I thought this necklace was quite dreamy when I saw it. Leaves of gold? That seems to be straight out of a fairytale. The amazing Maizie Clarke has done quite a few guest posts since we met via Twitter this summer. As it turns out, Maizie has become somewhat a pro at recreating incredible jewelry at a fraction of the price, thus the name and mantra, Cheap Done Chic. As glamourous and nerdy as we are around here, I just knew this was something all of the readers could appreciate. She’s got style, but she’s also a self-starting Gen Y-er who’s glamourous enough to find the best in jewelry and accessories and nerdy enough to recreate it herself and  post what she comes up with on a blog. A little bit of ingenuity goes a long way.

Fortunately for readers, Maizie is becoming a regular contributor, sending over her Chic Done Cheap finds and creations twice monthly. The first one of this series is this Aurelie Bidermann Ivy necklace available at Neiman Marcus for $3,000. You’ll never guess how much she recreated this for, I’ll let you read on to find out:

This Aurelie Bidermann necklace from Neiman Marcus features real ivy leaves dipped in 18-karat yellow gold. Without the means to dip my own ivy leaves in gold (I’m good, just not that good!), I fashioned a DIY from this show stopper with a heart stopping price of over $3,000.  No doubt beautiful and luxurious, the original necklace doesn’t really seem like a purchase that will be in my online shopping bag anytime soon (if ever!).

What you’ll need for ‘Out of my (ivy) league DIY’

A package of artificial (sounds better than ‘fake’) leaves (I got mine for $2)

Gold spray paint (an essential!)

Gold wire necklace (used a coupon, $1.75)

Using double stick tape, tape the backs of the leaves to newspaper to spray paint gold. Once dry, hot glue your leaves to your necklace. Allow to dry, marvel in your King Midas abilities and hit the town!