Painted "Sally" Nightmare Sneakers

You may have seen previous posts of mine of homemade Disney accessories. I decided to make sneakers to go along with my Sally (Nightmare Before Christmas) ear hat.

I started out with some Converse I got on clearance. I used acrylic craft paints to paint shapes on the shoes. Some of them are glow-in-the-dark.** I bought red laces, since Sally has red hair.  I painted the eyelets black with craft paint, then once dry, painted over it with clear nail polish to seal the paint. I used a fine tipped brush and black craft paint to add the detailing. I painted the rubber parts of the shoe too, but they are a bit washed out in this pic.

After all the paint had dried, I coated the shoe with a quick spray of gloss (Martha Stewart craft spray paint). I wanted the shoe to be water resistant, because I just wasn't sure what the paint would do if it rained or if I went overboard on Pirates of the Caribbean :)

**The glow-in-the-dark paint was pretty much rendered useless by the clear gloss overcoat. I guess something in how the paint absorbs light was ruined by the gloss. It's ok, they looked and held up great. This picture is after a full day of walking the park and being transported in luggage.

I think I'll find some other shoes to paint now...

Renew Your Shoes!

Last week, my husband and daughter went to a father-daughter Valentine's Day dance. My daughter is almost 9, but wanted to dress fancy and grown-up since she felt like it was a special occasion. We found the perfect dress, since she fits a 0/1 in teens. The problem was the shoes. She wears a size 5, but try finding an age-appropriate size 5 dress shoe. They all had 5 inch heels with platforms, etc. Now, while she is perfectly capable of walking in them like a runway model in the living room, I'll be darned if she leaves the house like that at her age.

We hit all the outlets to find a perfect shoe, with a low heel, that didn't break the bank. No luck. None were perfect for the dress. Silver, strappy sandal, rhinestones, etc. It's the wrong time of year for that sort of thing.

So, I wondered if I could just spray paint a shoe. It seemed easy. Practical. We went to our favorite local thrift shop and found the PERFECT shoe style, heel height, and size. The shoe was gold and had dark embellishments.

I started by pulling off the old embellishments on the straps and taping off the sole of the shoe. Then I used chrome spray paint from the hardware store to give them a good coating. I let that dry, then coated them again.

 

Once that was dry to the touch, I sprayed the heel lightly and coated it with silver craft glitter.

After that adhered, I tapped off the excess glitter.  I purchased adhesive rhinestones from a craft store, and cut them to size with a craft knife. I stuck them where the old, darker embellishments had been. 

Next, I flipped the shoes over. I thought of those beautiful Louboutins with the red soles and thought, "Why not?" So I used nail polish to paint the bottoms of the shoes (2 coats) with a complimenting color to the dress.  Once that dried, I coated the soles and glittered heels with a light, single coat of Mod Podge. I didn't want glitter dropping everywhere and I wanted the soles shiny.

Here's a step I didn't take. I finished the shoes the day before she needed to wear them. I would really give it a week if you have the time, for the paint to cure. Poor thing came home with just a bit of rubbed-off silver paint on her feet. I think if they had had proper time to cure, that wouldn't have happened. Also, I would Mod Podge the toe area. The friction rubbed off a bit of color under her toes, and I'm not sure how much more drying time would have helped that. I also added gel dress-shoe inserts to the foot bed so they would be comfortable. You can find those at any drugstore.

Here is the finished product on my little lady's feet.

And finally, the finished product in action!

I hope you find this useful. After I did this and saw how easy it was, I see makeovers in the future for my existing shoes! How nice to wear a shoe that's already broken-in, no blisters, just a little color-change!

3D Valentines

Want to make personalized, creative, 3D valentines for your child to hand out? These are easy and inexpensive.

First, have your child dress in their Valentine's Day attire, and choose a pretty background. We went in our front yard and used a very green plant. Have your child hold their hand out so that it's closer to the camera than their body.  Take a few shots and choose the best one.

I used Snapfish to order prints online.  I also added the cute border. They have a lot to choose from for various holidays.  I chose matte prints instead of glossy to combat fingerprints, since you're going to be handling the photos to insert the lollipop.

My daughter chose to sign her name to each one.

Use a craft knife and make a 1/4" to 1/2" slice right at the top and bottom of the hand. Insert a lollipop through the slit, passing it behind the hand.

Et voila! You have a 3D Valentine!