Now that the sunshine is finally here, it’s time to don our flip flops, sunhats and shades, and what better way to catch an extra twinkle of sunshine than with some rhinestone summer essentials.
Did you know you can attach rhinestones to almost any surface as long as you’ve got the right tools for the job? So, if you’re looking to make your own crystal crocs, or have a crack at some Harry Styles inspired sunglasses, look no further than these DIY summer rhinestone project ideas:
Sparkly sliders
This is a fantastic DIY project for summer, embellishing your sliders with flatback rhinestones and pearls. For this white pair, we wanted to go for an elegant bridal look so we used Zodiac rhinestones in Clear crystals and Zodiac flatback pearls in White AB. This combination brings a sophisticated style, but you could go for any colour combination you like. We used E6000+ glue to attach the rhinestones and pearls as this is the most flexible and durable glue for sticking crystals to rubber.
Crystal Crocs
You could also glue rhinestones onto your favourite pair of crocs to bring some extra sparkle to your summer footwear, we love this pair of crocs that are covered in rhinestones and pearls in shades of pink. The ombre effect is bang on trend, as is the pink ‘Barbiecore’ colour theme. Not into pink? Try using neon pearls and neon crystals for a tropical summer vibe. Find the tutorial here.
Crystal logo t-shirt
Continuing the pink theme, add some extra Barbie bling to your kids’ clothing with pink rhinestones. Here we used Light Pink and Fuchsia rhinestones to create the famous Barbie logo on a plain white t-shirt, but you could choose any brand logo to embellish. Popular choices are Chanel, Nike, or Converse, or you could go for your favourite sports team or band. Simply draw on your design in pencil or dressmakers chalk, then follow the design with the rhinestones. We show you how to glue rhinestones to fabric in our tutorial here.
Bring a simple design to life
Another way to attach rhinestones to your clothing is by gluing them onto an existing design such as an animal picture, pattern, colour block or text, using Gem Tac glue. Here’s a close-up of a whale design on a t-shirt that looks nice as it is, but a whole lot more fun with blue rhinestones added on. The simple addition of a few rhinestones will make your clothing totally unique.
Jazzy rainbow bag
The summer months in the UK are dominated by festivals, Pride and all things rainbow inspired so it’s no surprise that rainbow accessories are trending again this year. We’ve taken the iconic Kurt Geiger rainbow bag one step further by making our very own crystal encrusted rainbow clutch. You can create this fabulous blingy look on any handbag – it doesn’t have to be rainbow colours. Read the rhinestone rainbow bag tutorial here.
Sunglasses that sparkle
A quick and easy project to do at home, for yourself or with children, is to glue on rhinestones to a pair of sunglasses. We used some gem tac glue and Zodiac flatback rhinestones in SS10 to add a little sparkly detail to these child’s sunglasses.
Crystal sunglasses have been around for a while but a certain celeb drove everyone wild earlier this year with his famous red heart shades; Of course we’re talking about Harry Styles, we loved his look so decided to re-create it, read our tutorial here.
Jazz up your jellies
The late 90’s/early 00’s craze is back again: Jelly shoes - and we love it! Although 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. These stones are 3D pointy back, not flatback, so we used a hot glue gun to attach them. Hot glue guns are a great tool to have in your craft kit, and a bargain at only £6! 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!
