Can I show you what I made last night?

[allykat]

You guys have inspired me with your many creative ways to make Disney vacation money. I decided to try my hand at hand-painted children's shoes. After I got my girls in bed, I made this:

I even listed them on ebay, my very first attempt! I also listed a vintage Dooney and Bourke satchel handbag and matching wallet. I also have a 60th Anniversary Mickey Mouse gumball machine, Mickey Mouse wall clock, and some kids clothes I'm going to put up later today. You guys have the best ideas and absolutely ROCK!

 

[HayGan]

Those are really cute! You could probably make some cute Mickey ones in the same way!

 

[allykat]

Those are really cute! You could probably make some cute Mickey ones in the same way!

That is my idea! These were easy to do, so I thought I'd start here. They didn't have the size that my daughters wear at the store, but I'm going to try to make some for them to wear when we go to Disney in June.

 

[HayGan]

You could put some of those cute little gemstones in the middle of the flowers as well to give it some sparkle as well

 

[teamagic]

How cute! Would love to see pictures of the Mickey shoes when you make them. Are you taking orders?

 

[rubyrain]

those are so cute allykat!! i hope you make lots of extra mony for your trip. you could make a few of those up and do different ribbons and i think the gem in the middle like haygan said is a really cute idea. how about on one pair do hearts with red ribbon that would be cute. i know if my girls were younger i'd buy a pair! good luck!!

 

[twinklebug]

How cute & creative!

If they wern't so expensive I'd suggest adding some decorative buttons from the fabric store onto the bottom lace row (they start at a high $2 per button for the really cute ones)

 

[allykat]

Thank you everyone for the compliments and YES - I am taking orders! I have lots of ideas for shoes....polka dots on different colored shoes, hearts, paw prints and of course, MICKEY!

I'll post more pics of my designs as I come up with them...rofl! The mascot at the school my daughters attend is a bulldog, so I am thinking of doing some UGA-inspired ones for them to wear to school. I could even do H'ween, Christmas with jingle bells....oh my! The idea are endless!

 

[ohiominnie]

VERY cute. I made my dd Ohio State University shoes when she was about 3. They turned out very cute. I had painted something like this on the toes:

 

[formernyer]

Those are really, really cute. I agree with the other posters about adding something to the end of the laces and maybe a little glitter since kids LOVE anything with glitter. GREAT JOB for your first attempt.

At the risk of upsetting you, I'm going to offer a little advice about going forward with the sales idea. I think you can make some decent money with this idea, since the canvas sneakers can be purchased for $1.00 to $2.00 a pair and the time investment (once you get into the swing of things) will be about 30 minutes each. My only concern is that you might need to practice a little bit on getting the paint VERY NEAT before you start to sell. I see quite a few imperfections in the painting on the pair you already made. While this is not an issue AT ALL for your own children (since they'll mess them up after a few wearings anyway), it will probably be an issue to somebody who is a paying customer. I know if I paid money for something hand-painted, I'd want the paint to be pretty close to perfect. Maybe I'm picky, since I'm a craft person/perfectionist myself, but there will be other people you encounter who have high expectations. Just something you should be prepared for, and I hope I didn't offend you at all, because I really do think you did a great job for a first attempt!

 

[formernyer]

Thanks for posting this. For some reason it's inspired me to do something that I haven't done in a LONG time. I used to paint clothing for my kids when they were younger...whatever they were into at the time is what I'd copy. I have NO artistic talent, so I had to download images from the net and then copy them to the clothing, but it was pretty easy and not very time consuming to make some pretty nice items. I think I'll make something tonight

Here are two of my favorites from when the kids were really small...

 

[allykat]

Formernyer, you didn't offend me. These are my first attempt and no, they are not perfect. They are listed as ebay, but by no means am I trying to pass myself off as a professional artist. I am going to do some more and I'm sure it will get better as I go. I was pretty happy with how they turned out!

 

[PaulaSue]

Very cute! I need to get back into crafts and makesome.

 

[Chickysmom]

duplicate...sorry

 

[Chickysmom]

they are very cute!!! are you doing something on the end of the ribbon to keep it from frayng with use? those shoes are going to see a lot of mile and maybe sewing/gluing the end of the ribbon would keep them looking nicer longer?

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

They make a Fray-stop glue and stuff like that to prevent them from fraying

 

[LaLaroo78]

What a cute idea! You have inspired me to try this out with my neices since they have so much fabric paint!

 

[TwistofLemon]

Awww, very cute! I wish my kids were still little enough to do this kind of stuff. I guess I'll have to wait for grandchildren now!

 

[reginaastralis]

Ok, I love these.

But, I have a question.

A) Do the ribbons stay tied. I have a two year old who is amazing at getting out of shoes? Are they tight on feet?

B) Are the easy for kids to tie? I'm trying to teach her to tie *laugh, it's not working* but I'm also wondering if her teachers would get fed up tying them.

Thanks!

 

[WeRblam]

they are very cute!!! are you doing something on the end of the ribbon to keep it from frayng with use? those shoes are going to see a lot of mile and maybe sewing/gluing the end of the ribbon would keep them looking nicer longer?

How about handpainting the shoe laces to match the shoes. This way you don't spend any more on ribbon. You can also make matching socks and hair accessories. When my dd was little, I used to create all sorts of paintable things. Look on-line for rhinestones etc that you can buy really cheap. Another idea for you is to stamp on the fabric with fabric ink then paint. You can come pretty close to perfect for lines etc...
Good Luck, your off to a fantastic start!