These shoes were NOT made for walking

I haven't done a trash to treasure for a long time!!  I've not had anything cool to trash... I mean... treasure up. ;)

A few days ago, Gene and I drove to Wathena, KS and had our photos taken by the wonderful Laura Benitz.  When we got married, we didn't spend a lot on wedding photography, and while I'm not complaining because I knew what we were getting into, I am disappointed that I didn't ask for more portraits.  (I promise to share when we see them)

 

While trying to design our own album, I keep getting stuck because I don't have everything I really need to finish the album.

 

I've always wanted a pair of hand painted shoes, but they are pretty expensive.  Plus, even if I was willing to spend the money, the wait time for a pair was over a year.  I decided, "Hey I can paint!"

 

And it was all down hill from there.

 

I wanted a pair of white heels, but they seem almost impossible to find!  REALLY!  The best I could find was this black patent pair at Maurices for a grand total of $7.

I put on my thinking cap, and realized I could probably paint over the black and make white shoes.  If it didn't work, I'd be out a grand total of $7.00 and my time.

 

I started by putting some 100% acetone on a paper towel and trying to rub off the shininess of the leather.  It pretty much worked, it didn't take off as much as I thought, but it did take the sheen off.  I use this to take off my acrylic nails, so I already had some on hand.  If you don't, it only costs $3.00 for a huge bottle that will probably last a pretty long time.  No worries, acetone is Y3K compliant. :p

I then painted 2 coats of Gesso over the shoes.  I think my Gesso is a bit on the thick side, so it wasn't perfectly smooth, but I wasn't too worried about it.  $7.00 right?

I then pulled out some supplies out of my craft room.

 

Zig Millennium Pens - that I use when I paint sometimes

Delta Ceramcoat Paint - that I've had, I'm not kidding, around 20 years.  It's still good!!

 

I painted over the Gesso a coat of white acrylic paint.  You could use another brand if you like, I always liked ceramcoat because it was thick and good coverage.

 

After the paint dried, I used the zig pens to draw designs around the shoes.  I included things related to us, or our wedding day.  After all the line drawing was done, I used the red and the blue to fill in and give it some color.  I added accents of some sticky rhinestones.  Once it was dry, I sprayed them with Modge Podge Spray which only took a few minutes to dry.

 

Ta DA!  New shoes! 

 

 

 

I had a few pics taken of me with the shoes (then went back to flip flops cuz, damn, hard to walk in wet ground with those thing!).  I'll keep them of course, because now I have this awesome pair of shoes I can wear on our anniversary, or just for a fun night out!  They aren't perfect, but it was fun.  Took a lot longer than I expected too!

 

This project ended up costing me around $15 with new products I had to buy.  Not too bad considering that they cost $250-ish to have a pair painted for you.

 

Will I do a pair for you??

 

HELL

NO

 

Not even my sisters (love you).  If you want a pair, I suggest you brush up on your drawing skills or pop for someone else to do it for you! ;)

 

Oh, and good luck on finding those damn elusive white shoes.