Saturday, November 1, 2014

Make it do or do without...An answer to a Pinterest problem





One of my all-time favorite movies...I remember waiting all year for this to come on television! So magical and with such a lovely message. There really IS no place like home!

As yesterday was Halloween, the Rehab gang and I dressed up as characters from the Wizard of Oz. Something the older folks at the center would readily recognize and remember. JM was the TinMan, Missy was the Cowardly Lion, S was the ScareCrow, ECL went as the Wizard, (although he would only consent to wearing a wizard hat that resembled the Sorcerer's Apprentice rather than Oz, but at least he DID that!). I got to go as Dorothy and Scarlett came along as Toto.

I love the heart!
Scarlett and I won the costume contest! Although I looked like a 200 pound Dorothy and Scarlett did a good imitation of Toto on steroids, we won the contest! Personally? I think it was Toto and the Fabulous Ruby Slippers that did it!



I followed some Pinterest directions, (with a few twists of my own), and ended up with the below results! They sparkled and sparkled all day long without leaving a trail of glitter all over the facility. They were absolutely perfect and everyone kept asking me where I had purchased them.
 


 
I actually got a new pair of shoes from the local GoodWill store, because I didn't want to purchase even a $20 pair of shoes and never wear them again. I mean for reals. Will I EVER wear these again? I seriously doubt it. So I broke the cardinal rule of never, ever purchasing used shoes. But when I got to the store, first thing I saw were these...

 
 
I could not believe it...they hadn't even been worn! The bottoms of the shoes were not even scuffed...
 
 
 
Easy peasy directions...because everything on Pinterest was complicated and of course, I did not have all of that stuff available...
 
1. If your shoes are shiny pleather or a smooth surface, (as mine were), rough them up a bit. I couldn't find sandpaper anywhere in my stash of craft supplies, so I ended up using EMERY BOARDS, of all things. I scuffed the patent pleather surface so there would be a good surface the glue would actually adhere to. Emery boards worked fine.
 
2. Cover your shoes in glue. Every direction said you HAD to use special types of glue or mix the glue with Modge Podge. I had spray Modge Podge, but not the mixy inny type, so I didn't add that. I also didn't have craft glue but I DID have some white glue left over from the trip to the Dollar Tree. So I used it. I applied it with a foam brush...because I had one on hand. I let one layer get tacky and then I applied another layer on top of that. I did the WHOLE surface that I intended to glitter at one time.
 
3. Apply glitter to the tacky surface. Every Pinterest direction said you should use fine glitter. Wrong. I did not HAVE fine glitter. I had the regular glitter you can find readily anywhere. So I used it. It was great. After I glittered the shoes, (and the entire craft room table, floor and the 2 cats), I waited until they dried and did the entire process again so I could cover any spots I missed the first go around. It worked fine. (The original Ruby Slippers were made with sequins and there were lots of directions for that on Pinterest as well, but again, I did not have that on hand, nor was I going to purchase it for wearing ONE DAY in my life time...)
 
4. Once THAT dried, I took the glittered shoes out to the front porch, sat them on newspaper and sprayed them with the 'I had it on hand' spray Modge Podge. Several times, allowing them to dry between coats. I was afraid that the Modge Podge would not allow the glitter to...well GLITTER, but it didn't do that at all. Those were the most sparkling shoes you ever did see! I fell in love with them because when I banged them on the concrete to get rid of the extra glitter only a few specks fell off.
 
5. I cut little cardboard bows and glittered them red as well. Then when the cardboard bows dried, I made a bead of glue around the edges and glittered that line of glue in a silver glitter. Once that dried I Modge Podged that and when THAT dried, I hot glued the cardboard bow on the actually shoes.
 
6. I wanted a princess cut red ruby in the middle of the bow, like the original Ruby Slippers had, but alas! All I had was some round geegaws, but at least they were red! So I hot glued those in the middle of the bows as well. And the below photos show the results...
 
SPARKLE LITTLE #RUBYSLIPPERS, SPARKLE!
 
 

   MINE->         <- HERS
                                                                                  
                                                                                  
 

 
The original Ruby Slippers, according to everything I read, were actually not very brightly colored at all! They had to 'dull' them down in the filming of the movie because they were SO bright, they actually made it impossible to film them. They are now owned by Leonardo DiCaprio...(what the heck?) and I have no idea why he would even want them. But I won't speculate on that...
 
So remember, my little blogging and Pinerest following friends, you needn't have ALL of the things they list in those recipes. Sometimes you CAN nail it by substituting what you DO have. Happy creating!
 

 
 
 
 


 




3 comments:

  1. That is awesome! I laughed much at your description of glittering the cats... And, hey, emery boards work great for sanding! I use them quite a bit for sanding parts of the model horses and on my (epic) stagecoach project. (I have to tell you that as I type this, Jeff is reciting bits he's reading about the original ruby slippers. Me reading parts of this post intrigued him, haha)

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    1. Actually, Elmo looks good with Ruby Paws....! I am still curious as to why Leonardo DiCaprio has the original Ruby Slippers...(enquiring minds want to know!) Maybe he is a cross dresser???

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