diy painted shoes

While we were still in South Carolina, I picked up a pair of Converse from Target for $8 on sale.  I love my Converse.  I have a few pairs, and my kids wear them now.  Back in high school I used to draw all over them, and so when I picked up this basic pair, I thought it would be fun to do a little design on them.

I love the navy and mustard yellow on the insoles, so I got inspired to use that color on the outside, too!  First I started by lightly drawing a design freestyle.  If you're an exact person, you could measure and all that, but I am obviously not an exact person.  I used a silver gel pen so that I could see the lines on the dark navy.

I went with an easy Chevron pattern.  After this, I apparently put down my camera and didn't pick it back up until I was finished painting.  Sorry about that!  I can tell you that I used basic acrylic paint (not fabric paint, but that would definitely work) and a very thin brush.  And I just took my time painting over the lines.

{Hand-knotted rug is a recently found treasure at a local antique store.  I sure adore that mustard and aqua together!}
And there you go!  I thought about doing the toe-box of the shoe, but decided to keep it to the sides.  The star strip on the sides and the backs of the shoes are suede, so I didn't really want to paint on that, either.  I like the way they look like a cross between oxfords and old-school Converse now!  I have a pair for Rowan I've been meaning to paint, and as soon as I figure out what design to use, I'll share those with you, too.

Next up, some new Toms to paint!