Instagram week in review

From left to right ::: a Baggu of birthday baubles including a bubbly bracelet from my brilliant mother ::: finally getting to wear an outfit for a wedding purchased months ago! Moulinette Soeurs straightaway jacquard mini striped dress from Anthropologie and Fiebeger Bow Jelly flats in Sand ::: dinner with a friend at the Slurping Turtle ::: 4th of July festivities begin with a red, white and blue icing cupcake ::: followed by the discovery of “3D fireworks” glasses ::: the horses near the finish line at Arlington Park Racetrack ::: the gorgeous Arlington Park “clubhouse” at dusk ::: a thrilling display of fireworks through the “3D” glasses ::: and just a sweet, simple firework I thought looked like a dandelion to top it all off.

It was a great week. More DIY’s coming soon!

DIY ::: Borrowing from the kids

With the neon trend happening right now, I’ve found the kids section of my go-to craft stores to be quite the score. Check out these sturdy plastic links – they came in a bag of 50 pieces and in an assortment of colors – white, black, pink, green, red, orange, yellow and turquoise.

I chose the black, orange, green and white links to create a variety of different summery arrangements as both necklaces and bracelets – so versatile and so easy! (They are disconnected on one end allowing you to easily snap them together to create an endless amount of chain link combinations – also making it easy to snap on to some gold chain I had on hand. I played around for hours!)

DIY ::: Put a bird on it

After a little DIY, a collection of pretty birds get put on display for the summer season.

The small pink birds are charms I found at Michaels that came as a pair. I bought them with the intention of creating charms for some sandals but I thought they needed more of a spotlight so earrings they became  – using super glue, I affixed gold earring posts to the back. The beauty of posts vs. dangly earrings is that posts can be used as brooches, too! And you can combine them for unexpected effects – I love the sweet shape they make when facing each other.

The parrot earrings were a gift I received in high school that I have probably not worn since then – but after a fresh coat of lime green paint, they are now a favorite summer piece (the original color was the yellow with pink and blue feathers).