DIY Glitter Wedding Shoes

Dad and I on the big wedding day!

DIY WEDDING!

So, again with the seemingly current pattern of my posts, our wedding was on a tight budget and about 99% of EVERYTHING was a DIY project. My dress (seen left) was made by my aunt, who also did all of the ties (see my dad's tie in the same picture to the left) even all of the bride's maids dresses! The flower girl's dresses were also DIY by my mother-in-law who also made the blue velvet cupcakes, that were delicious!

Boring black pumps

I needed something BLUE and I always knew that I wanted that to be my shoes. Because, unfortunately, there was no way I could afford those Carrie Minolos (you know the ones, from the movie). So this is what I did, and they turned out pretty awesome!


I started with a pair of bland and truth-be-told, ugly shoes that I found at Fred Meyer in the clearance section for only $14!! I knew by this point what I was going to do and that I would be making super sparkly delicious shoes out of these tragically droll black things. What was the best part was that they were actually comfortable, I should have, in all honesty, gotten a taller heal since I have short stubby legs, but they worked just fine.

Besides the shoes, all you need is:
*Mod Podge (the miracle worker)
*Glitter (of course I used Martha Stewart stuff)
*A paint brush
--A bowl to mix everything together in, I used a paper bowel since a real one would have been ruined.

Finding the right glitter to Mod Podge ratio can be kinda difficult. Too much glitter and it will come out clumpy and sloppy looking. Too little and you will have to paint WAY TOO MANY layers of your glitter concoction which will result in sticky and sensitive shoes. Sensitive to anything that touches them may get a little stuck or imprint its texture into them. So it is something that you may have to play with a little to get the desired effect.

Then start painting!
This part can take for what seems like an eternity, for those of us who are impatient and want instant results. Because you MUST wait for each layer you paint to dry thoroughly, to keep the glitter from moving around and keep the glue from bunching up and looking messy. The idea is to get the shoe completely covered in glitter, so that will take several layers, several hours, and some patience. It was a cold spring when I was making mine so I put them in front of the little space heater to dry faster between coats.

Drying. Also good to wait for each coat to be completely dry
so you can get a better idea on where to concentrait more or less glitter.

 I decided to do it this way over the "glue first then dump your glitter on top" method because I wanted to keep the glitter on the shoes, unlike what you mostly see in the stores where the glitter is constantly flaking off and leaving a fairy trail everywhere you step...and glitter is NOT easy to clean up off of the floors (or anywhere for that matter). But I have a modification to that method I want to try on something bigger than my earrings, I will post that when/if I ever get to it.

The rhinestone details. Very sparkly something blue shoes!

On my shoes, there was that little strap that goes across the toes and I wanted to add some extra detail there for some extra pop. Keeping Carrie's shoes in mind, I got these rhinestone stickers from the scrapbooking section and Mod Podged those beauties across there. I think they turned out pretty cute and I want to make more soon!

<3 My DIY wedding shoes! Finished product.