One of the things I missed the most about summers in NYC are the craft fairs!! The best craft fair is the Renegade Craft Fair, which occurs yearly at McCarren Park in Brooklyn. I attended the 1st Annual Brooklyn Renegade Craft Fair where there were only 100 something vendors. This year there was well over 300 vendors!!

It’s really amazing! Did you know there is a documentary called Handmade Nation, which examines the rise of DIY/Craft culture?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwFbMFqfsKM]

Anyways, I knew I’d be able to find the same culture here in Austin and was really stoked when I heard about Austin Handmade! The event was held on Saturday, July 31st at Beauty Bar.Forgive me, I don’t have good photos because I walked from my apt. and I don’t like to carry around expensive camera equipment while walking alone from the Eastside and back (or anywhere for that matter!!)

The front outdoor patio had a handfull of vendors and free stuff!! Snagged some Sweet Leaf Tea and chocolate Nadamoo. Munched on some AMAZINNNG AMAZZZINNG petit fours from Blue Note Bakery. I tried their Pistachio, Honduran Vanilla, & Ginger Orange. They also had bite sized s’mores and brownies. I bought some amazing handmade cards from Paired Hearts & mustache soaps from Nepenthe’s Bathtime!! Can’t decide whether or not to keep the soaps for myself or give them away! They are soo cute! She even had glow in the dark bubble bath stuff.

Here’s one of the cards I bought to go w/ my mustache theme haha

Inside was even better!! There was live music & DJ (that I could have done without). Free drinks that I totally misssed out on because I went to see my friends in Closure in Moscow play down the street at emos, and when I got back all the free alcohol was gone (one drink per ticket). $5 Manis from Aziz Salon. The best part of the event was the craft area down in the little nook below the stairs. Round table and round booths were set up with tons of t-shirts and you could make different craft items and jewerly. All compliments of Wondercraft! They taught me how to do simple things like thread a needle correctly and how to do simple stitching! All the ladies manning the area were really knowledgeable and incredibly helpful for a newbie like me.

I was so inspired by the whole event that I am definitely going to try to take a class from Wondercraft or some other craft class. It was an amazingly good time! I didn’t get to explore the back patio (not sure if there was anything going on back there ), nor did get a chance to take any photobooth photos but I have a few to last me awhile haha.

Can’t wait to get back into DIY culture. I am not a crafter but I can really appreciate the talents that others have, and I love everything about Indie culture, not just music, and can’t wait to support independent, local artists (as soon as I can afford it)!!

Can’t wait to see how this event will grow within the next few years!