It is hard to believe that it is the 4th of July weekend already. The days are getting shorter again and here in Colorado it won't be long before there is a crisp coolness in the evening air signaling the approach of fall. Fall in Colorado is actually a beautiful season but the kid in me still wants summer to last forever.
And on that topic (the one about staying young at heart or at least trying too) we have been invited to an annual 4th of July party on Monday. Last year and years previous I have, at the last minute and mostly unsuccessfully tried to find something patriotically colored to wear, but not this year. This year I am ready with some red pants a white top, a blue sweater and these.
When I found them at the thrift store for 7 dollars they looked like this.
So I bought some paint and starting painting. If you have never painted shoes before you should give it a try. It is very easy and fun and can make such a difference in the look of the shoe. Of course you do not want start with your favorite pair of expensive shoes but a less expensive slightly worn out pair is the perfect place to start.
For this pair my vision was of course to make them look flag like so I used some painters tape to block off the area I didn't want to paint.
I started with the white paint and because the heels of these shoes were rough twine I used a stencil brush to dab on the paint.
Once the white paint was dry I taped it off and used the same technique to paint the red stripes.
Before painting the upper part of the shoe I cleaned it with some rubbing alcohol.
Taped off the appropriate parts of the shoe and used a soft flat brush to paint the top of the shoe.
The top took two coats of paint and looked very flat after it dried.
To add some shine and to seal the paint I added a coat of polycrylic.
The final touch was to use some E6000 glue to attach these silver star charms and a small blue bead.
Happy Upcycling, and
Happy 4th of July!
