DIY Inspiration: Maker Faire

This past Saturday was my first Maker Faire (the techy/crafty/DIY/modder/steampunk/builders festival) which is kinda ridiculous because seriously, could there be an event more solidly in my wheelhouse? Life-sized mousetrap? Custom bikes? Old school Atari? A whole squadron of R2D2s? I can’t believe I’ve been missing it for so long. Although, I was there working I couldn’t help but get distracted – by the costumes, the exhibits, the tri-tip and of course, the awesome crafts. For example:

Image courtesy nerdJERK

A crocheted one up? Radness. And Evil Art Party? Uh, yes please! I ran into the folks from Vaya bags (while rockin’ my own Vaya messenger bag). Instructables was there too, handing out tiny business cards of DIY crafts like the No-Sew Pouch, Munny Speakers and Down and Dirty Screenprinting. Speaking of screenprinting, there was a boatload of that going down with some standouts being Cody Vrosh and BareTree.

Being a broke-ass in such a place can be torture if you let it. While I wasn’t able to avoid spending any money,

Obviously I had to get this. Image courtesy 57-33.

it’s possible to get by on little stuff like stickers and cards. Plus, there’s tons of amazing work to browse as inspiration. One booth had vintage button earrings, which got me thinking that buttons are one of those items that are fairly easy to get your hands on. In the spirit of inspiration, here are two easy ideas for buttons:

Image courtesy this-girls-life-so-far.blogspot.com

The how-to on this is pretty obvious yeah? Right. Since you’re down with the program, there’s also an option for button candle jars.

Image courtesy girlsguidetothegalaxy.com

If you need more inspiration, check out some more makers.