DIY: Bedazzled pointe shoes

Before I lose my blogging jive for the day, I'm posting a brief tutorial with directions and photos for making one of my favorite projects of this summer.

A few weeks ago, I saw on Pinterest a black and white photograph of pointe shoes that appear to have been coated in silver sequins. I thought that was such a cool way to use/"upcycle" old, raggedy pointe shoes, so I decided to try to recreate this project. I really wanted to make this to eventually hang them on my bedroom wall in my apartment this upcoming year.

To do this, I needed:

1 pair of pointe shoes
A paint brush (mine was about 1 inch wide)
Mod podge (I know it's sold at Michael's and WalMart for as cheap as about $3. You don't need much glue for this project, just enough for a thin coat to cover both shoes. )
Glitter (I was torn between two colors, so I bought one small container of fuchsia, one of baby pink, and mixed them in a plastic cup)
Newspapers to protect the surface on which I was doing this project -- that way, the glitter wouldn't go everywhere, and I could reuse any excess that fell from the shoes.
Clear spray paint (I found this at Lowe's for about $7.)

It was a really simple project. I dipped my paintbrush in mod podge, and in sections, I then used that to cover the shoes. Then, I shook the glitter from the plastic cup onto the portions of my shoe that were still wet from the glue. I thought this way, the glitter would stay on top of the glue instead of getting buried in it if I simply dipped my shoe in the glitter cup. Because I did not try that second method, I don't know how it would work. To completely cover my shoes the way that I did, I spent about 1 hr on them. Also, there were times when I lightly rolled my shoes in the glitter, still to avoid the glitter getting embedded in the glue. I didn't want a clumpy look...

After covering my shoes with glue then glitter, I let them hang outside to dry, and once they had, I put glue and glitter on the spots that weren't as sparkly as I wanted. Once this had dried over the course of about an hour, I sprayed the shoes with the clear paint to keep the glitter intact and to prevent it from falling everywhere when I actually put these on my wall in the fall.

Overall, a reeeeally easy and fun project. Here are some photos to help explain this project a little better. If you try it, good luck! :)

Short but sweet

In a few days, I want to do a much more legitimate entry about my summer. Judging from the date of the last time I wrote, I clearly could have been more proactive with writing regularly. I'll explain that later when I have more time, but there are a few reasons I didn't frequent my own blog as much as I'd originally planned. For now, here are some photos of crafts and personal adventures that have made this summer easily the best of my life.

John's birthday dinner at the end of June with two more of my favorite people. :)

The Freakish Light Fixture Incident of 2012 -- 

This light in my kitchen shattered randomly around midnight when nothing had touched or been near it... Very odd/slightly scary. 

America's Birthday Celebration of 2012 :) 

I was with some of my favorite people in my apartment for the patriotic festivities! We made food then headed to McIntire Park for some fireworks. 

Mi familia earlier this summer :) 

A day in my life: riding a homemade hovercraft. One of the coolest and surprisingly scariest things I did this summer. Balancing on this is hard! 

(P.s. Curious why this happened? Check out the blog I've been keeping for my church's summer program, BV 2012!)

An assortment of photos from this summer with BV 2012. Click on the blog above to see more, but these showcase some of the highlights for me.

  

 

My last night of the summer with two of my best friends; we made dinner together! :)

One thing we could have not done together this summer was wax our legs... Ha, quite the interesting experience. It did work, but it took foreverrrrr!

Final photo <3 p="p">

A racerback tank that I made with Kristen and Lynsie. Dancer on the front, funky pattern on the back!

What my parents woke up to on their anniversary on August 2nd. :) I made them each a bracelet and got them tickets to see The Amazing Spider-Man. They invited me with them, and after some convincing, I decided to go, too... For the second time. :p

Camped at Douthat with one of my best friends, Nichole, her parents, her precious puppy, Kodiak, and some family friends of theirs for a few days. Ahhh, that was such a refreshing and relaxing break for me this summer. Loved being outside. :)

Slip and slide this past Sunday... Saw my life flash before my eyes numerous times going down this massive hill. 

Safari park in Natural Bridge when John came to visit me this week (visited it, even though I'd just gone with BV 2012 a few days before)! See the littler baby llama in the photo above? We may have saved its life! John and I saw it struggling to get its head out of a feeding area and reported it to a park ranger, who told us that it had actually gotten itself into such a tight spot that it couldn't breathe. :( Fortunately, it seemed to be okay after moving around after that experience. 

More to come soon.

Love, 

Susan