Thursday, June 2, 2011

A Savvy Craft - Cheap Glitter Toes


Now that I'm Girl's Camp director I need to come up with a craft for each day I'm in charge of 32 girls this July.  Trying to come up with something fun to do, but also working in a tight budget, was a great challenge and I've had fun imaging what we can do "on the cheap".  My first thought was painting fingernails, as I learned how to skillfully paint images and designs using the addition of acrylic paint not long ago.  But alas, I've done this one already.  Next step - bling it up!

I love Glitter Toes, but not the outrageous cost or the inability to easily remove them once the gel has set.  I googled around trying to find an inexpensive way to make my own glitter toes and found some less expensive alternatives.  I found a few ideas I liked, but they were still way too expensive for 32 girls.  Then I found NoBiggie's DIY Glitter toes and had an idea!  What if instead of buying all kinds of colored glitter I could just use my 1/2 pound bag of Ultra Fine Prisma Glitter that I bought about 10 years ago (and I'm sure I used a 50% off coupon to buy it!) and used the nail polish to create the color instead?

Guess what?  It works!!!  No need to buy 10 different colors of glitter,  just use"transparent" glitter and paint your toes with the nail color of your choosing for ultra cheap, ultra easy Glitter Toes!

Glitter Toes Recipe:
  • Finger Nail Polish (Desired Color)
  • Quality Top Coat Polish
  • "Transparent" Prism Glitter
  • 1 Sheet of Cardstock - folded in half
  • A stiff acrylic paint brush

Step #1:  Clean and File Toes.  Place foot on open cardstock with crease in the middle to easily collect and save any excess glitter.

Step #2:  Paint toes with desired toenail polish, one toe at a time (You can use cheap polish or expensive.  I used different colors on my daughter's toes, one with covergirl polish and one with Sally Hansen - I got it cheap - and they both worked great!)  After painting each toe, while polish is still wet, sprinkle a generous amount of glitter over the toe and press glitter gently into polish.  Let toes dry for 5 minutes


Step #3: Gently remove excess glitter around the toes (tap toes to remove excess from toenail) with brush and cover with a clear top coat.  Wait 5 minutes and apply another clear coat.



I did one foot with Sally Hansen and one foot with Covergirl.
Both worked out great, but now my daughter has multi colored feet!


On a side note - make sure that if you have little children - oh, let's say a 2 year old, that you remember to put all the polish away when you're done or they just might find it and paint their own toes while you're not looking! But hey, on a good note, he didn't get any on the floor and painted all 10 toes like a pro!  He didn't even go out of the lines - pretty good I think!

4 comments:

  1. Have you tried to take it off yet? I did this method once and it was a pain in the BUTT to take off. Check out my DIY Glitter Toes post I did. Everything comes off with nail polish remover:
    http://thrifty101.blogspot.com/2010/08/glitter-toes-for-cheap.html

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  2. It did come off with nail polish remover - but I like your idea as well!

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  3. I forgot I had some of this glitter so I used it on my little girls for the first time...they turned out really cute if I do say so myself! :)

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