Spark Some Creativity Saturday! - My New Summer Slides :)

Hello Friends <3 

It is time again for Spark Some Creativity Saturday with the Kraaft Shaak Design Team! This month we were challenged to make something WEARABLE, incorporating items from our Kraaft Shaak Mixed Media Kits. Well, Summer is coming fast and the heat is on here in Arizona, so I thought what about some beautiful mixed media shoes? So, yeah...I DID THAT :)

The process to makes these gorgeous slide shoes was step intensive...so therefore very photo intensive...so I broke up the photos trying to make the steps more clear and easy to follow.

I knew I had a lot of great printed papers left in my Kraaft Shaak Mixed Media Kit. It came with a TON of cool book pages and maps and almanac pages.  So, I decided to make paper flower decorations for my fancy shoes. The idea came from reading this post from my friend Sheri at Cards and More by Sheri :) The flowers were a blast to make! I used various papers from the kit and some Magicals Powders made by Lindy's Stamp Gang. I am grateful for Kraaft Shaak for introducing me to these crazy fun powders. They are truly 'magical' and if you have never used them..you should give them a try! I used 'Pop Rock Purple' and 'Sweet Violet Purple Teal' for my flowers. Then because I think purple and copper look great together...I used some of the Copper Crackle Paste I got in my kit on the edges of my flowers...just using it as a metallic paint. I tried different types of mediums to seal my flowers (3D Gloss Gel, Mod Podge, Liquitex Gloss Medium) but they all saturated the paper too much and made the flowers flatten out..so I ended up using a few coats of spray acrylic sealer. Be sure to do this OUTSIDE..it is stinky!

Of course if you have flowers, you need some leaves. So I used some of the scraps left over from cutting out the scalloped rounds for my flowers to make some. I used a Stampin' Up! leaf stamp and Archival Black ink. Then colored them using' Lucky Shamrock Green' Magicals power. I coared them in some 3D Matte Gel to give them a good seal and extra body.

Now on to the next step..Figuring out how to change the cheap flip flops I bought for this project into something COOL. First off..I hate the feeling of that thong thing in the middle of my toes on flip flops... So I decided to cut that thing off and make slides instead.  I also hate how plastic and sweaty flip flops feel...so I knew I wanted to use fabric. I got some inexpensive heavy canvas from Hancock Fabric store to make soles to put over the rubber soles of the flip flops. I also figured these canvas soles would hold on the upper parts of the shoe on. The part I planned to decorate with my flowers. So with some trial and error...I figured out how to make cool mixed media canvas soles!

Now for the upper parts of the shoe. I was first planning to use the same canvas material... but I ran out of it messing around and making mistakes on the soles :) I also thought it might be a good idea to have something more stretchy and 'giving' for the uppers. so I went back to the Hancock's and got a 1/8 yard of black denim that had some stretch. Also, I discovered that having the top material a bit stretchy made it a lot easier to sew onto the canvas sole. Why black? I wanted a base so that my flowers would really stand out. The painted canvas was too 'matchy matchy' with the flowers. Of course I can't go completely cold turkey on the fabric painting..so I added some pattern with Copper Crackle Paste and the Finnabair Dot Grunge Stamp that came in my Kraaft Shaak Mixed Media Kit. Remember to heat set everything using a hot iron and placing your painted thing in between two pieces of waxed paper to protect your iron!

Now for the finishing touches. I had two really cool metal leaf charms that came as a gift from Heather with my kit, so I put those on first. I was wishing I had more of them! Then I added my flowers and leaves using fabric glue. For a final piece of blingy dewey looking spots  I used the sequins that came in my Kraaft Shaak Mixed Media Kit. Then...came the drying before I could try them on! UGH!

Once I had my fancy schmancy shoes done...I still had some flowers and leaves left over so guess what???? I MADE A SUN HAT :)

I hope you all made it to the end of this post and that everything I did was clear. If not, be sure to ask questions in the comments below. I promise I will answer!

<3 Shel