Musical Shoes

If you have never done freezer paper stenciling you have to check it out, it's addicting!! My sister came up recently so I could show her how to do it and we spruced up an old pair of her shoes. You can find freezer paper at the grocery store and you want to use fabric paint for your design because it just works better.

 My sis is very into singing and music right now, so she decided she wanted to add music notes as her design.

 We cut a piece of freezer paper out in the shape of the toe of her shoe, which is where we would be adding the design. Then with a pencil I drew the notes on, you want to draw on the side of the paper that is not waxy feeling.

 Once our picture was draw out, she used an exacto knife and a small pair of scissors to cut the notes out.

When everything is cut out you are left with a stencil, you can be as detailed as you want but I would suggest starting with something simple for your first project just to get the hang of it.

 When you have your stenciled finished it's time to iron it in place. You will want to make sure that the surface you are planning on ironing your stencil too can take the heat, test it first, trust me, I melted a bag right to my iron that I thought would be ok, it was not. Place the waxy side of the paper down and make sure it is positioned just like you want it to be, once it is in place gently go over it with your iron and the paper will stick right to the surface. We did it on a pair of canvas shoes and I held my hand inside the shoe while I ironed to keep the shoe steady.

 Once your stencil is solidly in place you are ready to paint. I always pat my paint on so that just in case there is a spot of stencil that was not totally stuck down, you wont have a lot of bleeding. Let the paint dry, I suggest not completely, before you pull your paper off, it's easier to remove while it is still slightly damp. Gently pull the freezer paper off in one direction and you are left with a perfect little picture.

Follow the directions on your fabric paint on how to treat it once your finished, most tell you to iron it to set the paint. Once the paint is fully dry they are ready for wear. I spaced out the day we were working on these shoes and totally forgot to take a picture of them when they were finished, they turned out really cute. She ended up adding some bright pink splatters all over the shoes and swapped out the laces for some blue ones to match the blue notes. Now instead of looking worn out, they are totally unique and fun. Rock on girl!!