Sharpie Shoes

A few weeks ago, my mom handed me a pair of white canvas shoes that she had recently bought. The first time she wore them, they got muddy and stained. Despite her attempt at bleaching, she could not get rid of the brownish-yellow marks on them, so she gave up and asked me to try decorating them instead to hide the stains. I thought it sounded like fun.

Of course, I procrastinated. The shoes have been sitting in my crafting area, waiting for me to finally get around to making them pretty. Then finally, I realized that Mother's Day was coming up, and what better time to present my mom with her new shoes. First, though, I bought a cheap pair of white shoes in my own size that I could use as a sort of warm-up, as I had never done this before.  

I sat down with my collection of Sharpies and went to work. After some initial sketching, I came up with a floral pattern for each pair of sneakers.

Here is a breakdown of the final patterns:

Then it was just a matter of putting those patterns on the shoes. I dyed my mother's shoes yellow first. I figured that would blend in with the stains. Then I drew on top of that with the markers. 

Here are some pictures of the shoes in progress (my pair is on the left, my mother's on the right):

And here is my first pair, the test run:

And finally, my mother's finished shoes:

As you can see, I added some extra details on the heels of the shoes as well. They haven't been worn yet, so I still have to see how well they will hold up to the elements before I declare complete success. I sprayed each pair with some spray fixative, so I hope that will help a little. I guess we'll see...  Anyway, this project was tons of fun, and I was pleased with the results. Happy Mothers' Day!