Bling Those Shoes - Part 2

In April I shared with you about the darling Anne Michelle shoes I scored for only $5.00, while I was on vacation in Pismo Beach, which I planned to cover with crystal gems (inspired by the blog New Dress A Day).  I worked on them right away but did not get very far, it takes a really, really long time to hand glue each stone on one by one, what was I thinking?!  After several attempts I put them aside frustrated because it was taking forever just to get a couple of rows done at a time.  I finally got tired of constantly dusting the shoes and moving them all around the studio to keep from damaging them so I picked them up, put the shoes on my work counter and started gluing on the stones.  The hardest part was trying to decide what pattern I was going to make, I originally wanted to cover the whole heel but got discouraged part way though so I switched it up and only covered the hefty part of the heel then I ran stones down the center with spaces between them. Once that was done I placed three of the smallest gems down the center of the bow on the front of the shoe giving it some bling, why should the heels get all the attention, very cute.  Here is my progress from start to finish.

I turned the shoe upside down so I would not get glue all over the outside as I handled it. I used Krazy Glue because I did not want the stones to fall off if the shoes ever got worn.  The smallest stones were hard to handle so I used bent nosed tweezers to pick them up and dip them into the glue then placed the gems onto the shoes.

I kept getting glue and finger prints all over the shoes so I pulled an old soft sock over the shoes which kept them clean and from moving around all over my work counter.

This photo shows my first finished shoes with tiny spaces between the gems running down the high heel of the shoe.  I was not completely happy with the look of the heels, I let them sit for a while trying to decide what to do next.  I love the three stones on the little bows, I could have gone crazy with the crystals and covered the whole thing which is what I intended to do originally, but I thought I should just keep it simple, at least for now.

After looking at the shoes for awhile the spaces kept bugging me, I finally decided to add the smallest crystal gems in the package to see if I would like that look any better.  It is somewhat more pleasing to the eye but I cannot say I am in love with the final product.  I think these shoes will remain a work in progress; I will probably end up covering the entire heel and bow with crystals on each shoe, which was my original plan for over the top bling, just like the designers are showing this season.

Thanks for letting me share my newest bling project with you; I hope to get back to a few more bling projects throughout the summer months, I miss all that sparkle.

See you soon.

Laurette

If you enjoyed reading this post you might also like:

Bling Those Shoes - Part 1

Black and White Bling - 2011

A Bit of Bling - 2011

Buttons Bows & Bling - 2011

A Bit of Bling

As you know bling is my thing, having said that, it does not mean everything is covered in gold, silver or rhinestones.  In fact I have very little of it in my own home, something I intend to remedy in a tasteful, limited way.  I decided to start small with little items in my studio and bedroom.  I began the search for things I could add some sparkle to and found a few, here is what I did.

Recently my daughter gave me a very cute black stiletto tape dispenser, I loved it, and I put it on my work counter where it sat for sometime.  It was cute but lacking something, sparkle, a bit of bling, what could I do to glam it up?

Inspiration struck, why not put some crystals on it, some shoe bling just like designer shoes have.  I went right to Michael's to get some princess stick on crystals.  The actual inspiration came from a blog I look at daily, A Dress A Day.  The host did a copy of a Christian Loubouton shoe using silly plastic eyes to cover the whole shoe, just like the designer did.  Since I love sparkle I chose crystals instead and left some of the black shoe showing for better impact.  Very fun looking; it sparkles whenever I turn the lights on.

Next up were two pretty, heavy, glass containers with large black bows on them, they were from my Son’s wedding and the containers originally held small rose buds.  I have a dozen containers and could not figure out what to do to with all of them. I pulled out my glue gun, cutters and some glamour gem buttons and went to work.  I cut off the button shanks so I would have a flat surface to apply my hot glue to.

I hot glued a button to the center of each bow giving them some really elegant sparkle.  Now I use these little glass containers as candle holders and as storage for little bits and pieces while working on projects, what a pretty way to work.

As I looked around I spotted the black & white lampshade with the big black bow, I featured in my Black & White Bling post.  As much as I loved that lampshade, it was missing that special something.  Out came the gems and the glue gun, this time I added two buttons to the bow to give it more glamour.  Now it had the elegant sparkle I was looking for.

I am crazy about decorator pillows and have a great time making them myself.  This little pillow was made from polka dot fabric and ribbons and a pre-printed fashion fabric panel.  The pillow came out great but still felt a bit plain so I added some pretty crystals to give it bit of flare.  All these little projects helped to add small amounts of light to my studio, after all it is winter and the days are getting darker with all the cloud cover, every bit of light helps.

Last but not least, was a new faux-fur leopard pillow with an iridescent chocolate brown, silk backing, which I made in under an hour.  I added an elegant crystal pendant to the middle of the fur side of the pillow and covered a button in fur for the back side of the pillow. The pillow came out absolutely gorgeous, I made it for the center of my king size bed.  Every girl needs a little leopard faux-fur in her bedroom, adding a stunning fur pillow to the bed was just the right amount of glamour without going over the top.

There were a number of other small studio projects I completed but I decided to save those for a future post.  Since I will be adding more glamour to my master bedroom I will share the rest of the bedroom projects with you as I go along.  Look for those after the holidays sometime in January, unless I get the bug to do it as a New Years makeover, something like; New Year New Bedroom.  You never know, watch for it.  Thanks for letting me share my creative ventures from my studio.  See you soon.

Watch for:  Christmas Stockings for Charity and Elegant Elements, coming next week.

If you liked this post also look for past posts;

Black & White Bling

Pumpkin Bling

Holiday Sparkle

Buttons, Bows & Bling

Where to buy:

For crystals and pendants

Michael's

Glam Gem Buttons:

JOANN Fabrics