DIY Custom Flats The Way You Like It

I looked through my shoe wardrobe a few weeks ago only to find many very basic shoes, mostly black.  While they are practical, sometimes I want something more to make an outfit more personal.  Girls just wanna have fun, right?  Well, shoes are fun to wear, but not if they are completely boring.  I found a pair of black flats that I had bought at Payless a couple years ago.  I had never worn them because they were shiny, which I tend to not like because sometimes it makes shoes look cheap (which they were).  I think I bought them for under ten dollars, but I decided that my money isn’t to be thrown away.  I was determined to make something of the black, boring shoes that had been sitting in my closet for way too long.

I came across this post at Make It and Love It and was hooked.  I don’t have a lot of money to use to buy new fabric constantly, so I looked to my custom bulletin board for inspiration.  Well, not even inspiration because I stole the fabric from the bulletin board to use on the shoes.  I still love the green polka-dotted fabric, which is why I thought I would use it on the shoes instead of buying new.  I’m going to recreate the bulletin board shortly in a more permanent fashion in a way that is more versatile so that I can use it at school, at my room at my parent’s house, and in a future home.

Here is what I began with: 

I then followed the tutorial step by step.  Note that it was a lot harder than I thought, meaning that I didn’t know how frustrating it can be to get the fabric to stretch and lay in the right way, and much messier as well.  I’m sure anyone who has worked with Mod Podge before knows that it is messy, but I have limited experience with it and thought I could have been a little more careful.  However, I still think this was very easy for anyone to do, it just takes some time, patience, and the reassurance that it will not look perfect, but it still will look good. And this is what they looked like completely finished!  Cute, huh?

And now for a little side-by-side before and after comparison.

What do you think of my new kicks?  I seriously dare all of you to try this.  Not only will you end up with a  super cute pair of shoes, but you will be able to brag to everyone that you made them look that cute!  What’s better than that?  I can’t wait to wear mine!