Pinterest Inspiration Day 1: Glitter Shoes fit for a princess!!

    I couldn't think of a nicer way to kick off this series of posts than by sharing a super fun little project featuring heaps of glue and glitter - two of the most loved craft materials in our home!!

  It all started with a bit of prideful embarrassment on my side, to be honest. See, a while ago Sweetpea received a pair of silver/grey ballet pumps from a sweet friend of mine. They were gently-worn hand-me-downs and a size too big, so I was going to pack them away for a future winter's wearing (or quietly give them away), but my little girl fell in love with them on the spot and no amount of persuasion could tear them from her feet. I indulged her in the end and hoped that in a day or two she would tire of walking around in slightly-too-big-shoes. Mmmmm. Well. She didn't. And she insisted on wearing them everywhere we went. If it wasn't bad enough that they were too big, I also really do not like such dull colours on my girls. But she merrily went traipsing around in colourful  dresses, with these drab little pumps that made me cringe at the very sight of them...

  And then one evening I spotted a tutorial on Pinterest for making 

glitter shoes!

 Eureka!! 

    There are quite a few tutorials for doing these all over the Web, so I read two or three and then rummaged through my craft drawers to see what colour glitter I could find. (It was 2 days before Christmas and I was not going to risk being trampled to death by over-zealous shoppers in a mall just for a little bottle of glitter, so we had to make do with what was in the house.) And what was in the house was P..P..P..P...PURPLE!!!

   I knew that if I ruined the grey pumps my daughter's heart would break, and being a little skeptical about this project (it just seemed too simple) I decided to try it on a pair of past-their-prime Mary Janes. And here, my friends, is the result:

      OK, so it's a really, really wild shade of purple, but oh boy, you cannot begin to imagine the squeals of delight from my four year-old when I presented her with these babies!! And if you want to win Mommy-of-the-Year too, here's how you go about it:

Step 1

Find a pair of scuffed-but-loved shoes.

I gave mine a quick once-over with sandpaper to give it a slightly rougher surface for the glue to cling to.

Step 2

Gather your supplies:

* Mod Podge / Deco Podge

* Glitter in a colour of your choice (you can also mix together few colours, like I did when I eventually painted the grey ballet pumps)

* A bowl for mixing (I lined mine with foil for easy clean-up)

* A paint brush

Step 3

Mix together the glitter and podge in the mixing bowl. I used about 3/4 of the bottle of glitter pictured above, and about 1/3 cup of podge.

Step 4

Apply the glitter-and-glue mix in thin layers.

The photo below shows Sweetpea's shoes after the first coat. I was still skeptical by this point, but after two more coats we were in Glitter Shoe Heaven, so just keep applying the glitter glue until you achieve the required effect. 

And so how DID the once drab little ballet pumps turn out?? Glad you asked!

Here they are after the final coat was applied:

Sparkly, yes, but lacking a little pizzazz. So I added a bow and a button...

And methinks Cinderella might be green with envy!! 

I was most surprised by how soft and flexible the shoes remained! And no, we have not had a single piece of glitter on the carpet. She's worn these everyday for over a month now, and if it hadn't been for the fact that she also climbs trees and kicks rocks with them, they still would have looked just as lovely!! Now, I saw some pumps in my own size at Ackermans the other day for next to nothing. What do you think of ruby red a la Dorothy?!!