Ready to craft some fun DIY shoes? Decorating shoes with your own designs is so fun and a great way to add your own personalized style. Learn how to embellish shoes for custom looks that are totally unique!
My two girls are all about adding their own style to their personal belongings and clothes and it’s so fun to see them getting some DIY style going. I knew they’d love another shoe project after last summer’s Sharpie shoes were such a hit, so I rounded up some more fun shoe-decorating ideas. All you need are some shoes that need a little embellishing, and you can create all kinds of DIY shoe designs!
Ready to revamp those plain sneakers and tennis shoes (and flip flops!)
Explore these 25 Ways to Decorate, Embellish, and Spice Up Your Kicks we found and start planning your next shoe designs. Save these ideas for summer crafts for tweens and teens, host a shoe decorating party, or keep in mind when you need something fun to do on a rainy day.
Decorate Canvas Shoes
Canvas sneakers and tennis shoes are the perfect shoes for embellishing. You can paint them, dye them, dip them, embroider them, and so much more! Most of the time you’ll want to start with plain white shoes, but even if you don’t have white shoes, there are plenty of shoe design ideas for any color shoe.
What You’ll Need
Here are some of the supplies you’ll need for these shoe-decorating tutorials:
- white lace-up tennis shoes
- white slip-on tennis shoes
- fabric paint
- colorful Sharpie markers
- Mod Podge for fabric
Painted Shoe Designs
There are so many ways to add some bright colors to plain white shoes. Check out these DIY shoe ideas and get ready for your amazing shoe makeover.
1. Tie Dye Sharpie Shoes
These Tie Dye Sharpie Shoes are the shoes we created last summer and we were thrilled with how they turned out. The process was fun and the design possibilities are endless. Check out our tutorial below.
Learn more: Fun Loving Families
2. DIY Glitter Shoes
Go on, get your glitter on with these super sparkly painted DIY Glitter Shoes. This fun project uses fabric paint and glitter fabric paint to create a bit of a mermaid look and you can play with different colors to put your spin on this.
Learn more: Jennie Masterson
3. DIY Unicorn Galaxy Watercolor Shoes
All unicorn fans will love these magical DIY Unicorn Galaxy Watercolor Shoes. Learn the step-by-step technique using watercolors and white acrylic paint on white canvas shoes in this tutorial. If you’re using shoes with laces you can finish off your design with sparkly ribbon.
Learn more: The Life She Has
4. Hydro Dip Custom Shoes
Have you tried hydro dipping? My daughter made a hydrodipped painting that came out so beautiful, I couldn’t believe how easy it is to achieve those gorgeous colorful swirls. These Hydro Dip Custom Shoes are next on our list of DIY shoe designs to try.
Learn more: Polkadot Chair
5. DIY Galaxy Shoes
Customize a pair of black sneakers with this awesome tutorial. These DIY Galaxy Shoes are seriously cool and perfect for the skate park. Check out this post to make a pair.
Learn more: Artsy Fartsy Mama
6. Glow In The Dark Shoes
Turn off the lights and turn on the neon glow-in-the-dark colors of these fabulous Glow In The Dark Shoes.
Learn more: Craft Box Girls
7. Floral Painted Converse Shoes
Grab some colorful Posca paint pens and have fun painting these gorgeous Floral Painted Converse Shoes. This is a great project for little and big girls and a wonderful addition to a Spring wardrobe.
Learn more: Oh Yay Studio
Vinyl Transfer DIY Shoe Designs
Learn how to create beautiful unique designs for your sneakers using vinyl transfers. Check out some amazing ideas below.
8. Cat Shoes with Vinyl Pattern
These adorable Cat Shoes with Vinyl Pattern are made using the heat transfer vinyl technique. You can get the free SVG file for this black cat sneaker design and the easy step-by-step process in this tutorial. Even if you don’t have a cutting machine you can try cutting the vinyl out by hand (carefully!) with an X-acto knife.
Learn more: Persia Lou
9. DIY Mermaid Sneakers
Impress your friends by wearing these beautiful DIY Mermaid Sneakers. This DIY project uses a Cricut Holographic Iron-On to create the mermaid scales that are then applied onto the sneakers with a mini iron.
Learn more: Dream A Little Bigger
10. Rainbow Canvas Shoes
This Rainbow Canvas Shoes tutorial will take you through all the steps from design to cutting and applying the transfer onto your canvas shoes. Check out the link below to craft a pair. Who wouldn’t love a rainbow on their shoes?
Learn more: Kayla Makes
Fabric And Decoupage DIY Shoes
Break out the Mod Podge and fabric glue because that’s all you need to completely transform your shoes. Check out the fun ways how these clever crafters use glue and fabric for their DIY shoe designs.
