weekend diy.. painting leather shoes in metallic shades

I'm all for the current metallic trend, especially for this spring - I can't wait to wear pastel dresses with shiny metallic shoes. What I'm not so crazy about is dropping a lot of money on something that's decidedly a trendy purchase. Rather than buying a new pair of metallic shoes, I thought I'd give painting an old pair a try using leather paint.

I hit the thrift store with the intention of finding a pair of leather sandals to paint, but instead I found these white sneakers with leather uppers and a matching rubber sole that's over an inch thick. I needed comfortable walking shoes for a vacation we have coming up this month and I don't own a lot of sensible shoes, so I thought these might be a good fit. Plus, I've been eyeing silver sneakers with platform soles for awhile.

What you need for this project.. there are several ingredients to this DIY and while some are everyday items you probably already have in your home, others are more specific. Everyday items include an old washcloth or towel rag, a soft cloth (an old t-shirt or a bit of muslin or cheesecloth), rubber gloves, 91% (or above) isopropyl alcohol, and masking tape or painters tape.

The special items are leather paint, a small angular paint brush, and leather finisher. I used Angelus leather paint and high-gloss acrylic finisher, both purchased at Dharma Trading Co online (highly recommended). I ordered 1 ounce of gray and 1 ounce of silver in leather paint and used less than half of each, so if you're only doing one small pair of shoes, that should be plenty for you. The angled brush was found in the paint section at a local craft store for a couple dollars - the angled edge is important because it'll help prevent brush marks on your shoes.

First step in painting your shoes is prepping them. Remove shoe laces. Using the towel rag, wet it down with isopropyl alcohol and wipe down the parts you'll be painting. Don't worry about removing all the color from your leather surface.. just give it a gentle scrub. Be sure to wear gloves as you do so and work in a well-ventilated area, as the fumes can get pretty strong.

It's almost time to paint! Use masking or painters tape to mark off the edges of the soles. Be really careful with this, as it's not so fun having to scrape off the edges afterwards (as I learned).

Next step - prepare your paint. Pour a small amount of paint into a container with a tiny bit of water, so the consistency of the paint isn't quite as thick (but not runny or watery, either). If you're painting your shoes a metallic hue, you want to first paint the shoes with a non-metallic color that matches, like a primer.. so I used gray before using silver. Stir the paint with your brush and begin painting using light, short strokes.

I painted my shoes with four layers of paint in all - two gray, two silver. The first layer of paint, aim your brush strokes in one consistent direction and the next layer of paint, aim the strokes in the opposite direction for better coverage.

Between each coat, dry outside (avoiding direct sunlight) for about a half hour or until completely dry before applying the next coat.

Once you've attached your desired color and the shoes are completely dry, it's time to finish them. Take out your finisher and apply it to your soft cloth (I used a square of extra muslin as my soft cloth). Gently rub the finisher over your shoes evenly in a consistent direction, then set your shoes out to dry one last time.

Once everything is dry, remove your tape, put the shoelaces back in, and admire your handiwork! If there are paint smears on the rubber sole, you can gently scrape them off with a razor blade or box cutter (or even a toothpick might work around the edges).

Now you have some shiny new (old) shoes!

The total cost for this project was 20 USD for me, since the thrift store shoes were 8 (which is actually pretty pricey for a thrift store around here). You can definitely do it a little cheaper if the shoes you find are less expensive or if you have some things already at the house (like the isopropyl alcohol or gloves). Overall, not a bad price and a really fun project - plus the paint you purchase should last you through another pair, and it can be used for touch-ups in the future.

Note - I learned this process from a tutorial shared here by Anthony Hoffman, a professional shoe painter. Definitely check out the article for a more in-depth look at leather painting.

