DIY - Redecorate Your Toms Shoes

About a year ago, I got my first pair of Toms Shoes. I really liked that the company gives a pair of shoes to a child in need with each purchase of a pair of shoes. When I got my shoes, I also discovered that they are super comfortable, and I think I wore them most days last winter and spring. They were even surprisingly comfortable to wear when walking around Italy. And so, even though I think they are good-quality shoes, they got a little worn out from my rather excessive use of them. I tried mending the hole they got in them, but they just weren't looking so great.

Sad Toms

Then last month I saw my friend Kelsy's adorable Toms, which she had redecorated herself with fabric, and I decided that I would try to do the same. I personally wouldn't try this with Toms that are in good shape, just in case something would mess up and ruin them, but these were nearing their end if they didn't get help soon!


I found this tutorial to use as guidance, but did mine a little differently.

The only supplies were a few types of fabric and fabric glue

I stuffed the inside of the shoes so they would keep their shape

I started with the toe, and tried to line it up with the fabric on the shoe
Then I cut it so it was close to the same size and glued it, tucking in the pieces at the bottom so that they would not look frayed

Here it is after the first section is finished

Then I did the rest of the shoe in two more sections
It's a little tricky to explain exactly how to do it... I played around with it some, trying to line up the fabric.  I'm sure you could do this in a variety of ways. One tip I have is to put glue on smaller sections at at time. 

Here's the finished product!

The only problem I had was that on the tan section, the glue showed through (as you can see in the pictures). I'm not sure if I used too much glue, or if that type of fabric just did that. I'm trying to decide if I should try to do something to fix it, or leave it as it is because I don't think it will be too noticeable when I'm wearing them. Let me know if you have any advice on how to improve them :) 

DIY - "Book Shelves"

I may not be a naturally "crafty" sort of person, but when I saw this DIY project on Ruche's blog a while ago, I thought it was so cute and would be a perfect way to decorate the painfully white walls of my dorm room.  Early in the semester I bought some books at a used bookstore with the intention of making them, but alas the semester nearly went by before I got around to putting them up. However - finally today I put together this "book shelf," and here is the result:

Hmm... one looks a little crooked 

Now my wall is not so sad!

The original instructions can be found here. I modified the instructions a little to make it work for me. My dorm does not allow larger than 1-inch nails in the wall so that is what I used to attach the brackets to the wall. I used the screws that came with the brackets to attach the brackets to the books. For the largest book I used three brackets to make it sturdier. I am a little worried they won't stay on the wall because of the 1-inch nails, but so far since last evening they have stayed up. If something falls on my feet while I am sleeping, however, it will not be so good :P

Here's how I screwed in the brackets before I put them on the wall
(It would have been much easier if I had an electric screwdriver, but I used what I could find)