All About Witch Shoes

Just in case you missed our fun tutorial  for The Monster Craft Bash

over at Pocket Full Of Pink

we'd thought we'd post it again.

 We have a soft spot for anything Halloween,

and it's pretty obvious we have a fetish for Witch shoes too!

If you have wanted to try your hand at decoupaging

there are some great tips you want to take a peek at!

This project is pretty simple and unlimited for your imagination!

We knew we loved witch shoes...

but there's something about those socks that are so funny!

You will need some witch shoes cut from 3/4" MDF or pine,

 a 22" section of 2x4" wood,

Mod Podge, scrapbook paper and embellishments.

We grabbed our paper from Hobby Lobby and used K&Company,

which by far has the cutest Halloween paper that we love!

First we drew up some styles we really liked

and sized them to fit together.

We don't have a clue how to do free printables-

but feel free to blow up these pictures on your computer screen

and trace away!:)

These shoes range from 6"-9" tall and about 6" wide.

Ideally you'll need a scroll saw to cut these babies out.

They aren't hard to cut out, I promise!

Second, you'll need to base coat them with a coat of paint.

We always do a 2/1 ratio of paint with water.

The water helps the paint go on smoother with no globs.

Third, trace your shoe shapes right side down with pencil

and cut out each shape.  It's okay to leave a little overhang

which you'll next sand off.

For the sock we cut strips of colored paper and glued them onto white card stock

to create the perfect witch sock.

Another little tip~make sure to pre-cut your "sock" to the edge of the shoe.

That way you won't have a weird bump overhang that you glued over.

Using a very thin coat of Mod Podge, adhere your paper into place.

If you put it on too thick your paper will buckle.

Make sure to rub it all over and especially along the edges to ensure good contact!

Now it's time to sand the edges off!

This is what gives the shoes a painted on look!

You can pick up inexpensive files at your local hardware store for just a couple of bucks

and they are a must for these curly shoes!

You can also use a nail file to get in those tiny spaces.

We cut our lettering out with our Cricut

but you can write it on with a paint pen easily too!

We used Mod Podge to adhere the lettering to the board.

Now here's the fun part!

Tie on any and all embellishments to your heart's desire!

You seriously can't go wrong with these!

We even drilled some holes to lace up which was easy and fun.

Need some buckles?

We cut ours out of scrap cardboard and then glittered them

with German Glass Glitter from Meyer Imports.

That stuff is gorgeous!

We even added some to the spider for pop.

Then just wood glue your shoes into place and

you've got a fabulous Witch Shoe centerpiece anyone would envy,

cuz ya know.....It's All About The Shoes!

Make sure to check out all the other great Halloween ideas

for the Monster Craft Bash!

They are to die for!

 hee hee....Sorry, I couldn't resist!!

Witch Shoe Cake Stand

We couldn't resist making one more project with witch shoes.

Of course, we had to add witch shoes to a cake stand...you know, since they go hand in hand....

We added a little spider web to the frosting with black gel.  We don't prefer the taste of the black gel..so next time we will definitely use chocolate!

To add some whimsy, we made the cake a Halloween "rainbow" cake. We used  the Idea Room's rainbow cake recipe.  This is the third time we have made it...so fun!

Our kids were thrilled to have a piece of this colorful cake!

We added repositionable sticky dots to attach the pennant banner, for easy removal if it soils.

Here's what we used to build our cake stand:

One 12 inch wood round,

one 2 inch x 7 inch dowel,

three witch shoes.

screws,

small pieces of 1/4 dowel, 

Gorilla Wood Glue.

We put one long screw through the top into the dowel, first adding Gorilla Wood Glue.

To give the cake stand ultimate support, we drilled holes in both the back of the shoes and the 2 inch dowel.  Then we glued with Gorilla Glue- the shoe to the large dowel with small pieces of 1/4 inch dowels.

I know Gorilla Glue is pretty fantastic, but this will guarantee that the stand can hold a 6 layer cake!

We came to this conclusion....after our mom pointed out that we had a "structural" problem using glue alone!  Our mom...the 3rd Crafty Sister...always willing to help us out!

For the paper, we used a mixture of papers found at Hobby Lobby and some from K& Company's Halloween paper line.

Not only did we use Mod Podge to glue our papers to the wood, but for ultra protection from cake spills, we finished the top of the paper too. We also used spray polyurethane on the painted wood for added protection.

We added glitter to scrapbook buckles, and embellished with Halloween ribbons.

Throw in a few spiders and we have one "witchy" cake stand, perfect for our Halloween parties!