Happy April!

on flowers and citrus

Sometimes I do this. You know, eat a bowl of cereal or a turkey sandwich or a cheeseburger around 1 or 2 in the morning (sometimes you're too hungry to fall asleep, right?), then feel obligated to stay up til 4am because you're not supposed to eat within 2 hours of going to bed, so I kill time by catching up with emails or playing Skyrim (or I just give in and pass out). Tonight, I'm eating oatmeal and reading up on domestic things like gardening. Neil and I planted some trees this morning (and by we, I mean he) - a peach tree in the backyard, dogwood tree in the front, and a blueberry bush next to our soon-to-be garden. We even bought a hanging fern to put in our living room. Thinking about landscaping makes me think about flowers, and about the one and only horticulture-related website I follow - owned and operated by Amy Merrick.

I've never really been into floral arrangements, even during wedding planning, but something about Amy's eye and and attention to color and detail is addictive. Her inspiration and floral art make me want to turn our house into an indoor garden.

Amy recently posted a wonderfully written story about her mother's adventurous past.. read it here.

mint and red

Red tassel necklace - Red Earth Trading Company

Sheer chiffon blouse - American Apparel

Cutoff denim shorts - Abercrombie (from my high school days, old jeans cut short)

Nude wedges - Kork Ease via UO

The great people at Red Earth Trading Co are releasing their spring 2012 accessories next week and I had a chance to try some pieces out before they hit the store. A statement piece that caught my eye immediately was this red tassel necklace with mint-colored beads.. worn here with a simple white blouse and denim shorts. Statement pieces are a new concept to me, but this one was too lovely not to try out - just the contrast of pastel glass beads with bright red fringe was enough to get me interested.

For those who have missed my previous posts on the store, Red Earth is a Nashville-based company that deals in 100% direct trade, bridging the gap between artisans in several African countries and their customers all over the world. Red Earth gives a face and name to the goods they sell - literally. Purchases from Red Earth come with a tag that includes a photo of the artist, their name, and usually an online bio (for instance, the lady who made this tassel necklace is JaneRose from Nairobi, bio here). In an age when it seems as though the world shrinking equals the dilution of so many unique cultures, it's good to know there are organizations out there willing to prove that idea wrong - companies intent on preserving a society's personal art and history but still successfully creating fair business and artist-consumer bonds between countries and continents.

More photos here.

If you're in the Nashville area, stop by Hillsboro Village next Wednesday, April 5th and visit Red Earth's new pop-up shop! Info here. For those not nearby, Red Earth will be launching their spring 2012 line online as well, so no worries. I plan on posting the spring lookbook when it's released, so you can catch it here next week if you're interested.

tank magazine

Imogen Poots for Tank Magazine love. Desert scenes mixed with candy colors, metallic footwear, and retro shapes in oversized botanical prints.

Photography by Hilary Walsh, styled by Samantha Traina.

Photos courtesy of Tank Magazine.

Hope your weekend was splendid.. mine consisted of errand running, David Bowie karaoke singing, and Mad Men watching (oh Mad Men how we've missed you).

spring silk

Vintage pink silk maxi - Irene & Irene Vintage

Vintage silk button up - Thrifted

Heather gray pocket tee - American Apparel

Nudge leather wedges - Kork Ease (via UO)

It was only a matter of time before this maxi skirt showed up on the blog. Camille of Irene & Irene Vintage was sweet enough to do a vintage trade with me, and this was my lucky end of the bargain - a gorgeous pastel pink silk skirt that buttons up the front. I haven't decided if I'm going to shorten it yet.. maybe to a mid length? I think I might once the weather gets warmer. Other recent buys - a simple tri blend pocket tee from AA and a thrifted mauve silk blouse worn underneath.

More photos here.

Thanks for your insight last post - your comments had a lot of wisdom and encouragement. For those who didn't catch it, check out illustrator Kelly Thompson's take on the battle between dreams and happiness and paycheck here, it's what started this ruckus.

Hope you guys have a great weekend! We're starting it early with some friends tonight - we're all going to the midnight premiere of Hunger Games. I've got some Jennifer Lawrence love, so I'm ready to brave the preteen crowd.

to all of my creative, tired friends

Master illustrator Kelly Thompson recently wrote about the highs and lows of success - and she knows them personally, as a New Zealand freelance illustrator/photographer/art director who counts Lonely Hearts, Juliette Hogan, and Twentysevennames among her personal clients. In her recent opinion piece at Always Sometimes Anytime, she discusses the pains of pursuing your dreams and not finding that guaranteed happiness you expect as a young, doe-eyed beginner.

