Tristy Lee- DIY | Home Decor | Art | Project Inspiration

Hosting a DIY Halloween Witches Shoe Part is so much fun. Gather up the family in your home or grab a few friends for a night of creativity. You will find this project can work for most ages, even the little ones can help pick colors and allow to paint. The fun part about doing this as a party is that you can run ideas past each other to get inspiration. We did this over a mother-daughter weekend. My mom, Joan Atwood, her sister Janet and three of her girls Teina and Shalisa, were there and our cousin Cassie Sandou. While working, it was so fun to see how different each of the shoes turned out and how much fun it was to collaborate as we learned how to make witches’ shoes for Halloween.

PROJECT INSPIRATION:

     A few years ago, we went to Eden, UT, for a family vacation with my Grandma Craig and all her kids. Lily was just born, and I had the chance to join them. It is tradition to bring some craft projects to work on during our get-togethers. I am not sure who got the stuff or who saw the inspiration pieces on Pinterest, but they brought thrift store heels, and we transformed them on the trip. It is always interesting to watch personalities come out when starting a craft party. Let me share a few examples; I wanted some inspiration, so I spent about an hour looking at completed Pinterest shoes. Mom and Janet jumped right in to start creating the shape of their shoes with paper mache. Grandma began to cautiously look to them to get opinions and advice throughout each step. Mr. creativity John Craig, the creator of Niko the Dragon, went dumpster diving outside the condo to see if he could find anything exciting. Sure enough, he found a metal long fork that he later put into his shoe’s nose.  

Hosting a 2nd Party?

So why did we have another DIY Witches Shoe Party? At our house, we go all out for Halloween, and we decorate inside and out. We had a flood in our basement the year after our initial party, and it ruined over 90% of our holiday decorations, including my gothic witch shoes. Since we were planning our get together before Halloween again, it was a great time to create some new witch shoes.

WITCH SHOE SUPPLIES:

     Doing something for the second time allows you to be more prepared and overall more creative in the process using some of the learnings from the last time.

• Women’s High Heels: If you have retired, some heels shop from your closet. If not, thrift stores have these readily available, and you don’t need to get them in your size. I tend to look for smaller shoes in length and have details that may look good on the finished project. For example, textured leather, ruffles, or metal embellishments add visual interest to completed shoes.
• Paper Mache: Newspaper or old magazines to build the form of your shoe. This is such a fun flashback to school days, and if it is new to members of your party, they will build a unique skill set.
• Mod Podge: We used this to attach the paper Mache and decorative paper over the shoes’ top.
• Scissors
• Paper Plates: We used this to create stable shapes to either paper Mache to the shoes or duct tape to add dramatic flairs to the heels.
• Decorative Paper: Scrapbook paper with a variety of Halloween colors and patterns
• Embellishments: Small Halloween spiders, snakes, buttons, and even dragon eyes. I would pull out your scrapbook and or sewing odds and ends to use. 
  We also used some broken jewelry and some crystals off old chandeliers that we found at restore. Ribbon in different colors and sizes is a great option too.
• Aluminum Foil: This is an excellent sculpting and texture option. It was heavily used in my dragon shoe.
• Duct Tape: Several members of our group used this to create the base of their shape instead of Paper Mache.
• Paint: Having a variety of paints allows for creativity in the base colors of the shoes, the options we use include a variety of shades of both acrylic and spray paints.
• Optional: We made some Paper Mache Sculpting Clay using a recipe from Pinterest. It was made of primarily Elmer’s glue, toilet paper, and Joint Compound. I thought this would be good for sculpting the shape of the shoes’ heels and toes. 
  Our reviews were mixed. It took a very long time to dry, and it cracked and broke on a couple of shoes. This is not something we would likely use for this type of project again.

HOW-TO VIDEO:

While we discussed the basics that we learned from the last time we had a witches shoe party, people quickly started down unique paths. We wanted to share the process and ideas with you, so we created a video tutorial to walk you through our shoes’ creation.

HOW TO MAKE WITCHES SHOES FOR HALLOWEEN:

1. First, you need to create the shape of the shoe. This could include building up the shape of the toe, heel, or both on the shoe with paper Mache, Tin Foil or Duct Tape.
2. Then, most of the group started with a base paint coat on the shoe either with Acrylic Paints or Spray Paint.
After the base coat of paint is on, it is time to get creative decorating the shoes. Here is where you will see some really creative options. Adding color and decorative elements to add the finishing touches to the shoes.

FINISHED WITCHES SHOES:

DISPLAYING YOUR WITCHES SHOES:

     These are so much fun because they can go just about anywhere. One of my favorite ways to display décor is on a Halloween Tablescape. They look great as bookends, displayed on a stack of books, or elaborate witches display full of potions and spellbooks. I hope this inspires you to host a DIY Halloween Witches Shoe Party and have so much fun. Please share your thoughts and pictures of your creations here.

 TELLING YOUR STORY THROUGH DÉCOR:

      Making things to display for the holidays is a great way to give your home decor instant memories and story.  It is impossible to not think of loved ones and the fun times spent creating things together.  Please share ideas and pictures of your Witch Shoes and how you display them.