DIY Glitter Shoes: Elegant, Non-messy & Waterproof

Like a bird, I’ve always been attracted to shiny things. I’ve owned multiple gold and silver skirts over the years (before they were cool – in fact, they were quite the opposite), sparkly dresses, gold shirts… you get the idea.

Thankfully, I’ve been seeing clothing (and crafts!) with gold, silver, and sparkles appearing all over the blogosphere lately. Grateful that sparkle is “IN” right now and feeling confident in sharing my childishly glittery self, I tried my hand at some DIY glitter-iffic shoes. And I must say, I’m quite proud of how they turned out. (I’m wearing the heels today!)

I’ve been seeing some variation of this craft showing up in my Google Reader for a few months now: A Pair & a Spare made full-on glitter pumps. And See Jane made glitter heel booties. And while these both look awesome, I wasn’t sure where my lifestyle would permit me to wear solid glitter pumps or completely avoid any exposure to the Oregon rain. On top of these shoes being a little TOO glittery for me, and not waterproof, I also worried about the mess (both while doing the craft, and after the fact while I wear the shoes).

So, the obvious solution is… Toned-down, elegant, non-messy, waterproof glitter shoes!! I know, it sounds too good to be true. But it isn’t!

You’ll need…
+A pair of shoes to glitter-ify! (I went with two affordable and simple pairs from Target. Patent leather pumps ($29.99 online) and leather booties ($24.99 online).)
+Martha Stewart Crafts Glitter Acrylic Paint. (It’s cheap, weather-proof, and easy to apply. I got mine at Michael’s Craft Store!)
+Two paint brushes: One large, one small
+Tape

1) Decide on a design. Because I wanted the black pumps to be simple, elegant, and wearable, I decided on a glitter toe and heel design. As far as the black booties go, I studied them and decided what would be easy to paint and wouldn’t overtake the whole shoe. (Although in retrospect, I see that these would have been really cool in ALL glitter!)
2) Tape, where necessary. Once you have your vision figured out, tape the part of the shoe you don’t want to get any glitter on. This is especially important for pumps that have a smooth surface, because it’s hard to be precise. This also allowed me to make a clean cut off line for my glitter toe. (I didn’t tape the boots at all.)
3) Paint! With careful strokes, use your paint brush to apply a generous coat of glitter paint. You’ll notice that the first coat won’t make your shoes very glittery – so you’ll need to do multiple coats. I used about five coats on each shoe. The directions on the paint say to wait an hour between coats, so that’s what I did.

And Winston spent the ENTIRE time watching me intently, while chewing on his bone. How cute is he here (and a little creepy haha)?

And the finished product:

Like I said, I’m wearing the pumps today. This is my outfit: