DIY Polka Dot Sneakers

Converse / Keds for Madewell / Vans

I’m a little bit of what one might refer to as a polka dot whore. I guess aficionado is more politically correct. But it’s also slightly boring.

Anyway. I digress. I love me some polka dots. Lately I’ve been obsessing pretty hard over polka dot sneakers. They’re fun and a little whimsical and (most importantly) comfortable.

But I’m cheap. Like, really cheap. So I have a hard time parting with money when I already have a couple of pairs of perfectly acceptable sneakers. Tear.

Just when I had given up on the thought of owning a pair in the near future, I remembered the cheap canvas sneakers I picked up in Walmart earlier in the summer. At first, I wanted to glitterfy them (no, that’s not a word). After a bit of a DIY fail on a glittered pair for Samantha, I started thinking maybe I’d attempt a tribal print a la a pair of TOMS I’ve been loving on. After much soul searching I realized that was a terrible idea.

I’m no artist. But polka dots I can do.

I also decided to be wild and go neon. I’m loving the trend but it’s not destined to be a classic so I’m not about to spend a lot of money incorporating it into my wardrobe. A nice, cheap DIY project is the perfect way to sneak it in there.

So here’s how I made my polka dot sneakers:

not pictured: glue gun, scissors and popsicle stick

This photo is admittedly horrific, but I thought it was necessary to show how I made my circle stamps.

Trace or draw the shape you’d like to stamp onto a piece of foam (I had a big multicolored pack of it from the dollar store). Cut it out and hot glue it to your popsicle stick. I found that gluing two pieces of foam on top of each other made a much cleaner stamp. Neat edges are important if you plan on wearing it!

Now all you have to do is dip your homemade stamp into some paint and stamp it onto your shoe. Remember that less is more–a little dab in the center will spread out when you push down. Doing it this way is much less messy than using a lot of paint.

Fun, right? I think I might have to buy another cheap pair of black canvas sneakers and stamp them too. Maybe I’ll do little hearts or stars or even stripes or chevron.

What do you think?

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