I'm getting weddinged in a field, so I needed wedges, and my dress is knee length, so I needed awesome wedges that will be on show. I love sparkly shoes and wanted some white sparkly wedges, taking my inspiration from the ones Katie Perry wore.
How I made sparkly dream shoes
I bought my wedding shoes very early on, and soon became victim to major shoe envy. So I thought, how can I get dream shoes... Read more
Sadly my budget does not stretch to Louboutin, and I couldn't find anything I liked anywhere in the world (and I really, really tried), so I decided to have a go at DIYing my own. They turned out way better than I was expecting and I love them very muchly! So, I thought I would share with you all, then hopefully sparkly shoes can take over the world.
What you will need:
- One pair of shoes that look “meh” but you KNOW would look amazing once glitterfied.
- If the shoes are not white (or colour required), cheap acrylic paint in required colour.
- PVA glue (enough for several thin coats per shoe).
- Glitter (I had two pots of 500g each and only used about 1/3 of each pot).
- At least two paintbrushes. I had one for the acrylic paint, then one fat one for the glue/glitter and a thinner one for the edges and strap.
Step one:
Purchase your non-glittery wedding shoes. These are the original shoes that I got for £10 in a sale from New Look. They are grey suede and very comfortable.
Step two:
Painted them all over with a thin layer of acrylic white paint and let dry. My shoes took about 1 1/2 hours. (The nearby, half-asleep cat is optional).
Step three:
Using a fat paintbrush, add a section of glue glitter mix to the shoe.
Step four:
Then sprinkle the area with loose glitter. Make sure to use a lot, and if you sprinkle over the bowl it will catch the excess.
Step five:
Then press the loose glitter firmly into the wet glue.
Step six:
Repeat over whole shoe.
Step seven:
After the shoes are totally covered, check for patchiness, fill in any gaps, then leave them to dry overnight. They looked like this with the glue still wet.
Step eight:
Once the shoe is dry (I came back the next morning), cover the whole shoe with one more layer of glue, as thin as possible, and leave them to dry for a couple more hours.
The result:
I used half and half iridescent to holographic glitter and they are pretty intense IRL. I think for £22 all in they are amazing value and I'm fairly proud of myself.
A little bit of glitter does come off when I handle them, but that happens with the sparkly shoes I've bought from real-life shops, so I think it just goes with the territory.
Happy glittering!
@MonkeyDo, Just a quick question, those sparkly shoes – when you walked did the paint crack or flake off at all?
Hi, they haven’t done so far, but I’ve not worn them outside or for a lengthy time yet. The only slight crack is where the buckle goes through the strap, because it gets bent round the buckle. It’s not flaking off though, fingers crossed it won’t!
A product like leather dye is probably a better alternative to acrylic paints for a more durable finish, especially for materials that aren’t as absorbent and don’t have the give that suede does: http://www.wardrobesupplies.com/store/tarrago.html 🙂
You can by clear acrylic spray paint at the craft store and it’ll prevent them from chipping or getting damaged if they get wet. I’m doing this for my wedding shoes.
My friends totally had a glitter shoe night last weekend, and did a similar thing with mod podge! Yay mod podge and glitter!!
I did this as well. We used Mod Podge and sparkles of all colours plus another layer of purple sparkle glue. I didn’t put a layer of loose glitter at all – but it did take 4 layers of glitter glue and it’s quite thick. LOVE!
nice tuts my friend, its really give me some ideas to come my next friend wedding.. thank you ^_^
Clear acrylic spray paint is a good sealant to use on things covered in glitter as well.
I’m on a total glitter kick right now! Love the glitter shoes!
The glitter shoes look amazing! Great job!
O my gosh this is awesome! My sister and I always complain how little girls get the cool sparkly shoes and now we can make some! Thanks!!!!!
😀
Omg those glitter shoes look FANTASTIC!!! Great tutorial!
Gotta love the glittery shoes. I probably wouldn’t be able to get my glitter that even and I’d be covered in the stuff for weeks.
