Neon Doodle Flower Kicks

There are two projects I remember very, very well from art class as a kid. About 10 minutes into attempting lino block printing in the 6th grade and I was on my way to getting stitches. More fun, was the day we painted pieces of board a wild and whimsical pattern and then covered them with black crayon once dry. The black crayon was scratched away to unveil an awesome, almost tie dyed drawing. 

I was hooked and did this many, many times at home. To this day, I remember that as being one of my very favorite art projects that I ever was taught how to do. Today I'm mimicking the look on a pair of neon doodle flower kicks!

For this project you will need:

Tulip Fabric Spray Paint (I used neon)

Tulip Fabric Marker (black)

Canvas slip on sneakers

Let's get after it, shall we?

Whether you choose slip ons, classic canvas or lace ups as long as you've got white canvas you're ready to go. A quick thing to note is that canvas is practically like a sponge when it comes to very liquid paints. The sprays are thinner than the paints you would typically brush on so that they spray easily. As such the shoe is gonna suck that paint right up. You'll see what I'm talking about in just a minute...

Tulip Fabric Spray Paints come in a lot of colors but I chose neon because, well, neon is cool.

Before spraying prepare your soles by covering with tape. I covered with lip balm and it did absolutely no good. So don't do that.

Spray your shoes in splotches and totally randomly.

Does your business look like this? Awesome. You're doing it right. Set aside and allow to dry.

So here are my shoes the next day. No I didn't overly photoshop anything... They just dried considerably lighter because the canvas just kept soaking that paint up. If you want a darker or brighter color you'll need to spray and allow to dry 2-3 times.

Next practice your doodles. Look online for inspiration with a Google search or rock out your own personal doodles.

Or if you want some assistance, imitate the flower style I used on my kicks. It's simple and really pretty!

Use your markers to draw your flowers directly onto the canvas. Keep in mind areas of color that you really like that you definitely want to see and draw over those areas. 

Keep drawing and overlapping your flowers. Fill in the white space around the flowers with black. Since I wanted very large areas of nothing but black, I bought a jumbo black fabric marker from Tulip that was divine! Keep in mind that canvas will suck that business up so be prepared to go over everything with the marker at least twice for nice, dark lines and background.

Allow the marker to dry completely before wearing.

And then prepare to step out like crazy!

I actually made these guys to go on vacation with me. You know those times that you don't want to wear flip flops but you know you're probably going to jack up your shoes because you're at a lake or whatever? That's why I made these cuties! With all of that black they aren't going to stain and are going to look fab all week long - which means less I have to pack. Yay!

I hope you liked this shoe makeover! Head on over to Dream a Little Bigger to see tons more crafty stuff, including LOADS of shoe makeovers! See you again soon :)

Head over to our TIE DYE YOUR SUMMER site for even more inspiration, how-to's, and fun videos to get you mega-inspired for some DIY summer fun!