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We all know that Photography can be as bad as black rifle disease. We don't always have the budget for the latest and greatest equipment.
I make my own diffusers for my camera's pop up flash and I have been using 3x5 note cards taped on my Vivitar 283 for twenty years to great effect.
Check out the link above to see people take their projects quite a few steps beyond that.

One thing I like to do is Milk Jug diffusers. Unfortunately, the milk jugs at walmart have a slight warm tint to them. I still use them. You can cut them to latch onto the pop up flash on your camera so you don't have to use tape. You should only lose about a single stop of exposure. I am going to start experimenting with a few layers of clear acetate to see if I can get the softness but lose the warmth.

I have found the flash on my Nikon D3200 to be really strong, but like you said, its in the worst position for anything other than documentary purposes.

I have been putting together a complete mobile portrait studio that fits in a single large rolling suitcase. I use Vivitar 2800s for my Key and Background/Hair lights. I use a Vivitar 285 (variable) for my Fill because I can change the power in 1/4 increments, down to 1/16. I have two 33 inch shoot-thrus, and a combo 43 inch umbrella. For "On the go" shooting at a party or event I have an L bracket and an Octo softbox 8 inch and a rectangle soft box 8 inch. I fire my flashes with a cheap Neewer remote trigger set with three receivers. I have a PVC background stand. I use heavy black felt for my low key background. I have a white muslin for my High key background and I am thinking of adding either Cerulean Blue or Sky Blue backgrounds. I also have continuous lights, QTY 2. I use these on the same stand as my Key and Fill with LED Warm White bulbs. If I am in a place with power, I use them as modeling lights, if not, I just snap a few test pics and make adjustments to my exposure using only the speedlights.
I have been messing with them and I really like some of the results. Some. I find I get the best images using the 43" Combo in shoot-thru mode and a large white foam board to bounce for the fill. I clip it to a music stand. Using the bounce card I can free up a light to use for hair while using a strobe to light the background, so in a sense I have four lights.

The only issue I have is lack of models. My wife and kid are sick to death of having their pictures taken.

Check this out!

Macro with milk Jug Diffuser

this guy is running Canon equipment. I will never get this image quality with anything I have. Not unless I dump a few grand into a lens. Maybe I should rent one just to play with it? has anyone ever rented a lens?

This is the easiest and has similar results to a much larger more complicated one I made with half a milk jug, tape, and foil.

You can keep it in your camera bag and not worry about it getting messed up or lost.

Film Canister Diffuser

You slit the canister on the side from bottom to top lip. I cut out a strip about .5 inch section, but leave a tab in the middle. Trim this tab to fit the gap in your pop up flash. This makes it fit firmly and never all off.

Thank you! Zack, those are amazing shots!