This fun late 90’s/early 00’s craze is back again: Jelly shoes - and we love it! Although this time round we think they could be updated with some summer rhinestone sparkle. Here are a fabulous pair of silver glitter jelly sandals (I’m getting primary school flashbacks as I write this) decorated with Swarovski and Preciosa vintage crystals.

Jazz up your jellies

To give our plain jelly shoes a bit of added glitz and glam for the summer, we’ve decorated them with 3D rhinestones from the Swarovski and Preciosa vintage range. It’s so quick and easy to do, and makes a great craft project to do with children. Or, a fun way to bring out your own creative side.

The rhinestones we used are 3D pointy back, not flatback, so we used a hot glue gun to attach them. (If you want to stick to classic flatback round rhinestones, we recommend you use E6000+ glue, which is flexible and waterproof). Because of the pointed back, the stone doesn’t sit flush to the surface of the sandal, which means it catches the sunlight more and offers more sparkle.

You can also glue 2 or 3 stones together to create a gem cluster. The hot glue gun is ideal for this as it is strong, durable and dries completely clear. Hot glue guns are a great tool to have in your craft kit, and a bargain at only £6!

These 3D crystals, also known as pointy back crystals, bring a sense of fun and texture to the overall look, and the chunky size of them really sparkle in the sunshine!

Method

Load the glue gun with a glue stick (usually included when you purchase the gun). Plug into the mains, turn the gun on then allow 5 minutes for it to fully heat the glue.

Now you are ready to gently squeeze out the glue onto the shoe – you will only need a pea sized amount, and always glue the surface, not the crystal.

Here we have chosen to scatter the stones evenly across the top of the sandal, but you can try different techniques such as embellishing the strap or gluing on some flatback rhinestones or pearls to compliment.This bumper mix of rainbow stones have gone a long way to embellish these size 5 jellies, but there is a huge choice of vintage crystals so you can go with any colour scheme you like!

Footwear embellishment