Sparkly shoes…. AHHHHHH! Went down the google rabbit hole and ended up on your site. So awesome. Sparkly shoes. AHHHH! I have to try this out. I can just sort through my mom’s closet and add some bling. Hmmm…
Hmm, I might be down to do similar, only minus the heel part. have to wear them all day at work, not a chance I’m getting married in ’em. Prolly gonna buy a new pair of slippahs (Locals brand flip flops for those not from Hawaii) break them in for a few months, then coat the straps with light blue glitter. Hello comfy wedding shoes!
Yes! Thank you so much for sharing!! Been trying to figure out how to blingify the straps of some Old Navy flip flops for my bridesmaids, and I think I have the solution now!!
I LOVE these tutorials!!! The addition of lots of DIY stuff makes the crafty part of me (which is really all of me) totally squee. Thanks for that.
I’m finally starting this DIY for my own wedding and I had a question–how do you think other materials will hold the glitter? I’m finding a hard time finding good comfort-rated peep-toe flats to glitterfy with a suede fabric (or even just a cloth fabric). Especially on the cheap. Does anyone have advice?
The ones I did were a vinyl type shoe ($10 cheapies) and I’ve been wearing them around to break them in and the glitter is STUCK.
I made a mixture of mod podge and glitter (lots of glitter!) and then just painted it on in layers. It took a good 4 coats to fully cover the white shoe, and then I did a clear layer of mod podge over top…that stuff is not going anywhere!
Here’s a pic…this is after only 3 coats I think and you can still see some of the glue but it gives you an idea. I was going for more of a funky glitter look than the irridescent sparkle.
http://s1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc424/KristaLloyd/?action=view¤t=IMG_0505.jpg
The pic you posted is password locked unfortunately! But the mod podge worked well even on vinyl? The only pair I’ve found for less than $20 is a black/pink snake skin stuff. I’m sure it’s not real–it’s prob vinyl. But you used a white shoe–do you think the black shoe will work?
oh darn! Try this one –
Yeah the mod podge worked really well. I think if it’s shiny / patent, I’d sand it a bit with light sand paper or even an emery board…just to rough it up a bit.
I think if I really wanted to, I could peel the glitter off in one big chunk, but I have no fear of it flaking or coming off on its own. I’ve been rubbing them together and picking at them just to be safe and I’m really happy with the way it turned out.
eta: part of me wishes I had used black shoes, actually. There are a couple of parts that I can see a teeny bit of white showing…even though I know no one else can see it. I think if I had used black, it wouldn’t be so noticeable.
do you think i could glitterfy some converse hightops? would it work?
I JUST did this with my high tops. They aren’t dry yet, but they look AMAZING. This only tricky part is glueing around the rivets and All-Star emblem. Also, I used modge-podge instead of PCV glue.
I am beside myself with the awesomeness of the glitter tutorial.
My wedding shoes before:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6842030&l=d7d5c286eb&id=672533772
During/after glitterfacation:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6842063&l=3238dd1340&id=672533772
They turned out exactly how I wanted them to. THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting the how to!
what is mod podge? im from uk and never heard of it
cheers
All purpose white glue (Elmers in the US) works the same… it’s just glue that dries clear
I am IN LOVE with those blinged-out shoes!!
I love how you took a very popular tutorial on glittered shoes and added something new to it. I never thought a coat of white acrylic can make a world of difference.
Is there any particular materials I should use/avoid? I’m thinking more about what the shoes are made of – I’m trying to find lovely flat mary janes for my wedding but can’t find anything that suits me colour-wise. I am thinking about going DIY and the best shoes for the job are made of canvas – will this work, do you think?
hi, if i already have glitter shoes but would like to change the colour can i just spray paint them?
Wonderful idea, I will try it out!
Loved it! So going to finally try the glittering !!!
I can’t wait to channel my inner “Dorothy” and get my own pair of ruby slippers! I love these DIY hacks around the Internet – I’ll try this out soon!