Last month, my real-life BFF and DIY maven, Anne, revamped a pair of stilettos on her blog, Wobisobi. The shoes in question were in great condition, but had an unfortunate run-in with a parking grate resulting in a ravaged heel. [Collective sighs from readers as they fondly remember favorite heels that met a similar fate.] She covered the damaged heel with a clever coat of glitter that camouflaged all traces of the grate incident, and in turn, made a basic pair of heels pretty spectacular!

Shortly after seeing the post on her blog, I met Anne for dinner and drinks and she was wearing the sparkly spikes. And let me tell you, it looked like she picked them off the rack. I love a DIY that doesn’t look… well, DIY. And since that night, I’ve been looking for the perfect pair of stilettos to shimmer up myself.

While putting away laundry over the weekend, I found these Jessica Simpson pumps hiding in a dark corner. I bought these when I  landed my first big corporate job out of college, and it was one of the only times I’ve paid full retail for a pair of shoes. I wore them all.the.time with pretty dresses and pencil skirts and Express Editors {all of which were later donated to various women’s charities and consignment stores}. I guess I’ve held on to them all this time because they remind me of a Keira that I hardly recognize these days. One that wanted to climb the corporate ladder and get her MBA and have a closet full of Calvin Klein suits. My, my, life can surprise you.

But I digress.  They’re still in decent shape considering how much biznass I did in them, but the heels were a little worse for the wear. I’m pretty sure Doak got his paws on the one shown above.

Armed with Anne’s easy tutorial, Mod Podge, painters tape, and dark copper glitter from a variety pack scooped up at Joann’s, I got to work on giving my classic corporate pumps a new life.

Note: I think I made my glitter glue a little too thin. I had to do several coats to get the coverage I wanted, letting each coat dry a bit before applying the next.

I read magazines and ate candy during the drying times. I suggest you do the same.

Because I used so many coats, when I initially tried to remove the painters tape it wanted to take the glue and glitter with it. Yikes!! Easy fix: use an exacto knife and gently cut the glitter glue along the edge of the heel before removing the tape. And voilá! My once 9-5 pumps are ready for a night on the town.

Not a fan of glitter? Anne did a similar tutorial today using a pair of classic pumps and gold leaf!