Modern Baby Shoes

I found a tutorial for Modern Baby Booties that I really wanted to try for my baby girl, and when I finished them today I couldn't wait to post pictures.  It sort of pushed all the other things I have been meaning to write about further down the list, but they sure turned out cute! 

The tutorial (from Tao of Craft) that I used was pretty good, but a little confusing.  On step five, you are supposed to have the velcro side of the strip facing up, but the photo doesn't show that.  Luckily, I realized that it wouldn't work before it was too hard to fix.  Also, none of the photos show the interfacing or the suede bottom pieces, which I am guessing she didn't use at first.

I pretty much made the flowers up as I went.  They are just simple spiral flowers, like these from Craft Snob, except I used flannel instead of felt.

A few things I will do differently next time:

1. Use lighter-weight leather for the soles.  I had some scraps from another project that worked, but weren't ideal.
2. Use lighter-weight interfacing.  I used some leftover interfacing from when I made my fabric boxes, but since these are relatively small it ended up pretty bulky.
3. Use more pins!  I didn't want to ruin the leather soles, so I didn't put any pins in the bottom, but things were sliding around like crazy, especially with all the curved edges.

I really do like how these turned out, and I can't wait to try it again.

Toddler Slip-Ons

I took on a project for my daughter last week to decorate some plain white slip-on shoes for her.  Here's what I started with:

After a few hours of drawing with my colored Pigma Micron pens and some help from my mom on the rhinestone heat-setter, I came up with these sweet kicks:

The design is completely original, and I pretty much made it up as I went.  I am very pleased with how this project turned out!

I found the blank white shoes at Hancock Fabrics for $7.50, and I already had the pens.  I did all of the drawing in one day, and I wouldn't recommend that if your hands aren't used to that kind of work.  I could barely hold the pen by the end!

My next projects will most likely be baby-related, since I will be having another girl in November.  I am planning to turn my craft room (sigh. . .) into another nursery, so that will definitely have to start happening soon.  Here are some of my inspiration pieces (I think) for the room:

I am definitely set on aqua and yellow for colors, but I can't decide between hot pink and coral red.  These are the colors I originally chose:

Decisions, decisions.  We'll see what happens.