Plain Jane to Fancy Feet Prada inspired DIY

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Black boring shoe

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Some craft paint and a flat paintbrush

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Fun shoe DIY

I grabbed these black mary janes from F21 last year after seeing them on another blogger and thinking they looked super cute. Well, they have basically sat in my closet since then. I think I've worn them twice because they usually look slightly off with my outfits. Anyway, I've been on a huge craft kick lately and having contemplated jazzing these shoes up for a long time I decided it was now or never.  Their separate platform and chunky heel were ideal for a bright color blocking paint job. I chose to use craft paint colors I already had that played off the brights/neon trends and that I knew would work together having seen my mom rock this color combo through most of the 90s. After finishing the shoes I realized I must have subconsciously been inspired by the pretty Prada dress that has graced the likes of actress Hailee Steinfeld and the amazing blogger, Wendy B.


Supplies
-2 colors craft paint
-clear shiny top coat craft paint
-nice paintbrush (badly made brushes leave bristles everywhere which will ruin your paint job)
-painter's tape
-razor blade or exacto knife

1. Tape of areas to be painted.

2. Paint base coats. The heel base coat will actually be the color of the smaller top stripe. This will take some time and patience. You will have to paint multiple layers, and trust me when I say the quickest way to do this is to wait for each layer to dry before you paint another one. I always try to just glob on paint and it never works.

3. Once the heel and platform are covered and dry measure off how big you want your heel stripe to be, mark it off, then tape it off placing the tape over the stripe color.

4. Paint the heel.

5. Use razor blade to help remove tape and keep clean lines. Scrape any excess paint off.

6. Paint the heel and platform with a coat of the shiny top coat.

Enjoy!

With a few minutes and a few $

I got some grey platform booties at F21 several months ago and have happily worn them many times. Recently, I saw a photo featuring them and I all I could think was "WTF...When did I start wearing grandma shoes?". Although, I was less than pleased with than my booties' latest performance I just wasn't ready to give up on the poor soles (horrible pun intended). Instead I decided to whip out the big guns, aka my brains, and try to find a way to save them. A little imagination, a little glue, and 10 minutes was all I needed.

Offending Photo

Boring Booties

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Funky Stickers/Decals

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Fabric Glue

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A whole new look

Ready for a second chance at life

Enjoy!

Sunday with Barbie

Chillin with the girls

     My body aches, my fingers are sore, my brain is mush, and my eyes are burning. No, I'm not sick, I've just been playing Barbies with B for the last few hours. Sitting on the floor, hunched over a pile of plastic dolls trying to fit their ginormous hips and boobs into pieces of fabric no more that an inch wide will do that to a full grown woman. Don't get me wrong. I love playing with B and its fun having an excuse to play with the toys I loved as child, but at the end of playtime its all too obvious I've aged well beyond my 26 years. When we finally stopped playing all I wanted to do was nap. B just wanted to move onto a new game.

     As any girl who has played with Barbies knows the best part is dressing them up. Most of my Barbie memories involve dolls in different states of undress patiently waiting for me to finish styling them for whatever activity awaited them (usually a Jeep ride and meal with GI Joe). I'm actually in awe that my sister and I didn't all grow up to be 80s hair band groupies, having spent years under the influence of Barbie's blue eyeshadow, pink lipstick, crop tops, and mini skirts. Rest assured Barbie has maintained her iconically inappropriate style all while shedding her corporate conservative pumps for sexy new footwear. I covet several of the colored plastic shoes currently strewn about B's Barbie house. Not sure when Barbie started sporting stylish shoes, maybe Christian Louboutin's collection was the catalyst, but I'm glad it happened. I mean if a plastic dolls is going to inspire a love of ridiculously high heels in my daughter she should at least do it wearing shoes I wouldn't mind sitting in my closet. 

My love of Barbie's shoes has me thinking about giving this site a try so I can make my own Barbie inspired heels. What do you think? Would you rock a pair of Barbie's shoes?

I feel like all of these would work in a Spring'11 fashion spread.

Note to Mattel: Please produce the above pictured styles in natural materials, size woman's 8.5 US, and immediately ship to my house. Thank you!

Three more favorites.
P.S. I know the blue ones are something you would find at your local gentleman's club but imagine them in red suede and voila 

Don't Step on My Toes! A Shoe DIY

Which pair is mine ;)

I have a love for pyramid studs and spikes that borders on obsession. It probably is related to my love of Punk, but maybe not. I don't care, I just love that studs and spikes are currently covering all types of things, including some incredibly amazing shoes. Being bored one day I decided to create my own pair of spiked shoes at a small fraction of the price of the shoes I've been lusting after. My original idea was to cap the heel and toe in spikes, but since my spikes were so big I had to go for a really minimalistic look. If I get smaller spikes I will definitely try my original idea.

Materials

-1 pair cheap/old shoes you don't mind putting holes in

-marker/pen

-flat top screw in spikes (Pay attention to the size you buy. I wish mine were smaller)

-leather punch/something that can cut through leather

1. Use a pen/marker to mark where you want your spikes to go on your heels. You probably want to use a measuring tape to measure spacing so you can easily make the shoes identical. Not doing this lead me to punching extra holes.

2. Use leather punch to create holes make sure you are making the holes as small as your screws or smaller. Large holes will lead to limp spikes :(

3. Screw in you spikes.

*Use spikes with screws like those pictured so they will lay flat on the inside of the shoe. If the screw heads still irritate your feet you can use fabric glue and a small piece of cloth/leather to line the part of the shoe were the heads are.

4. Enjoy!