Sunday 9 January 2011

canvas shoe makeover tutorial

Hello lovelies

Have you been enjoying your weekend?  Have you made anything?  I've been making lots of things.  Lots of things which are not for sale.  It makes me happy to have time to make things for myself and my loved ones.  I still haven't booked any markets for this year and you know what... I'm not fussed at all.  There's no hurry for me to compelled to do so either.  It feels great.

I've been engaging in some back to school shopping this past week as my 5 year old starts school this year.  While out shopping last week I picked up some plain white canvas shoes at Kmart for $3.  I couldn't go past them.  Then I had an idea... let's snaz them up a little.  They are for my son after all and he does like lots of character in the things he wears.

They turned out so well, that I thought I'd share this tutorial with you in case you feel the urge to transform some plain canvas shoes in works of art for your (or your kids) feet.


What you need:
Let's get started:

My son is into the grungy kind of design... lots of skulls, splats, stars and that kind of thing.  So I started out by taking a pencil and roughly sketching some designs lightly on each shoe.  Using a pencil means that you can fiddle around until you are happy with the design, rubbing out any parts which you're not happy with. 

Once you've finished this part, take a black Pitt Artist pen and go over all of your pencilled-in sketches.  Make sure you use nice even lines so that the design looks neat.  I went over each outline a few times to ensure I had nice thick black coverage.

Be careful when you are using the Pitt Artist Pens as they can smudge or transfer onto your hand while they are dry. They are a unique ink formula which means they can be blended when they are wet and a permanent once dry.  Once you have all of your outlines in place, let the ink thoroughly dry.  If you start using colours before the black ink dries, it will bleed into the coloured areas (like you can see in some parts of my finished shoes).

Using as many colours as you like (I had the 24-pack of Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens so I had fun using many different colours), start adding colour to your designs.  But also make sure to let your colours dry especially if adding a few different colours into one design - remember they bleed into each other (see the blue green and yellow rings in the below photo for example of what I mean)!
I chose to leave the area in between the pictures white, but you could colour in between in grey, black or your child's favourite colour.  It's up to you!

If you're stuck, here are some design ideas to get you started:
  • trees, sun, grass, house, sky
  • graffiti
  • birds
  • monster face including razor sharp teeth and crazy eyes
  • polka dots
  • cupcakes
  • bows
  • skulls and cross-bones
  • stars
  • cars

And voila... you have some funky one of a kind shoes which look like they cost a lot more than $3!  My son LOVES his new shoes and wants to wear them to child care.  Had to let him down gently and tell him that they're only for "going out".  I know that if they go anywhere near child care they will get trashed within a day.
So what do you think?  Will you try some yourself?  They're fun, cheap and easy to do.  If you do, I'd love to see them (send me a link)!
P.S. the canvas shoes are in the current (Australian) Kmart catalogue which is on sale until 12 January... so hurry into your local Kmart store and pick up a pair quick-sticks!

Thursday 6 January 2011

happy blogaversary!


yummy guilt-free felt cupcakes by SugarChicBaby via etsy
 Guess what?  I've just realised it's my 1 year blogaversary today.  Yes siree it is!

Happy birthday to my blog... and its writer... me!

P.S. I would much rather felt cupcakes so that I could appreciate the beauty forever.  Edible ones never last long enough at my place to appreciate!

Saturday 1 January 2011

craft room makeover

Happy New Year my lovelies. 

Being the first day of the new decade, I plunged into cleaning up my craft room today.  I am happy that it only took me one day.  You almost wouldn't believe it once you see the before and after pics, just how much crap I had strewn about the place and that it only took me one day to clean and rearrange the room. 

Phew, now that it's done I really feel cleansed and refreshed.  Ready to take on the new crafting year.  And the best part, as I was cleaning I was finding things that were inspiring me to make stuff. I have a list of things I want to get started on now thanks to the clean up.  It's the best thing I could have done for my crafting mojo because I was starting to feel a little stagnant.

Warning... these "before" photos may slightly offend!  It's actually quite disgraceful.






Now, the "after" photos are much nicer to look at.  So is the room now in fact!  My husband commented that he was very impressed... then followed up with a comment about it being messy again in 2 days time.  No fair. I give it 2 weeks. At least.






Oh, by the way, the table which my sewing machine is sitting on and the green cupboard are both curbside trash and treasure finds. Yep.  Free.  The wardrobe got a lick of green paint and a light sanding to give it an aged look.  I love free furniture. It's unbelievable what some people no longer want.

Have I inspired you to give your craft/sewing room/space a makeover?  If so, leave a link to your blog post showing your makeover photos.  It can be a small makeover, a clean up, new storage solution or a complete transformation.  I'd love to see what you come up with and I know others would too.  And you will feel so much better with your new space after you're done giving it a makeover. Promise.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...