embellished slides

When it come to summer, I pretty much wear slides all the time! They are comfy and so easy to slip on and off. And while I love a simple pair of shoes, I also LOVE embellishing my shoes with drawings (obviously)! And this summer I couldn't resist transforming a pair of faux leather slide sandals into something unique!

For a project like this- something that will get a lot of wear, I like to use an oil based paint pen- my favorite is a Sharpie. In my experience, the oil based pens work really well on faux leather or plastic.

My goal was to cover the entire surface with a white flower pattern.

The result is a super creative pair of $12 shoes that are totally unique!

stamped shoes

One of my all time favorite supplies is StazOn permanent ink. Is an acid free solvent based ink that you can use on metal, plastic, leather and acrylic! I love using it with stamps to transform all kinds of surfaces into something a little more unique.

After finding a pair of cute, cheap pleather sandals I used my ink pad and some of my own flower stamps and added a little pattern to the shoes!

bleach painted shoes

I love using bleach to dye fabric (bleach discharge is the technical term) to create surfaces filled with pattern. Bleach chemically pulls pigment away from the surface of fabric, leaving everything that you bleach white or a lighter version of the fabric. You can use all kinds of fun techniques with bleach to transform fabric into something beautiful (I write all about it in my book Sew Wild). After finding some super cheap canvas shoes (fake Toms) from our local drug store, I couldn't resist altering them with bleach.

1. Any kind of fabric or canvas shoes will work but make sure to do a little test on the inside of the shoe to see how the fabric reacts- different colors and fabric will have different results. 

2. I used a brush and a little bowl of bleach. I dipped my brush and began covering the surface. TIP- Make sure to use a synthetic brush because the bleach will not eat away at the bristles.

3. I let the bleach react with the surface. TIP- Canvas or heavy/dark fabric can be slow to react with bleach, to speed up the process I like to use a little heat (hair dryer or heat tool).

4. I covered the entire surface of the shoes with all kinds of marks and doodles. 

The result are two pairs of really funky and unique shoes- perfect shoes for summer walks on the beach!