Ballet Flats Makeover!

I worked on such a quick and easy craft project this weekend!

I have two pairs of flats in my closet that I haven't worn in the longest time. I snapped them up cheap at Famous Footwear a couple of years ago for under $20 a pair. (Which was a steal, since they are Born brand; a quick check of their website shows that their flats go for around $90!) I bought them because they were cheap and very comfortable, but I never really loved the big leather flowers that were stuck on the toes. 

I have them in black:

...and in gold:

This weekend I decided to see if I could get rid of those silly flowers and give these comfy flats a more current and grown-up look.

I thought the flowers were just glued on, but when I took them off, I found that they were glued and stitched. This meant that I had sticky residue and needle holes to contend with.

Yeesh. Not cute. First I gave them a little TLC with some shoe cream, which improved their condition quite a bit. 

Next I thought that some studs and a bit of strong adhesive could cover up the punctures on the toes quite nicely. I found this post, which gave me plenty of inspiration and the idea to order these studs to get the look I was going for. 

I played around with the studs on the black shoes until I came up with a pattern that I liked, and then I stuck 'em down with a little E-6000. And here's how the black flats turned out:

(I wore them out to a very fun birthday party on Saturday night with my favorite Smurfette tights.)

For the gold shoes, I decided to try something a little more bold. I've been really enjoying all the cap-toe shoe styles that I've been seeing around, so I thought I'd try to recreate that look. 

I googled "DIY cap toe flats" to get some inspiration from the web, and decided to use some spray paint for this makeover.

I went to our local hardware store and picked up a can of neon yellow spraypaint. I wrapped the shoes in saran wrap and taped them off where I wanted the yellow to end, and sprayed on a few coats of paint.

I didn't expect the paint to cover up the needle holes on the toes...

...so once the paint was dry, I grabbed my glue and created a studly little square to cover them up. And voila! Aren't they cute? 

Now I've got two rehabbed pairs of comfy flats for the cost of one can of spray paint (about $5), a package of studs ($3.95 plus free shipping and I've got a few hundred studs left over) and one tube of E-6000 ($6, and it too will last me through many more projects). 

Now what else do I have laying around here that I can give some new life to?