A dear friend of mine (and old college roommate!), Julie Petrella, recently went to Maker Faire NYC. Julie’s a bit of a craft goddess. She taught me how to paint my first bedroom stripes and has been a creative inspiration for my pattern madness ever since. She recently left her full time job as a social worker in Philly to return home to southern Jersey to pursue a life long entrepreneurial dream. Here’s her round up of the weekend.

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Aside from Maker Faire being a great excuse to spend a weekend in New York City, it’s hugely inspiring for anyone starting their own creative business.  The DIY spirit is completely infectious.  While I’m not about to dress up in gold spandex and race in a giant octopus lawnmower, I can appreciate the industry and craft that goes into making an octopus lawnmower and the guts it takes to try something new or different.  There was a pretty diverse group of vendors and exhibitors.  Here are a few highlights:

1) I won the Martha Stewart Living raffle!!!  As someone who’s been following the work of Ms. Martha since I was in middle school and is a huge fan of The Crafts Dept. blog, this made my weekend.  I am not letting the fact that they were pulling names for the raffle every hour diminish that winning feeling, either.  For my prize, I selected her Encyclopedia of Fabric Crafts and a Tissue Paper Pom Pom Kit.

2) The ShopBot.  I grew up seeing my dad at work in his woodshop and was instantly drawn to this woodcutting tool that I know he’d drool over.  It uses digital fabrication to transform the creation of wood projects.  You program stuff into a computer and it cuts out the pieces – okay, it’s a little more complicated than that so you can check out a more details (and a more accurate explanation) of this awesome technology here.

3) The Madagascar Institute.  This Brooklyn-based group had a number of rides/exhibits can make you a little nervous.  Boasting that they offer “dangerous, questionably built, pee-your-pants fun carninval rides and attractions,” Madagascar provided some serious fun at Maker Faire.  My personal favorite (from afar) — Carnie!

4) Life Size Mousetrap.  Who wouldn’t love to be taken back to their childhood with a life-size version of their favorite board game???  This 25-ton Mousetrap is a veteran to Maker Faire.  Check out a video of its 2007 Maker Faire appearance here.

Thanks Julie!