Decorating a Pair of Shoes

Today I will show you how to make a pair of cute decorated tennis shoes! Mine are themed for Valentine's Day, but could be for whatever you want.

 

You will need:

 

A pair of white tennis shoes for your doll

Sharpies in red, pink, or both

 

This pair of shoes I got from Hobby Lobby. They fit AG dolls perfectly and are a reasonable price for craft projects.

 

 

First, take out the laces.

 

I grabbed a few Sharpies I thought I might use, and tested their colors on a piece of paper. I ended up using the red, and the pink to the right of the right.

 

For the tongue of each shoe, I drew a Chevron pattern in pink.

 

On the sides, I drew a curly design with a couple tiny hearts in red.

 

 

I also colored the tips of the laces red.

 

Also, I colored the band around the sole of the shoe pink, and the top of the shoe red.

 

Hope you enjoyed!

New Sparkly Sequin High Tops

The other pair of shoes I got for Christmas are this stylish high tops from The Queen's Treasure! They have sparkly sequins. I put them on Brooke with her Disneyland shirt, because I think the sparkly shoes are perfect for the magic of Disneyland :)

 

These shoes are great quality. I am careful with the sequins though, because I don't want them to fall off. I'm not sure if they will, so I'm being cautious.

 

I think high tops are so cute on dolls :)

Because of school, posting may be a bit less regular. I just wanted to let you know :)

Do you like Disney?

What My Dolls are Wearing Today #2!

While it isn't quite fall yet, I've been going through my doll clothes and seeing what my dolls will need for the coming chilly weather.  I put together these two outfits!

The first outfit is on Maggie.  It consists of a sweatshirt, black skater skirt, white socks and black boots.

The sweatshirt is made from Simplicity pattern 4297, sweatshirt B without the hood.  

The skirt is also from Simplicity 4297, skirt A.

The black boots are from Dollshobbiesandmore on Amazon here.  I am not sure where I got the white socks.

Beth wears the second outfit, which is more her style.  Casual and comfortable!

The black sweats are made from the Chuba pants pattern on Pixie Faire.

The pink sweater is also made from Simplicity 4297, this time shirt A.

The boots are from Sophia's, and usually look like this.  For this particular outfit, though, I folded them down to create a different look.

Thanks for reading!

Review of Glitter Slip-Ons

I featured these shoes in the What My Dolls are Wearing Today post a while back, and I thought I would do a review on them!

These cute glitter slip-ons are from AmericanFashionWorld on Amazon.  They also come in many other colors including light pink, light purple, dark purple, silver, gold and more.  The inside says AFW.  My dolls stand well in them.

Although these shoes are called "Teal Glitter Slip-Ons", they are more of a turquoise color (which can be easily seen in the stock photos).  The glitter on the shoes is not glitter the consistency of sand or the like, but more of a tiny flat hexagon.  Around the toe seams it appears to be that a few pieces of glitter have come off leaving white spots.  I think this has happened over time, as I have had these shoes about 4 or 5 months.

The shoes have a thick white foam sole.  I would prefer the soles to be a little less thick, but that's ok.

They also have elastic for easy on and off.

In addition to looking super cute, the slip-ons fit very well!  They are close fitting but not too tight.

I really like these shoes and would recommend them.  I may eventually get another pair in a different color!

Canvas Slip Ons

A few weeks ago, I downloaded the Pixie Faire Freebie Friday Canvas Slip On pattern.  I was excited to try out the pattern so my dolls could have a pair!

For the outside I used black stretch denim because I wanted the shoe to be sturdy and also versatile.  The lining is turquoise blue cotton with sparkles.

I didn't have any 6mm craft foam like the pattern required to make the sole.  Instead, I used one 2mm sole pattern piece and a piece of thin cardboard (which was about 2mm as well). 

Although I didn't have any bias tape for the tab on the back of the shoe, I hadn't planned on including the tab in my pair anyway.

For the strip around the bottom of the shoe I used a piece of the lining fabric, folded it over, and stitched.

After sewing them, I was really hoping they would fit!  I tried them on, and they fit pretty well.  The only thing is that my doll's heel had to hang off the edge of the sole for the toe not to press up against the front of the shoe.  That's ok though.

I think the finished product is cute!  My dolls will definitely be wearing these often!

New Shoe Shelf

This week I made a new shoe shelf to store all my doll shoes!  My last one, which you can see pictures of here, was getting cramped with the new pairs I have acquired, so I thought it was time to expand.

Each shelf is about 3.5" deep, and 13" wide.  The whole thing measures about 20" tall.  It is made of foam board, hot glue, scrapbooking paper and Mod Podge.  I put Mod Podge on the shelves to make them more durable, for instance if after a photo shoot the shoes have dirt or water on them :)

 

About 4 pairs of shoes can fit on one shelf (depending on the width of the shoes).  In total it can hold about 28 pairs.  I put the shelves at an angle so that they could be close together, to maximize space, while still being able to see the shoes.

 

 

The sides have hooks and clips for storing accessories.

 

I put holders for the glasses on the other side, as well as some hooks for my doll's necklaces.

Gladiator Sandals (and Photoshoot!)

Recently, Pixie Faire Freebie Friday pattern was the Gladiator Sandals.  I downloaded the pattern to save until I wanted to use it.  I was looking at this photoshoot on American Girl Place, and I noticed the doll was wearing super cute shoes!  Suddenly I thought "I have a pattern for shoes almost just like those!" and quickly printed the pattern.

And so I made these black sandals!  I made them black because I wanted them to be versatile, and my dolls don't have any all black casual shoes.  They were fairly easy to make (cutting out the pieces to longer than assembling them).

Although the pattern calls for two straps to go through each slit on the center piece, the 2mm craft foam I used was too thick for more than one strap. 

The only problem is the strap around the ankle is a little short and I have to stretch the craft foam.  I eliminated this problem by making the Velcro strips shorter and making the ankle strap a teeny bit longer on my next pair!  Shortly after finishing the black pair, I made one in royal blue.  This time I made the slight adjustments that I realized needed to be made the first go around.  They turned out great except the heel piece on the left shoe is a little odd.  I think it's because I used a different sole pattern that had a slightly larger heel, but that's okay. 

My dolls will definitely be wearing these shoes a lot the rest of the summer, and I am eager to make them in even more colors!

Here is the rest of the photoshoot :)