While we love our heels from time to time, we reach for a comfortable flat when we have some serious moving to do, whether it's a day of serious shopping, or rushing to class, or running through an airport. Shove the stilettos aside and give us something we can take a serious power stride in and and whether it be a pointy cap toe or a ballet flat, we'll show you how to turn it into fall's hottest trend: the cap toe flat!
Our inspiration for our first pair of DIY cap toe flats were a pair of J.Crew shoes we spotted (pardon the pun). Since polka dots are all the rage, we couldn't resist finding yet another use for our trusty paper reinforcements, besides using them for our easy french manicure! They were super-handy for painting circles on our shoes.
RED + POLKA DOTS
1. Rescue a pair of plain flats - pointy or round toe! Either is fine. 2. Gather your supplies: tape, paintbrush, reinforcement labels, white paint or white nail polish, red glitter paint (we used Tulip Glitter Paint but you can also use a homemade version of 1 part Modge Podge to 2 parts glitter in a tinfoil lined bowl [see our notebook story for glitter ideas!]) 3. Place tape firmly across the end of your shoes where you would like the "cap toe" to be and paint the glitter paint across the toe until it is the opaqueness you desire. It's fine for the paint to get on the tape. 4. Let almost dry and carefully peel the tape from the end of the shoe. Let completely dry. 5. Place the reinforcements labels on the shoes. The inside circles will be your dots. We were unable to find an inexpensive leather paint that could be dabbed on and would remain on our shoes, so we ended up using white nail polish (gasp!) which worked amazingly well. You can finish with a sealer such as Aleene's Spray Acrylic Sealer which will seal your work and prevent peeling. It is available at most craft stores in matte and gloss finishes. 6. After polish has dried, carefully peel the reinforcement labels from the shoes and enjoy! Our cost was about $10... we saved $115!
ORANGE + STUDS
Metallics and studs are also a huge trend for fall, but we were soooo tired of these shoes. They needed a new life, and a DIY cap toe save them from Goodwill!
1. Gather your supplies: spray paint (or any color you choose), tape, plastic or paper or paper towels. 2. Carefully tape the line across the the toe where you would like the cap to appear. Then tape your plastic or paper a little farther back on top of the first layer of tape to cover the rest of the shoe so that none of the shoe will be sprayed by the paint. 3. Spray after covering the surface where you will be spraying. Make sure you are in a well-ventilated area. 4. This could be your last step if you like your shoes as they are! Again, you can use a spray sealer to prevent peeling. 5. If you want to add a little bit of glam to your shoes, or your line is not as perfect as you wished, then studs are the perfect solution. We used a fabric glue and glued them directly across the line. 6. Enjoy your funked up cap toe shoes!