DIY Life

If you have a family, you're probably in a state of constant chaos, and romancing your man might not rank high on your list of things to do. You've spent hours coordinating your children, and helping them make monogrammed cuff links and hand print crafts. They'll present these to Daddy first thing Sunday morning, and you'll all enjoy a family day, celebrating Dad.

When the day comes to a close, and the kids are tucked in, don't retire to your separate laptops... instead, turn up the heat, and spend a little time letting him know how appreciated he is. This isn't about modeling sexy lingerie (though I'm sure that would be a welcomed surprise!) or buying him expensive concert tickets. It's Father's Day, so spend some time reflecting on the wonderful ways that he contributes to the family, and thanking him for being such a great parenting partner.

So, what does a dad find romantic? I surveyed some of the men in my life, and it turns out they are pretty easy to please. So many dads are busy balancing work and family that all they really want is a little break.

After the jump, I'll share some husband-certified ways to spoil him this Father's Day.

This awesome Yoshi mosaic, by Craftster user anneandkita, was made for a university lab that studies video games. What could be more appropriate for that location than one of the stars of the Mario Brothers franchise?

Unlike most of his equally-recognizable brethren, Yoshi doesn't come from the 1980s; he made his debut in 1993's Super Mario World. Since then, though, he's become one of Nintendo's most beloved characters.

The pixelated look of old-school, low-res video games lends itself nicely to crafting: recognizable depictions can be made with a series of modular squares in the right colors. Any medium that uses elements with an equal height and width will work, so there are some especially fun things done in cross stitch, single crochet, perler beads, and square mosaic tiles.

If you'd like to try something like this, please join me after the break for some mosaic-making links and tips.

Do you remember Pikmin, the two-part series on the Nintendo Game Cube? These strategy games featured tiny, intelligent, plant-like creatures who could help a spaceship captain rebuild his crashed vehicle. The Pikmin came in several different colors and maturity levels, with each type having unique abilities.

The franchise was designed by Nintendo guru Shigeru Miyamoto (sometimes called "the father of modern video gaming"), and its look was unique and interesting, but it doesn't have the same level of recognition that older games do. More recently, though, the Pikmin have come back into gamer consciousness due to a featured role in the immensely popular game for the Wii, Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Craftster's AniMei has brought Pikmin to life with this cute little Yellow Pikmin mascot. To make it, you need four colors of felt (yellow, green, black, and white), matching green and yellow thread, glue, a pipe cleaner, and a small amount of stuffing.

Download the pattern from the Craftster page, cut out the pieces, assemble as shown in the photo, and you'll have a helpful little friend in no time! This would also make a great package decoration for a gift, or maybe, months from now, a nice holiday ornament, if you stitch in a ribbon loop near the top.

Some video games take years to become classics and enter the popular consciousness, but Portal, the puzzle game from The Valve Corporation's Orange Box game bundle, seems to have taken only a few months.

With online memes popping up like "The cake is a lie" (referring to a promised in-game incentive that may or may not actually exist), and the game's clever, catchy closing theme, "Still Alive", it would be difficult to have been active on the Internet in the last few months without bumping into multiple Portal references.

There's a hole in the sky through which things can fly, as they say at Aperture Science, Portal's setting. Please join us after the break to see what people are doing in tribute to this ground-breaking game, with special note taken of the improbably-endearing "character" known as the Weighted Companion Cube.

But beware... there are plot spoilers just ahead. There's cake, too. All you have to do is pass through the portal.

As a lifelong avid gamer, I had never really considered the "problem" of staying abreast of my children's video game -playing habits. I simply figured that I would likely be involved in any gaming that they did, so I'd be able to monitor it from the inside, so to speak.

What I didn't account for was the fact that being a husband and father takes some serious wind out of my figurative video game sails. Aside from the odd game of NHL hockey with my son, my personal gaming has all but disappeared. This is probably going to sound overly dramatic to those of you that have never experienced the loss of an important hobby, but it feels like a part of my brain is atrophying and a significant part of what made me, well, me is disappearing. I'm no longer on top of the latest in the gaming world, and I'm in serious danger of losing touch with what I once considered to be a culture I was very much involved with. Plus, my four-year-old is regularly kicking my butt at video game hockey, a game at which I used to be able to dominate against all challengers.

Like everyone around my age who had any sort of access to a house with a Nintendo/NES console in it, I logged plenty of tween-age hours with Mario and Luigi. I wasn't particularly good at any of the Super Mario Brothers games -- I don't think I ever rescued the princess, and it took a borrowed Game Genie to get me past more than the first few levels -- but hoo boy, did I ever have fun.

Therefore, this Super Mario Villains scarf by Craftster user peeloutyourface warms my heart. The scarf is made in intarsia, and probably some duplicate stitch, with fleece fabric blanket-stitched to the back. You'll see familiar "frenemies" like the Koopa Troopa, Goomba, Cloud Dude, and Bullet Bill, and you'll notice that the tension on the motifs is a little bit tight compared to the rest of the scarf, though it looks good overall.

Even better: the designer has posted all the graphs she made to create the characters. That means that you could knit your own scarf, or you could add the motifs to a sweater you're making: try them around the hem, or maybe one over your heart. Or, you could add them to purchased knitwear via duplicate stitch.

The pixelated world is yours, and it probably won't even take you as long to make as it would have taken you to win the darned game.

[via BoingBoing]