Strawberry Cake Shoes- A Tutorial

Sprite's been really into Strawberry Shortcake lately.  She refers to her "Strawberry Cake". We saw a pair of Strawberry Shortcake sneakers at a thrift shop, but they were several sizes too big and horribly beat up, so we decided to make our own instead!

Supplies:

- 1 pair of canvas shoes
- RIT dye, in your color of choice (I thought pink would have looked nice with the strawberries, but Sprite insisted on green)
- puffy paint in red, green, & black
- a glass container and stirrer or spoon
- rubber gloves

First, soak the shoes (and whatever else you want to dye) in warm water for 20 minutes. I added a pillowcase and a super-faded tie-dye shirt rather than let the Rit Dye go to waste.

While they are soaking, mix the dye packet with 1 cup of water.  WEAR GLOVES!  If your hands are even slightly damp, you'll dye your hands just opening the package.  Remember, it's super concentrated at this point.  One of my gloves had a hole in it, go I ended up with a green finger anyway.  Such is life :-)

Set your washer to a medium load size with HOT water and a 30 min soak.  Let the machine fill up.

While the machine is filling, add the dye to the water.

Next, add the shoes and clothes and close the lid so the cycle begins.

Here they are! Sprite was very happy with the color.  Don't forget to run your washer again with hot water, soap, and a little bleach to make sure no more dye is hiding in there.  Air dry overnight.

 Use puffy paint to add the strawberries.  A pointy shaped lump for the strawberry, green poky leaves, and black dots for the seeds.  Let the paint dry in between colors.

You're done!

Here's a tip for getting kid shoes clean...the Norwex erasers!  They are chemical free and only took one swipe to get the grime off the white part of these shoes (they were from the thrift shop too)

Here's a before and after of some of Sprite's shoes:

One swipe it all it took!  I wish I discovered them sooner!

My friend Steff sells Norwex products if you don't have a consultant and would like to purchase.  Contact her through her facebook page, and tell her I sent you! www.facebook.com/norwexbysteff

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.  It can be modified for any color or theme that you kid might currently be obsessed with :-)

Kelly