Of Shoes and Shea Butter

I promised shoes today, so I guess I have to show them.  I must say however, that the plan was to get a pedicure and show them on my feet.  No pedicure, no foot show.  My feet are awful!  

The story is, I got these shoes from my sister a couple of Sundays ago.  Remember my post about picking mulberries? http://14thstreetvintage.blogspot.com/2013/06/maryann-or-ginger.html  Well, things got a little out of hand.  I had the shoes in my bag, and the errant mulberry wasn't even the real issue.  The cup of shea butter that I got from my mom was.  In a paper cup, with nothing but a  napkin covering it, I left it in the car while I went to church, then on to the beach to take some pictures. Guess what happened?  I then proceed to put the melted shea butter (right side up and very carefully) in my tote bag.  I later dropped the shoes in, not thinking about the previous occupant of said tote bag.  This happened:

It's hard to see in this picture, but trust me, they're greasy!  Actually if you look at the insole--yep, that's it.

Oh, here you go...

Like I said---Greasy!

So I started with a soapy towel down.  And a day or so in front of a fan to dry.  I was SO not sure about this, but they were free so no great loss if they didn't turn out. 

I knew it would take several coats so I was prepared to be patient.  I had this red and cream stripe idea, which I quickly abandoned because it was going to be far too tedious, probably tacky, and the light color paint was not liking those greasy shoes. 

Nah, that's going to be way too much work.  They don't call me Queen of the Quickie for nothing, and I mean that in the kindest, most creative and professional way. 

I went with red all over.  It's beautifully bright, but I'm still not sure how this is going to work.  This is two coats, and I'm finding saturation (grease!) is an issue. Forging ahead...

Okay, this is working!  After the third coat, I had good coverage and just needed to touch up some spots. 

Now for the heel.  That's actually a good story.  See, what happened was...

  
While using nail polish remover to clean up the edges, I forgot that these fake wood heels had fake woodgrain on them.  I was horrified when this happened.  But there was no going back so I went ahead and removed all of it.  And out comes the cream color paint anyway. (Actually, it's called "champagne".)  It is a little darker than cream when it dries, and has a slight iridescense.  I don't know why spell check caught that word.  Isn't it spelled correctly?  

I'll just tell you now, because I know you're wondering.  It ended up taking six coats!  I think the heel surface was too slippery.  This is coat number five.  Six was the charm.  And you will see six--when I get my red, white and blue outfit together so you can get the full effect.  I'm sure that right now you're thinking they look a little weird, but trust me, it came together!  I'll post early tomorrow. I won't keep you in suspense.

Thank you to ALL of the neighbors who felt kind enough to subject   treat me to their own, personal, homemade fireworks shows tonight.  I can already tell I'm not going to get much sleep.  Have a safe and happy 4th!

Hello Gorgeous!