Pixel Art Valentines Day Card Tutorial | Legend of Zelda

I love my geeky boyfriend! He truly is the perfect match to my geeky self…

So, this year I wanted to do something nice for him for Valentines Day, and so I made him a Zelda themed, pixel art, pop up card!

And you can make one too - all you need is a printer, a ruler and a scalpel!

Here’s How:

You will find the artwork for the card in pdf format here.

1. Print this file. Note – make sure you have the checkbox “Choose paper source by PDF” selected and the option of “none” for “page scaling” otherwise your page will end up ‘skewiff’ and the fold lines wont line up correctly.

2. Now, grab your ruler and scalpel and cut along the following lines:

3. Then you will need to make fold along these lines:

Just pinch them lightly for now, as when you fold up the card later they will be pressed down properly.

4. Fold you card in half:

5.  Fold your card in half again. To do this, you need to pull down the heart as you go so you don’t end up with a fold across your heart:

You can see how the heart now pops out:

6. I glued both pages together to make it just that little bit more neat. This step is not necessary, I just like how the pages don’t come apart when you open the card:

7. Now all that’s left to do is to write you personal message!

 

And you are done!
I hope they love it :)

Amigurumi Link | Legend of Zelda

The Legend of Zelda takes me back to my high-schoolie days - Sitting cross legged on the floor of my lounge room, intently staring at the tv screen with a Nintendo 64 controller in one hand and a can of Dr Pepper in the other. My mother vacuuming around the spot I am sitting on. Calling my friend who is inevitably stuck at the same spot I am in some temple, trying to nut out how to get past the seemingly impossible puzzle - "But what if we use the fire arrows to light the torch that will lower the bridge that leads us to the chest with the boss key in it?"
Hehehe, good times...

So, when I saw a pattern for an amigurumi Link on the net, I just HAD to make my very own!!!
The original pattern is by an amazing japanese artist, Becchin. Very kindly, Tanoshimou has provided an English translation for this pattern which you can find here.
Becchin has a fantastic gallery of his Link which you can find here.
There are some great step by step photos of Becchin's pattern here.
Stephanie at All About Ami has also shared photos of her Link creation, and has kindly provided a pattern for Link's Hylian Shield.

A big, huge, ginormous thank you to all those mentioned above! You are all so wonderful!

I made him with 8 ply, 100% acrylic yarn and used 8mm plastic safety eyes. I have pretty much followed Tanoshimou's pattern down to a tee, however I did slightly change a thing or two here and there.

Link's Hat:
Follow the directions up to Row 9.
R10-11 - sc all around (34).
R12 - dec 2, sc 26, dec 2 (30).
R13 - dec 2, sc 18, dec 2 (22).
R14 - sc around counter clockwise.
R15 - sc around clockwise.
R16 - sc all around.

For his hair, I did sc's all the way down the back and chains for his sideburns. I then stitched on his fringe with a yarn needle (Stephanie's blog has great photos for this part!)

Accessories!
What would Link be without his Hylian Shield and Master Sword?
I followed Stephanie's pattern for the Hylian Shield, and created my own Master Sword and sheath:
Sword:
blade (make 2) -
1. ch 15. turn.
2. sc 14. Add an extra sc at the end to make the tip of the sword. Fasten off.
I placed some wire between the two blade pieces and whip stitched them together.

Hilt (is that the right term???) (make 2) -
1. ch 8. turn.
2. sc 7. Fasten off.
Place each hilt piece on either side of the blade approx 3 or 4 stitches from the base of the blade. Whip stitch together.

Sheath:
1. Ch 24. Slst to the first chain.
2. sc around. Fasten off.

For the bit that holds the sword in place-
1. Ch 6. turn.
2. sc 5. Fasten off.
Sew each end on to the sheath.

What I love so much about this pattern is that his head is on a ball and socket joint so you can rotate it into any position. I also love that his boots, hat, shield, sword and sheath all can come off and are not sewed into place. This makes him a great photo-shoot model!

"Never fear Princess Zelda! I will save you from the evil Ganondorf!"

I must confess, I went out to take photos of Link and just before I took my first photo I thought "hey... His sword is in the wrong hand!" So I switched the sword and shield around, took some photos, came inside, looked it up and realised... "Link is a Lefty!!!!"
After all these years, I never once noticed :P
I apologise...