Up-Cycled Leather Boots

I saw these adorable mini yellow toe capped boots recently on Pinterest and absolutely fell in love with them. Obviously, Skye needed a pair so I went to the website and saw that they cost $85! I’m not about to pay that much money for a pair of shoes that my two-year old will maybe wear for six months. Kind of bummed out about not getting them for Skye (damn you conscience) I remembered that about a year ago a girlfriend of mine gave me a box of her sons hand-me-downs. And there were a pair of brown leather ankle boots from Stride Rite in there so I was inspired to make a version of my own.

Directions to make your own down below

Here is my version

        You will need:

• Leather Boots/Shoes
• Leather Paint or Nail Polish (white primer, color &clear coat)(I used nail polish & clear coat nail polish)
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Nail Polish Remover
• Shoe Polish
• Paint Brushes
• Painters Tape
• Q-Tips

1. Tape off the area that you won’t be painting
2. Clean the area that will be painted with rubbing alcohol and let dry
3. In short thin strokes paint a base coat (white) on the leather. This may take two thin coats of white to completely cover the leather
4. Let dry over night
5. In short thin strokes paint the color. I did three thin coats of yellow nail polish and I let each coat dry over night.
6. Apply a thin clear coat of polish and let dry
7. If there is any extra paint on the shoe you can remove it with a little nail polish remover on a Q-tip
8. Apply shoe polish with a cloth to the rest of the shoe that wasn’t painted

Voila!!! Super amazing shoes for your toddler or for you! For me this cost about $10 which is way better than $85!

A New Canvas

So Skye’s love of painting and coloring has taken on a whole new canvas. Himself!  He now loves to draw all over his body (including his scalp) and frequently comes up to me holding a marker asking me to draw on his face. 

Painting

I’ve written a few times about how much I love painting with Skye. I like showing him new techniques that I think sometimes he really gets. I say sometimes because the kid still tries to drink the paint water no matter how many times I tell him not to. Recently he was painting his table instead of the water-color paper so I showed him how to press the paper onto the painting and do a transfer. He thought that was hysterical and actually made a few great (I think) pieces. During another painting session he would take his painting and immerse it into a bowl of water and swoosh it around. The end result is a really muted, washed out, dreamy looking painting.

I usually take Skye’s shirt off when we paint or I will put one of my aprons on him. A few weeks ago Fab.com was having a flash sale on Keith Haring art smocks for $5 and I ordered him one. They’re not on sale anymore at Fab, but I did find them on the Bumkins website along with a ton of other cool designs. They’re easy to wipe down and throw into the wash too.