DIY: Painting Cheap Sneakers

Since I was in charge of packing everything up to head down for storage in Alabama, I had to figure out what needed to stay behind in Virginia.  I did, well not horrible, but I could have done better.  I forgot to leave myself a pair of freakin' sneakers.  This time of year, I basically live in my boots.  Although, they really aren't conducive to walking in for any long amount of time.  I must walk weird.  I am always destroying the the part of the shoe that hits my ankle. And it rubs, and causes blisters.  Along with the boots, I left myself slipper-like shoes and my pair of high-tops with the wedge heal in them.

Since we live in a small town my options are limited, unless I want to drive 30 minutes. I picked up a cheap pair of Ked rip-offs from Wal-Mart that I could use to walk the dog for about a month.  For less than $6 I bought this pair made of canvas:

Not horrible.  They worked, but I'm not one for wearing white.  My whole walk all I could notice was the bright white and I knew what they would look like in about a week.

So, I decided I would paint them.  Most of my craft supplies are, surprisingly, in storage in Alabama.  So I said to myself "fuck it, I'll just use what I have".  Some acrylics were still inside the drawers of my antique Singer and I have a bunch of random paint in the shed from various household painting projects.  I thought about doing a peacock inspired something and pulled up Google images.  I then quickly decided that I lacked the skill for the peacock inspired $6 sneakers of my dreams.  So I looked up "leopard print".  Most of the pics had tutorials for nail art and that seemed simple enough. 

 The idea is you draw an imperfect circle (I did mine in orange) and repeat, with varying imperfections but roughly the same size all over the surface.  Make sure you have a few sporadic half circles at edges.  Then you go back and outline these circles in another color (I chose black), with two half circles that do not touch.  I also threw in some smaller black, irregular circles sporadically.  I tested it first on a piece of junk mail, just to make sure I liked the outcome and color combo. 

Test Paper

 Let each layer dry before going on to the next.

Only one coat of the base color

I need to work on remembering to do "in progress" pics, but here is the final outcome:

Like I said, I just used whatever I had on hand.  You could purchase fabric paint, but honestly the paint I used really did not change the feel of these shoes.  They might be a tiny bit stiffer and if your shoes are anything other than canvas, it would probably make a bigger difference.  The base blue is leftover from painting our front door that I applied using a foam brush (I had just bought a whole set of, I think 8, for under $2).  I believe it is Glidden in Peacock.  The orange is a sample of another front door contender that did not make the cut (Pumpkin or something like that).  I just used the brush that is attached to the lid to make the not-quite-circular circles.  The black is basic black acrylic that I applied with a small craft brush.  If these were not meant to be temporary replacements, I would have masked off the soles to keep them white and would have let the orange completely dry before applying the black.  Since their sole (ha!) purpose in life is to help me walk the dog, I figured that white wouldn't stay white for very long anyway.  Also, If I hadn't packed up my Scotch Guard, I would have given them a spray. 

My not perfect lines

Here is a picture of them after a few weeks of walking:

Leopard Shoes and leggings

They are definitely dirty, but so far the paint has held up.  I might try washing them but the acrylic probably won't last.

 Have you ever DIYed a pair of shoes?  What would you have done differently?  Did I leave anything out?  Let me know!