As I wrote in an earlier column, DIY has achieved a level of coolness formerly unknown to it.

Before, when people thought of “Doing It Yourself,” they imagined grannies creating cable-knit sweaters, or perhaps dipping wicks into tallow to make their own candles. Now, with big names like Jennifer Love Hewitt and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (née Kate Middleton) doing the DIY thing, DIY is not only cheap, but it’s also chic.

However, some people still don’t understand why I DIY. To them, my pursuit is time-consuming, messy and provides lower-quality results than if I went to a big box store and bought something pre-made. A lot of people don’t understand why I want to do so much for my wedding by myself. To them I guess DIY still raises images of bohemians raising their own flocks of sheep in the bedroom for wool and hand-dyeing it with beet juice.

I, personally, decided to DIY because of economic factors such as not having money to buy all the pretty things I saw in magazines, but that wasn’t my only motivation. Some of the DIY crafts that you see in magazines or online _can’t_ actually be bought in stores. When was the last time you saw a colored popcorn garland in the decoration aisles of Walmart? (Never mind — don’t answer that.)

In a recent trip to Quirks, I purchased a canvas with an image of Memorial Student Union Mod-Podged onto it to look like an antique oil painting. While it wasn’t my DIY, it clearly wasn’t crafted by a machine in a mass-producing factory. I now have a fabulous piece of MU art that is completely one-of-a-kind.

Depending on what kind of person you are, DIY can also be a huge stress reliever. Let’s be honest: students are some of the most stressed out people in the world. People know this. That’s why there’s school-funded counseling services on campus.

If you’re only moderately stressed, sitting down with some sequins and a hot glue gun can be extremely therapeutic — but only if you’re doing it with the right approach. DIY can also be pretty stressful, and that’s when I know I’m doing it wrong.

I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist, so oftentimes I work myself into a frenzy trying to make my crafts look like they could be bought at Pottery Barn. Let’s be real, though: half the charm of a DIY piece is the fact that it is so uniquely imperfect.

You might not see all that variety on Pinterest, but you will on Pinstrosity. Someone has created an entire blog devoted to pins gone wrong, and I know that a ton of the stuff I make should be on there. When I read about the hilarious and sometimes dangerous ways that pins have failed, I feel I’m a little freer to mess up. Bye-bye stress.

DIYing also gives me that sense of accomplishment that I joke about so much in this column. The reality is that I’m very serious about that. When I complete an assignment, I turn it in and it’s in the hands of my teachers. I can’t do it over, and I can’t improve it. I can only get their feedback and try to do better next time.

With DIY projects though, I get to improve _while_ I do it. I don’t have to be subject to anyone’s criticisms but my own (although I feel great when I make something and my fiancé says that he likes it). If I don’t like the way a flower turned out, I can always refold it. If my bottles turned out barnacle-y, I can always scrub them. The gratification is almost instant.

Even if it’s the tiniest victory, I feel triumphant in a way that gives me a little boost to go out into that “real world” that our teachers are always talking about. After all, I can “Do It Myself.”