11. Donut Mod Podge Shoes
These Donut Mod Podge Shoes with painted “sprinkles” came out so well and I just love the happy-cheerful vibe they give. You can recreate this shoe design with some craft paint and Mod Podge Photo Transfer.
Learn more: The Cards We Drew
12. DIY Avengers Superhero Shoes
You won’t believe what they used to make these amazing DIY Avengers Superhero Shoes. I’m not going to spoil it, but I will say that it is super-thrifty and totally genius. We’re huge Marvel fans at our house and I love how these turned out!
Learn more: Comic Con Family
13. Fabric Embellished Shoes
Learn how to give those Chuck Taylors a personalized touch by using bright watermelon printed fabric. These Fabric Embellished Mommy & Me Shoes are just adorable. And if you’re not a fan of watermelons you can custom-pick any fabric you love to make them just how you like.
Learn more: Aleene’s
14. DIY Floral Sneakers Using Napkins
These pretty DIY Floral Sneakers are using napkins and Mod Podge to create this beautiful design. What’s great about this decoupage project is that it allows you to create any pattern you can find on a napkin giving you plenty of design possibilities.
Learn more: It’s Always Autumn
15. Mermaid Shoes
These magical Mermaid Shoes are very bold and so shimmery, just like a mermaid under the sea. Even if mermaids aren’t your thing, check out this tutorial to see how these are made and swap out the mermaid fabric with your favorite patterned fabric.
Learn more: Craft Box Girls
DIY Shoe Embroidery Ideas
These embroidered shoe ideas are perfect for beginners. Even if you’ve never stitched by hand, you can have a go at recreating these simple shoe designs.
16. Embroidered Cat Face Shoes
Have a pair of black canvas shoes? Decorate them easily with this adorable embroidered cat face design. Check out this Embroidered Cat Face Shoes tutorial for details.
Learn more: Flamingo Toes
17. Pink Embroidered Shoes
Create your own customized pair of canvas shoes. These Pink Embroidered Shoes with a beautiful embroidered written message “Explore More” are perfect to inspire you to travel and explore more.
Learn more: Swoodson Says
18. Embroidered Sneaker Design
If you’re ready to push your embroidery skills a little further, go all in on these funky Embroidered Sneakers from Brit+Co. This wonderful tutorial walks you through the steps of creating your own hand-embroidered shoes.
Learn more: Brit+Co
19. DIY Floral Embroidered Shoes
I love the simplicity of these DIY Floral Embroidered Shoes decorated with sweet and delicate flower embroidery. Choose your favorite colors and make these yourself for a lovely summer shoe craft.
Learn more: Flamingo Toes
Embellish Flip Flops and More
Flip flops are a great way to dip your toes into shoe decorating since they’re so cheap and easy to find. Plus, they come in lots of fun colors already, so they usually just need a little something to make them shine.
20. Scrap Fabric Flip Flops
How funky are these Scrap Fabric Flip Flops? If you have any fabric scraps lying around then this is a great summer camp project for girls. They will love customizing their own flip flops.
Learn more: Gluesticks
21. DIY Flip Flop Fabric Straps
This fabric strap flip flop makeover looks so much more comfortable than the rubbery straps they came with. Dig through your fabric stash for some bold prints and get to work on your new summer shoes. Check out the tutorial for these pretty DIY Flip Flop Fabric Straps via the link below.
Learn more: Domestically Speaking
22. DIY Water Balloon Flip Flops
Here’s another fantastic custom flip flops idea for kids. All you need to make these fun DIY Water Balloon Flip Flops are basic flip flops and 120 water balloons. Check out the easy process in this tutorial. I’m sure these will be a hit by kids!
Learn more: About A Mom
23. DIY Rapunzel Flip Flops
Give your flip flops a Disney flourish with this DIY Rapunzel Flip Flops tutorial. Pick some pretty pink and white faux flowers and add them to a pair of plain pink flip flops for a Disney makeover.
Learn more: Sugar Spice and Glitter
24. Braided Flip Flop Straps
I saw these and instantly thought about my daughter who has the hardest time keeping flip flops on her feet. I know she’d love that these Braided Flip Flop Straps go around the ankles to keep the shoes more secure when walking.
Learn more: Make It & Love It
25. LED Light Up Shoes
These LED Light Up Shoes are totally amazing. I almost didn’t include them here, because to be honest, I don’t know if I would attempt them or not. The tutorial includes things like Arduino boards and coding, and frankly, that’s just way out of my comfort zone.
However… I really love these shoes! I couldn’t leave them out because they are just super cool. And, frankly, the tutorial looks very detailed and I think it could end up being a fun challenge to create a fun and techy shoe craft.
Learn more: Sparkfun