We have just been dying for summer to finally arrive here in the great white north… because it was seriously a very very white northern winter… something we really haven’t had as bad as that since we were kids. seriously, not the “when we were kids” kinda winter. the REALLY bad -30 C for dayyyyyss on end.

So yes. everything summer. BRING. IT. ON.

For me that means my love affair with all things sunshine, spray painting outside and sweet sweet creamy ice cream.

When I saw the lovely McGreevy Cakes sporting her pair of Shoe Bakery shoes.  If you’re asking who both of those two lovely people are, well, stop right now and go click on those links. You need to know them. They are just amazing people. Super talented and kind to-boot!

So anyways, I drooled for a long time over the Shoe Bakery site… but really realistically I can’t just put extra cash down for (more) shoes right now… But I will get a pair one day 😉

For NOW! I am satisfying not only the need to have something like this in my wardrobe, but my crafty & creative side and thought…. hmm… wonder if could make my own???

Here’s what happened. Sorry that the pictures are not photo shoot quality. These types of moments of creation happen very quickly and usually at about 11pm…. soooo… taking pictures isn’t always fore-front of my brain. I do apologize. But I hope this helps…

And again, you really should just buy a pair of the ones from shoe bakery, but if you have a creation itch to scratch. This might help 😉

You’ll need:

-A pair of shoes (flats or heels) that fit (don’t have to be new!!) that you are ok with painting over. (ie. please don’t do this to louboutains, OR I WILL PERSONALLY COME OVER TO SAVE THEM!!!!)

-Acrylic paint (brown, and colour of “icecream” of choice)

– Make-up sponge or something similar

-paint brush – small flat head

-“chips” I used a leather button

-acrylic clear medium – glossy or matte but glossy does look better as it keeps the “wet” look

I used this VanGogh paint, but seriously I just used what was around, later I used very cheap acrylic paint from Dollarama.

 

This was the second shoe I was covering with the paint.

I was intending to create a “cake” look. So I used the sponge, dipped it in, and very liberally sponged it over the entire shoe. The more you put on and left a pucker as it pulled off, the better.

I covered both, let them dry overnight and then ended up putting a second coat on, as some of the pucker/sponge effect had softened over night and wasn’t as spongy looking as I wanted.

 

 

Of course the part I didn’t take a picture of was putting on the “ice cream”

I mixed the colour I wanted in a small container. The chocolate “chips”  were pieces of a button that looked like leather material. Just find something that you can manipulate into small pieces to suit your ice cream style and something that won’t melt or change colour if made wet. This was perfect because I was able to cut it into tiny pieces.

I held my shoe in one hand toe pointing up and blobbed on a good amount of paint, I then just pushed it into the directions I wanted it to go, adding paint as I needed it. I kept it rather thick as I didn’t want to see the “cake” below and also wanted it it to look like ice cream. Once I had the ice cream thick and covered, I put down the shoe on a piece of paper (making sure there weren’t any drips that would stick it to the paper) and carefully placed my chips into the wet paint. I tried to keep it natural feeling, but of course making sure that they were nicely embedded in the paint and that it would hold them down.

I let it dry overnight and then put on a clear acrylic paint like a seal over the ice-cream part. Making sure I covered the chips well. You can find something like this at an art supply store, or even use a clear varnish.

My final touch the next day was to take a sharpie to the wedge of the heel  and draw two lines around the perimieter to make it look like the layers of chocolate sponge cake!

 

 

So what do you think??? Would you make yourself a pair???

I made my daughter some pink sprinkle icecream shoes that I’ll show next week with another pair of flats that I’m working on right now 😉

Hope your summer is filled with lots of ice cream!!