Inspired DIYs

When you are the youngest child in the family your early years are spent trying to keep up with your older sibling. In order to not get left behind, you have to learn to walk, talk and basically do everything faster. As a child, it always seemed to me that Ginger was operating in some sort of better parallel universe. The games she played looked like more fun, her Barbie’s outfits seemed nicer, everything she did was somehow better. I felt compelled to copy her. If her Barbies were lounging poolside, so were mine. If she fashioned some sort of Barbie motor home out of mandarin orange box, my motor home was not far behind. Ginger hated it and wasn’t shy about telling me that she hated it. I did it anyway.

My need to not be left behind actually drove me to such extremes that not only did I mimic her all the time, I also wanted to be around her all the time too. Probably because I was sure that if I wasn’t around she would do something fantastic and I would miss it. On one particular evening Ginger was playing with her Barbies and I was feeling sick. Unlike a normal child who would have gone to bed, I insisted on watching ginger play. I curled up with a blanket and my best doll Annie and watched as the Barbies splashed in the pool and rushed around the room doing this and that. I will not regale you with all the details but, let’s just say that Ginger insisted that my doll and I be removed from her room, and I shouldn’t be allowed to return. Now I approach life with a healthy dose of caution when it comes to “copying”.

So it is with a little apprehension that I unveil my two DIY necklaces. I find myself feeling like a 7 year old kid who has been caught copying her big sisters! But as they say, imitation is the best form of flattery, no?

I have said it before, and I’ll say it again, I’m in love with Mara Hoffman and Sass and Bide’s accessories from their spring 2012 collection. A few weeks ago while exploring my burning desire to rid my closet of all the clutter that makes putting an outfit together in the morning difficult and instead fill it with delightful things for the spring (that is a future post, I will share all the details later) I stumbled upon two amazing blogger that also happen to be DIY geniuses. Geneva, from A Pair and A Spare and Jenni from I Spy DIY. Seriously, geniuses.

A Pair and A Spare’s fantastic tutorial on how to make your own Sass and Bide inspired neon necklace and the Mara Hoffman style tribal necklace from I Spy DIY were just the inspiration I needed to start a few DIY projects of my own. Do check them out as they really are geniuses.