I love Etsy, the DIY craft shop where creators sell their own stuff. It's really neat. Although you know what I wish they had? A little flash badge or something that could let a seller display goods on her own site - "here are the latest items I'm selling!" That sort of thing.

ANYway, this post isn't about that, it's about the enduring popularity of Mario! If you just do a simple search on the site for Mario you get some awesome items...

Some of my favorites:

She calls herself the Pink Samurai, and this crossstitch is a masterwork. It includes references to Space Invaders and Tetris as well as to Super Mario Brothers - pretty cool! 8-bit art is such perfectly natural fit for crossstitching. When I have a little more free time I've got some ideas I want to try too...

Look how adorable the star power necklace is! It's the perfect size, too, not too small so you can't tell what it is, not too big to be out of proportion. With the matching coin earrings it'll be extra cute. <3 this one!

I'm always so impressed by people who make things out of love. I've had ideas of crafts for a long time, but although I really enjoy knitting and painting and so on, I find I'm actually not that good at it, and inspiration strikes me more rarely. Still, stuff like this makes me want to try my hand at it again.