still a ways off from being ripe.

I've been trying my hand at origami as of late as well, since I go a big stack of origami paper for Christmas too. Here's what I've done so far:

box, elephant, crane, more complicated elephant, another box

I really like the pink elephant, and the box on the right currently holds perlers that I drop on the floor and don't pick up until later. Now the question is what to make next...

Nathan and I have also been working on a super secret project that we should have more information on soon (like, in a week or two), so stay tuned! It's related to our etsy shop, but that's the only hint I can give yet.

In other news, we went shopping last Saturday to DSW (my favorite shoe store) and Joann's, and I just have to show off one of my receipts from the purchase I made...

That's right, I got a pair of pink heels for a penny. Not too shabby. I also got a ton of remnants at Joann's for under $5, which was also very exciting, but I'll spare you another picture.

I've been playing through the newest Zelda game (A Link Between Worlds), and finally beat it on Friday, only to start over on hard mode yesterday. In case that wasn't a big enough clue, I really, really liked it. If you have a 3DS or 2DS, you should totally buy and play it. Super clever puzzles, decent plot, and really pretty graphics. And, in fact, I do turn on the 3D (especially in dungeons) to help with the platforming bits, which is more than most games manage. (It is playable without 3D, just easier in certain parts with it.)

This is the first week of a new term for Nathan, plus his interview for an internship with Microsoft is on Friday, and I of course will be going to work as per usual, but hopefully I'll have some fun/interesting updates for you next week. Happy new year to all!