Treasure Bin

Friday is Try Day. This week, try using glue and paper shapes to create vintage-looking embellishments. I’ll actually be showing this technique and others in next week’s craft classes - still places left if you want to book. :)

Find the project here: http://pinterest.com/pin/4714774582042394

Book workshops here: http://treasurebin.ie/classes_36.html

Our sale is almost over - it ends today (Saturday) in our Letterkenny shop and online tomorrow.  So Summer is over and Autumn is here. That means our craft workshops are underway again. Next week we start knitting and I’ll also be showing how to knit with wire and beads to make unusual jewellery. Full schedule and booking form here. I also post weekly projects on our Facebook page so be sure to follow for lots of crafty tips and pics.

HOW TO BLING SHOES  

For this project, I used self-adhesive glass crystals in various sizes. The quantity you need will obviously depend on how much bling you want to apply. To cover two heels and along the sides, I used a total of 22 packs (details below).
For a more economical version (e.g. for children’s shoes), you could use acrylic rhinestones - but they don’t have as much sparkle.

First, I sorted the stones to make sure I had the same quantity for each shoe.

 I started on the top centre of the heel, using large stones (size 30): 5 along the top, 3 underneath, 1 underneath that, creating a triangle of rhinestones.

Then I used size 20 to fill around the triangle, and a line of 4 extra stones going down the centre of the heel to the halfway point.

 I filled around that shape with a couple of lines of size 16 and then size 12.

 I finished with tiny size 6 stones, to go down the very edges of the heel and filling in all the little gaps.


I used size 30 along the top edge where the heel meets the sole, and along the sides of the sole. I staggered the two rows instead of putting one row immediately above the other - this filled in the spaces more evenly.

On the top edge of the sole, along the front, I used size 38 with size 6 dotted in between to fill the gaps.

TIPS

• Working from the centre of the heel outwards, rather than starting at one edge, gives a more balanced finish. 
• You may wish to use smaller sizes for the edges if your shoes have thinner soles.
• Size 6 is fiddly to work with but really great for filling in. 
• The self-adhesive diamantes attach very well but can still be moved if you accidentally put one on crooked - but the longer they’re stuck on the firmer the hold so you should try to straighten them out as quickly as possible.

I didn’t use any tools to apply the stones, as I find my fingernails easier to work with than tweezers!

QUANTITIES USED

Size 38 … 2 packs
Size 30 … 5 packs
Size 20 … 5 packs
Size 16 … 4 packs
Size 12 … 3 packs
Size 6 … 3 packs