Party Shoe DIY

I hate when I'm shopping for a specific event and I can't find the right shoes. This happened most recently when I was helping my niece Myah shop for her first homecoming. After trying on almost every dress in Dillards, we finally found the perfect one! But none of the shoes in the mall were right. They were either way too high, expensive, or just not right for the dress.

We finally ended up at Forever 21 for accessories when inspiration struck! There was a pair of plain nude suede heels that weren't too high and in Myah's size. I had to figure out how to make them work because of the $22 price tag. My first thought was to glitter them, but then I found $7 necklaces that matched Myah's dress perfectly. That totals to $36 for custom shoes!

I used shoes (obviously), pendants (earrings and necklaces are good options), gorilla glue, a q-tip, a sewing pin, and pliers. J actually used the pliers because I was worried about scratching one of the gems when removing the chain from the pendant. 

First I very lightly marked the shoe with a pencil where I wanted to position the pendant. This step is important later because you can't really wiggle the glue around unless you are ok with visible stains. I slightly dampened the shoe where I wanted to glue and also the parts of the pendant that would touch the shoe. Then I applied the glue to those pendant surfaces with the q-tip. Using very steady hands (borrow a pair if you must!), I placed the pendant on the shoe based on my pencil markings. I didn't have a clamp so I just held it in place for about 30 seconds and then I was able to let go. 

One piece of advice: read all the instructions on the glue before starting. While I got through the part that said slightly dampen your surfaces before applying glue, I did not realize that the glue would expand a lot or that it would dry white (see picture above). This is where the sewing pin comes in. The glue started to ooze out of all the nooks in the pendant. Not pretty! So I took my sewing pin and started to either remove or push the glue back under the pendant, as it made sense for the location. This process took more than an hour because the glue just keeps on going and going.

 Good news is that the pendants stayed firmly attached to the shoes after a whole night of dancing at homecoming. Yay! I let the glue set for almost 36 hours; this is not a project you want to do the afternoon of your event.

Isn't she adorable! I had a great time shopping with her and then helping her get ready for the dance. And she had a lot of patience with me as I made her try on every single not strapless dress in her size. I can't wait to do it again!