I'm kind of in a "shoe crisis" at this specific moment of my life. You know? All these adulthood years I've been awful at taking care of my feet, I confess I'm the kind of person who buys  the cheapest shoes as long as they're pretty! I've always hated the idea of paying a lot of money for something I'm gonna end up ruining in a couple of months... sadly, for the last couple of months I've been in a lot of pain, my feet hurt all the time and I had awful corns :(  I needed a deep pedicure and I payed for one 3 weeks ago at an awful place in Ensenada called "Angie Day Spa" NEVER get a pedicure there... they charge full price for cold water and an old nail file... plus the girl looked in a hurry like she really wanted to go and was sloppy all the time... I had to go to my mom and she gave me a 5000% better pedicure at home, she's a sweetheart...

With that said, I took a decision I should have taken more than a year ago when I bought the most comfortable booties I've ever had: Never again will I buy cheap shoes. This doesn't mean I will pay retail... I hardly ever pay retail... this means I will have to look harder and spend a bit more money in order to get good shoes, good support, right size, etc... etc.... So first, I need to get rid of old shoes right? Non-comfy ones... then at the same time I've been reading all these DIY Glitter Shoes tutorials... I decided maybe I can get rid of old shoes or maybe I can revamp them, try to make them comfortable and wearable and still have fun with a new crafting project!

All blogs I read call for Mod Podge... but I live in México and specifically in Ensenada where we definitely/urgently need a crafts store... where to buy it? Where??? A friend and I walked the whole city, went to Office Max, Home Depot, a bunch of local stores and nothing! I was starting to give up when we googled alternatives and found out that 1 part of white glue + 1 part of water could do the trick. I was a bit skeptical but went with it... also I didn't find the "almost dust" glitter I was looking for, I really need to go craft shopping in San Diego... I decided I was going to start with a couple of very old patent leather shoes, in that case if I didn't like the finish, I could always just throw them away.

1. I used a very fine sand paper to take the gloss out, so the glue could stick better and not fall off.

2. I mixed 1 part of glue and 1 part of water, then I mixed in the glitter. I didn't like this... I shouldn't have, it made the finish a bit bumpy and I had to fix it later.

3. I started with a very thin layer, using a foam brush... it was very frustrating because the glitter was so heavy it was sinking at the bottom and I couldn't get any of it; so, I decided to use a spoon to pour small amounts and then "spread it" with the brush. This worked a lot better.

4. I gave it 2 coats and waited for them to dry like 30 minutes between each coat. They were looking a lot better but still not what I wanted! You can look at the texture and dullness :(

5. Then I put a 3rd coat using mostly glue and just poured in the glitter on top of it... shook the excess off and they were so MUCH better!!!


I still believe I need to try this project again but with "dust" glitter and mod podge... and NO mixing of the mod podge and glitter... Lucky me I have plenty of shoes I can use for this hehehe...

I also added a comfy insole for me to use this and not kill my poor feet! I know this is not making them "good shoes" but at least I get to wear them a couple of times before saying bye bye!

So this is it for now... I'll keep you posted if I do more of these projects!