Saturday, June 4, 2011

52 in 1: WEEK 2 - fluffy flower sandals





During our visit to VA, we took a little trip to the outlets for some shopping (duh). I fell in love with a pair of sandals at the Nine West store. Grey, kind of gladiator style, with funky fabric flowers (alliteration anyone?) down the top strap. Marked at $78 originally, the $54.99 outlet price seemed like a good discount. I was so infatuated with them that I seriously considered splurging. I am not normally the type of girl to shell out lots of money for shoes. So the fact that I even THOUGHT about buying these sandals said a lot for how much I liked them. Especially since they were about 22 times the cost of a pair of Old Navy flipflops. Luckily, I restrained myself (okay, Beth and Carrie restrained me) and I walked away from the sandals, after convincing myself I could make a pair that looked just like those beloved Nine West ones.

After we got home, I scoured the internet for a picture of those sandals so I wouldn't forget exactly what they looked like (I had stupidly forgotten to take a picture of them in the store) but no luck. Not a single pair out of thousands of Nine West sandals on the internet looked like the ones I was looking for. Boo. However, when I was out shopping (at the outlets again!) the other day with my friend Sarah I spied a pair of sandals at the Gap that had a similar idea that the Nine West sandals had (blurry cell phone pic):



Inspiration! I had been able to find plain-ish grey sandals at Kohl's for about $7 (originally $35) to use for the project and picked up a bit of grey linen at Joann's.


So how about a little tutorial? I feel a little silly writing it all out, but I would love to show you all how I made these sandals look pretty without blowing lots of money! :)

1. First, make a template in the shape of a small heart on a piece of vinyl. Using a disappearing ink pen, trace 12 hearts onto the linen. Cut them out quickly! That disappearing ink sure does live up to its name!

(Tangent: by tracing and cutting out these hearts, I was instantly transported back in time (about 15 years ago) to when my mom and I worked for a lady at our church.  She essentially provided the product that we (and a few other women at our church) assembled to a country-type shop.  I would trace hearts onto gingham fabric, cut them out, and get paid five cents per heart.  Once I made $50 in one month.  Yes, that's 1,000 hearts.  My mom would applique the hearts onto shelf liners and get paid a certain amount (I can't remember exact numbers) per shelf liner.  They were VERY country and I used to have nightmares about cutting out thousands of hearts.  Not kidding.)



2. Continue tracing and cutting, until you have 6 piles of 12 hearts.



3.  Take one pile of hearts and set the rest aside.  Fold one heart almost in half, but not quite.
4.  Fold another heart the same way and hot glue the bottom tips of the heart together, with the rounded parts of the hearts going in the same direction.  (Wow this is hard to describe.  Just look at the picture.) 
5.  Repeat step 4, then hot glue the two overlapping heart pairs on top of each other.
6.  Make another "heart pinwheel," if you will.



7.  Hot glue the two heart pinwheels on top of each other, staggering the "petals".

8.  Make another "heart pinwheel," only this time with just 3 hearts.
9.  Hot glue the three-heart pinwheel on top of the other one.
10.  Cut the last heart from the pile in half.  Discard the bottom half.
11.  Take the top, rounded half of the heart and roll it up between your fingers.



12.  Hot glue the rolled up half-heart onto the middle of the "flower."



13.  Do steps 3-12 for each pile of hearts, until you end up with six "flowers."



14.  Using E-6000 or another super-strong glue, glue three flowers across the top strap of one plain sandal.  Repeat for the other sandal.  Let dry.  Wear your gorgeous sandals proudly, and bask in the glory of the under $10 price of making them!  (I also apologize for the foot picture, if that kind of thing makes you squeamish!)



A few words of wisdom to consider:
*Do not get hot glue all over the hardwood floor.
*Do not burn your fingers on the glue gun 27 times.
*Do not get entirely too excited to try on the finished product that the glue doesn't dry enough and the flowers fall off the straps and you smear E-6000 all over your feet.


Please forgive me for my amateur tutorial-writing skillz.  I blame everything on the hot glue gun.  We are not friends.  Now go forth and pretty up some boring sandals!

Todays Creative Blog

9 comments:

  1. I cannot believe you made those!! You are so talented.

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  2. i LOVE this post! amazing job and even better that you took pictures through the whole thing! great work :) and they are beautiful.

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  3. LOVE these!! So amazing that you made those! Wow! visiting from I heart Naptime:)

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  4. oh my goodness! SUPER stinkin CUTE!!!! Saw you at i heart naptime!

    www.mamajillblog.blogspot.com

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  5. Love these!! Im inspired to give them a try!! thanks for the tutorial!

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  6. Love the flowers on your sandals! So cute! I'm also your newest follower and would love for you to visit my blog and follow back! =)

    www.sweetpeasandbb.blogspot.com

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  7. These are super cute! You did such a great job! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  8. Hi, friend! I'm admiring all your creative posts here so can you please share them with us at the Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop? Hope to see you there at the party :)

    PS: I am also currently holding a blog party called Market Your Biz and Giveaways where you can link up your etsy, online boutique or giveaways. You're more than welcome to come and get your business and giveaways promoted.

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  9. Really nice sandals! I am your new follower through the Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop.

    http://absolutelywhite.blogspot.com/

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