Challenge Week: Transforming Plain White Shoes into Springtime Retro Oxfords with Meg

Hello, Darlings! Welcome back to httv Handmade with me, Meg! It's challenge week again, and I am super excited to share this project with you all. As you can see from the plain white shoes in front of us, the challenge is to DIY these shoes into something fantastic that makes me super stoked. I love simple plain white canvas, and I'm thrilled to be working with a new pair of shoes.

The rules for this challenge are quite straightforward: we need to transform these plain white shoes into something fantastic using minimal amounts of money. The challenge will not be about finding an idea, but rather choosing which idea to implement. My mind is flooded with ideas as soon as I look at these shoes, and I'm eager to see which one I'll choose.

As I take a closer look at the shoes, I notice that they have similar lines to Oxford shoes, which are my favorite type of shoe. I love vintage oxfords, and I think maybe I can bring them to a springtime place with my color palette first. To get started, I measured down 1 inch from the center point of the shoe and made a faint pencil mark. Then, I connected that center point to one side with a curved line, mirroring it exactly as much as possible. However, my initial attempt wasn't quite exact, so I fixed it with my trusty eraser.

Once I had the lines right, I repeated the same process on the other shoe, using a straight edge to ensure that the main points were on the same plane and eyeballing it from there. The pressure of this project was making me excited! Using a pastel palette, I wanted to achieve a spring-summer color block look, so I decided to use the different areas of the shoe to determine what went where.

Before I began painting, I did a test to make sure that the color looked right. Ideally, tape everything first, but I was figuring things out as I went along, and it wasn't always in the correct order. I taped along the rubber sole of the shoe, where the rubber meets the canvas, even tucking the tape into the rubber to protect it completely. Then, I painted the toe tip a sweet bubblegum pink using an angled sponge to keep the lines nice and clean.

Next, I taped the perimeter of the heel once that was totally taped, painting it pink as well. This created a bubblegum pink toe and heel on shoe number one. For shoe number two, I taped the toe and heel, followed by the middle section of both shoes. Then, I painted within the tape on shoe number two, using my tiny detail brush for this part to add delicate details in mint green.

After completing the main sections, I let all of the paint dry completely overnight before removing the tape. The edges were a bit wonky, so I cleaned them up with a utility knife. To finish off the look, I switched out the laces for yellow ones and added a thin even coat of mod podge to seal the paint job.

And there you have it, Darlings! A simple pair of white shoes transformed into springtime retro oxfords using minimal amounts of money. The total cost of this challenge was just five bucks on the laces, which is an amazing price considering the final result. I hope you enjoyed following along with me as we worked on this project, and I'll see you in the next article!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello Darlings welcome back to httv handmade with me Meg it's challenge week again which is super fun and I just got a package in the mail super excited about finding out what's in here so let's check it out oo plain white shoes that makes me so happy the rules are for the least amount of money possible I'm going to DIY these shoes into something fantastic that makes me super stoked because I love just a simple plain white canvas that I can wear the challenge will not be how to find an idea but which idea to choose because I just have a lot of ideas swimming through my old Noggin when I see these guys will I do custom portraits of my dogs on them which one will I choose how will I pick wait and see looking at the shoes I noticed that they had similar lines to Oxford shoes shoes I love vintage oxfords and I thought maybe I could bring them to a springtime place with my color palette first I measured down 1 in from the center point of the shoe and I made a faint pencil Mark then I connected that Center Point to one side with a curved line like this I repeated the same thing on the other side trying to mirror it exactly um that's not quite exact so I fixed it with my Eraser God bless an eraser once I had the line right I did the same to the other shoe I used a straight edge to make sure the main points were on the same plane and eyeballed it from there the pressure using a pastel palette I wanted a spring summer color block look so use the different areas of the shoe to determine what goes wear I did a test to make sure that the color looked right then got to taping ideally tape everything first but I was kind of figuring this out as I went so I didn't do it in the right order I taped along the Rubber Sole of the shoe where the rubber meets the canvas I even tucked in the tape into the rubber to totally protect it when the perimeter of the shoe was taped I painted the toe tip a sweet bubblegum pink I used an angled sponge to keep the lines nice and clean and I had to save my tiny brush for the details later when that segment was painted I taped the perimeter of the heel once that was totally taped I painted it pink too so now we have a bubblegum pink toe and heel on shoe number one then I taped the toe and heel of shoe number two then the middle section of number two and the middle section of number one I painted within the tape on shoe number two and now I'm ready to dive into the middle section I saved my tiny detail brush for this part I painted in the delicate detail in mint green then filled in the whole section with a slightly larger brush then I did the same on shoe number two I let all of the paint dry completely overnight then I removed the tape the edges were a little wonky so I cleaned them up with a utility knife I switched out the laces for yellow ones then added a thin even coat of mod podge to seal the paint job and voila a simple white pair of shoes are transformed into Springtime retro oxfords to get cleaner paint lines you can buy a better brush but I was trying to save money as I only spent five bucks on the laces five bucks total for this challengehello Darlings welcome back to httv handmade with me Meg it's challenge week again which is super fun and I just got a package in the mail super excited about finding out what's in here so let's check it out oo plain white shoes that makes me so happy the rules are for the least amount of money possible I'm going to DIY these shoes into something fantastic that makes me super stoked because I love just a simple plain white canvas that I can wear the challenge will not be how to find an idea but which idea to choose because I just have a lot of ideas swimming through my old Noggin when I see these guys will I do custom portraits of my dogs on them which one will I choose how will I pick wait and see looking at the shoes I noticed that they had similar lines to Oxford shoes shoes I love vintage oxfords and I thought maybe I could bring them to a springtime place with my color palette first I measured down 1 in from the center point of the shoe and I made a faint pencil Mark then I connected that Center Point to one side with a curved line like this I repeated the same thing on the other side trying to mirror it exactly um that's not quite exact so I fixed it with my Eraser God bless an eraser once I had the line right I did the same to the other shoe I used a straight edge to make sure the main points were on the same plane and eyeballed it from there the pressure using a pastel palette I wanted a spring summer color block look so use the different areas of the shoe to determine what goes wear I did a test to make sure that the color looked right then got to taping ideally tape everything first but I was kind of figuring this out as I went so I didn't do it in the right order I taped along the Rubber Sole of the shoe where the rubber meets the canvas I even tucked in the tape into the rubber to totally protect it when the perimeter of the shoe was taped I painted the toe tip a sweet bubblegum pink I used an angled sponge to keep the lines nice and clean and I had to save my tiny brush for the details later when that segment was painted I taped the perimeter of the heel once that was totally taped I painted it pink too so now we have a bubblegum pink toe and heel on shoe number one then I taped the toe and heel of shoe number two then the middle section of number two and the middle section of number one I painted within the tape on shoe number two and now I'm ready to dive into the middle section I saved my tiny detail brush for this part I painted in the delicate detail in mint green then filled in the whole section with a slightly larger brush then I did the same on shoe number two I let all of the paint dry completely overnight then I removed the tape the edges were a little wonky so I cleaned them up with a utility knife I switched out the laces for yellow ones then added a thin even coat of mod podge to seal the paint job and voila a simple white pair of shoes are transformed into Springtime retro oxfords to get cleaner paint lines you can buy a better brush but I was trying to save money as I only spent five bucks on the laces five bucks total for this challenge\n"