Friday, June 4, 2010

decoupaged shoes

This is something I've wanted to try for quite awhile.  I was at my friends house the other night and somehow it came up again and reminded me that I should go for it!  My family had a family photo shoot last night and the colors we wore were a variety of blues and this lime green.  I was wearing jean, white, and gray and "needed" some cool shoes.  So,  this is the outcome of about an hours worth of work.  I grabbed my paint brush and glue, scissors and fabric and came up with this!  I was surprised at how easy this actually was to do.  Whenever I am decoupaging I always use lots of glue (mod podge, decoupage, or my secret: a mixture of elmer's glue and water!  shhhh...) and get it all over my fingers.  Seriously, I do recommend using a lot of glue and using the brush to apply the mixture onto both surfaces but then using your fingers to do the sticking and rub out any bubbles/ air pockets that might be there.  For the shoes I pretty much saturated the fabric while I went along.  I made sure there was a straight edge around the edge of the sole, but otherwise I just glued and cut as I went along.  I've been asked for some sort of tutorial, but there's really nothing to it.  Don't be afraid to try!  That's my advice.  These shoes were $1.98 two years ago at Goodwill and I enjoying them over the past 2 years, and now they're "new" again when covered with this vintage fabric I scored at a yard sale.  If you have any questions I'll try to answer them in the comments.  Oh, a friend did wonder how they would hold up.  I wouldn't be afraid to wear these in the rain, but I probably won't go puddle jumping in them. :)  The glue dries hard and clear. They are stiff and durable feeling to me.  You can apply several coats of decoupage over the outside if you want to seal them.

8 comments:

Janelle said...

Those did turn out SUPER cute!!! The options are literally endless!!!! Were the shoes canvas, or does that really matter??? CUTE, CUTE, CUTE!!!!! You gonna show the family pictures with them on??? :) Good job, as usual!

Pam Mattick Art and Stuff said...

Cute!!!

Future of Hope said...

So much fun!!!!!!!!! What color were they before? I am guessing they were fabric shoes?!?!?!

Carrie said...

so cool!

Beth said...

They were sort of a hard canvas before. I would probably decoupage on any surface though. If the shoe were leather and bends a lot I'm thinking that wouldn't work, but these were the perfect cut. It would be fun to do flipflops or something with a thick sole and just decoupage the edges of the sole

Matt & Nicki said...

WOW! Those turned out really good! Can't wait to see the pictures of the fam!!

Erin Neiner said...

amazing!!!!!! love the material also, but I cannot get over how incredible they turned out!!!

sara said...

I love this idea- cute shoes!!!