The article was exactly what I needed at the moment - refreshing, brutal honesty from an artist I respect and admire in terms of creativity but also in terms of success. After quitting my part-time retail job a month and a half ago in order to work full-time at home, I was prepared for an onslaught of creative inspiration and wonderful, sun-lit days spent doing what I love. Instead, what I mostly found was a frustrating and at times depressing bit of soul searching, procrastination, and a whole lot of laziness. I realized that being at home 24/7 was not as recharging as I thought it would be, and even if I labelled a sewing creation or photo shoot or thrifting hunt of mine subjectively "successful", it still wasn't filling me up with that sense of purpose I thought it was supposed to. Don't get me wrong - I love doing what I do, but it doesn't bring me that innate and overwhelming sense of satisfaction I expected. Not most of the time, anyway.

Rather, it's hard work without guarantee of a clear payoff. It's working a 12 hour day mixed in with a sense of not getting anything done at the end of it, sometimes. There is a lot of frustration. Working on your own terms by your own rules means there aren't those comfortable standards you can compare your progress to along the way - it means you don't have that positive affirmation or constructive criticism that you might find in a well-established career path, a path others have paved for you. It means you are your own boss, coworker, advice-giver, your own pat on the back, your own alarm clock and your own schedule-maker. It may sound good but with that power and freedom also comes a whole lot of responsibility.. and if you don't have it, you better learn it.

It's easy to hinge satisfaction and that personal feeling of success on the 'next step' - when I do this right or get this job or book this venue, I will have arrived and I'll be happy and content. But it's not always like that - in fact, it's rarely like that. There always seems to be a next step. These conclusions are what solidify in my mind that a true sense of being and joy have very little to do with what's on the outside (even if that's a dream job or overwhelming success) and have everything to do with a core value and sense of self on the inside. Who you are, how you see yourself, your relationships with others, getting recharged and relaxed and focused and loved. I get recharged by playing video games, by having God time, by being with friends and especially with family, by traveling, by pressure-free sewing. Those are my personal moments of contentment.

So as more and more creative people pursue their own personal dreams and as the internet makes it easier to translate those dreams into lucrative careers, there seem to be more and more people interested in finding a sense of self through their artistic goals - to hit self-actualization, to understand oneself and be understood/recognized by others, to be set apart but also to be a part of a community. Blogging specifically is a relatively new beast and we're all just figuring it out. The whole idea of a fast-changing, ever-evolving concept of communication and career through the internet excites me and drains me at the same time. I'm not very close to understanding it but I recognize that I'm a part of it. Is this growth too fast for our shrinking cultures and continents? Is it fueling the pressures and anxieties we feel as dream career-seeking adults bent on alternative lifestyles? Can the world become too small through the use of the internet? Can the world become too small, period?

I'm running into tangent city but I guess the moral of the story is.. there are frustrations and pitfalls and plenty of doubts with any creative vocation, even the best job in the universe, so pick what you really love because if you love it enough, it might just carry you through. But it won't always be easy, no matter how much love is there. We just can't put the pressure on a career or on success to give us complete fulfillment.

As internet users, bloggers, creative dream job holders, alternative life lovers/haters - what's your take on all this?

vintage spring lookbook 2012

And here it is, a spring batch of vintage for 2012 - shot at the Sam Davis Home in Smyrna, Tennessee with the modeling help of my lovely friend Lindsey Pearson. Photos by Neil and me.

More photos here.

Pieces range from 1990s tie dye denim crop tops to summery white pin tuck dresses from the 1900s. My favorites from the bunch.. easily the vintage silk polka dot dress, blue 1940s halter top with glass beads, and high waisted gold silk trousers (oh man it is a lucky lady that fits those pants).

Update - all items are in the shop now, click here to shop!

Thanks so much to the Sam Davis Home, to Lindsey (and her husband Aaron, who hung out with us for the afternoon), and to Neil - whose patience never ceases. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!