These boots are made for walkin’

Okay, a few times I’ve made mention of a kind of dyeing project that was looking like a craft fail. Well, 2 months later, I’ve finally finished it. hee hee. I kept hitting parts that I didn’t know how to make it work. I really should have titled this post: “What happens when the crazy idea in your head doesn’t take shape.” Yep, that sums it up. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

I have these boots. They are the same color as another pair I have that I like better, so they don’t get much love. So I had the crazy idea to change the color. Once upon a time, there were spray bottles you could buy to use fabric spray paint.  I know, I used them for Willy Wonka’s coat here:

I couldn’t find a purple coat, so I bought a trench coat at the thrift store and sprayed it with paint, since I couldn’t dye it (dry clean only *sigh*). Yeah, couldn’t find those spray bottles anywhere. Ask my sister in law. She was with me. Anyway, I bought some fabric paint at the craft store, but it wasn’t the color I wanted, so I tried mixing it with acrylic paint.

It was metallic paint. Not what I wanted.

But I gave it a whirl anyway.

Wanna see how the boots looked for about 1 1/2 months?


Yeah, like Michael Jackson’s cast offs. Or maybe on Sleeping Beauty when the fairies are fighting “Make it blue” “make it pink”. I got annoyed and threw them in the garage. But every time I went out there, they were mocking me.

So I bought some white fabric paint, and tried glazing over the silver to tone it down. Not so much. Sat in the garage like this for another 2 weeks. Then, I finally wised up and got some black fabric paint.
Now, what do we get when we mix black and white? That’s right, gray! The color I had been going for all along. I didn’t get a picture of the improvement, because after it dried, I went and sprayed with waterproofing boot spray to protect my paint job.

Then I wore them to church when they were finally ready.

They were a bit stiff the first time, and I noticed a few spot that needed to be touched up, but it mostly came to fulfill the crazy lady’s vision. Do you have any craft fails or non-vision conforming crafts, or am I just super OCD?
Finally, I have a confession. I LOVE St. Patrick’s Day. It’s one of my top 5 favorite holidays. Why? Probably because it’s so underappreciated. And silly. I mean, pinching someone over a color? Just plain silly, but I love it. Anyway, I haven’t decorated at all for it, because all of my decorations are in another state (but only for a few more weeks! Eek!!!) So I did just something simple yesterday with my girlies. Mind you, we are currently living at my mother’s, so it’s not like I have free reign, so I worked around her typical mantel décor (the cute little lanterns and the daisy swag) and just added some stuff for fun.

We made a rainbow for preschool yesterday (I just do a little preschool with my daughters. Nothing special, but I use this site, and it’s awesome!). So fun, and my oldest thought it was “So beautiful!” I cut out some rosettes and letters with my mom’s Cricut and her ribbons and rosettes cartridge. It was hard for me to figure out, but I’m going to blame a long day, fussy girls, and impatience on my part. I’m sure it will work better for me next time. Here’s the rosettes:

Anyway, just a little bit of fun. I have gold coins coming from Amazon today for preschool that I’ll throw in a jar up there too.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!