Steve Madden heels with Glitter!!

Lately I've come across several photos of shoes being glittered.  And I thought to myself I just have to try that.  So I went through all of my shoes but didn't find a single pair to glitter.  The two pairs I would have considered have always been a bit too big for me.  I had my sister try them on just to make sure she didn't want them first.  She now has two practically brand new expensive pairs of black shoes.  :(  Since she doesn't really have any dressy shoes that put those two pairs out of the running for glitter.  This did not bode well for my project.  So off to the Rack we went.  I don't like at all how they no longer have certain colored stickers on sale.  Now they just have a general clearance section in each size area.  This makes it a lot harder to find cute cheap shoes.  I did find this pair of champagne colored Steve Madden spike heels that were smudged in a couple places with dirt.  They were marked $17 down from $90.  Which already is a great deal and they fit great.

Now that I have shoes, I also need; painter's tape, PVA glue, Martha Stewart Glitter, an acrylic spray (I used Krylon Crystal Clear), a sponge brush,  something to mix it in and a piece of saran wrap to cover the glitter between coats.  Also putting down newspaper is a good idea too because then you won't get glitter and glue everywhere.  PVA glue is important and a little bit hard to find.  Here in the Chicago area I finally found mine at Dick Blick Art Materials.  I was all set to use modge podge but a friend of my Mom's is an artist and she said I needed something more flexible which is PVA glue.

Next step is to put painter's tape everywhere you don't want to get glitter.  It takes some time to fit the tape along the arch of the shoe.  Make sure to use small pieces and to take your time.  This is what mine looked like after all the tape.  Now it's time to mix your glitter and glue.  I squirted in some glue added glitter and mixed.  Now you just paint it on to the shoe.  Just make sure not to leave any lumps.  It takes about 4 coats of glitter glue to cover the entire shoe.  Make sure to cover the container in which you mixed the glitter and glue with saran wrap between coats so it doesn't dry out.  Give the layers about 15-20 minutes to dry before you add a new one.  After I added the last layer, I let the shoes dry overnight.  Although they were dry the next day, they still felt tacky to the touch.

I wasn't able to spray them right away as I couldn't locate any spray in the house and other things came up in between.  But I did get to it this morning.  Using a quick even spray I made sure to entirely coat the shoes.  After waiting for the first coat to dry, I added a second coat.  I wanted to make sure they were water proof.  I think they turned out great.  Much better than what I started with.  This is something I'd definitely try again with another color and maybe a pair of flats.