Wednesday 12 June 2013

DIY glitter shoes for cheap

I thought I would try my hand at DIY shoe restoration because I've seen all these ladies do it on tPF with great success.  Also because Lincraft had a 30% off storewide sale last week so I dropped in and grabbed everything I needed.

  • Shoes (leather, canvas, or fabric)
  • Acrylic paint/leather paint
  • Paintbrush
  • Fabric glue (needs to be waterproof and flexible)
  • Glitter (2 sizes - fine and chunky, mixed in a container)
  • Container for glitter + spoon

I started with a pretty scuffed and worn pair of Louboutin flats...


Easy as 1-2-3:

1. Prep the shoes - I would wipe them down with baby wipes to make sure they're clean and you're painting onto a smooth surface.  If you're not lazy like me, you should tape the sole to protect it from the paint.  I didn't bother because I plan to re-paint the soles red anyway
2. I squeezed the paint directly onto the paintbrush and used a flat-ended brush to paint the shoes.  I found painting from the back of the shoe to the front was easier than front to back.  Wait 1 hour (or whatever the bottle specifies) before applying a second coat.
After 1 coat of paint
After 2 coats
3. I let them dry overnight and then brushed on the glue in segments of about 2 inches before spooning the glitter on.  I tapped the shoes to get the excess glitter off before gluing another segment, repeat.  Again working from heel to front would make it easier.


Dried them overnight and voila!  Glitterised ballet flats!!! 


I used about one third of the bottle of paint, half of each tube of glitter, and about one tenth of the tube of glue.  The amount of paint, glitter and glue I used cost me about $5 and took me about an hour in total.

10 comments:

  1. haha this post is a little misleading... how much did you pay for the shoes originally?! Anyhow great results :)

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  2. Good job!! Very pretty & sparkly!

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    1. Thanks :) I'm a sucker for things that sparkle

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  3. They look great! Must try this on some of my flats too....

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  4. These look awesome! I love the Redo My Shoe blog for inspiration. I really want to do a pair of DIY shoes with the strass crystals... eek!

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    1. YES I'm planning to do a pair of strass Louboutin heels for my wedding. LUCKILY I've got a lot of time before that happens haha

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