Kickin' Booties!

I really love my new bootie die and detail dies from Papertrey Ink. Today I want share a pair I created for my friend, Theresa to celebrate her first grandson.  This is going to be a long(ish) post because I've taken a a bunch of photos in hopes that if my descriptions are lacking you'll be able to pick up what I leave out from the photographs. : )

Here we go...

Remember these? Corsages made from silk flowers and baby socks?  In this part of the world these sweet little corsages are all the rage... or maybe it is just with my husband's family LOL but no baby shower is complete without a baby sock corsage.  Here is a picture of my niece, Sara, and I.  Sara is wearing a corsage that I made for her baby shower in 2011.

We have some more niece baby showers coming up this year so I decided to try making the sweet PTI booties into a corsage.

Theresa's corsage was my "guinea pig" : ) here is how I did it.

After constructing the actual booties from the PTI dies - I stitched the two booties together -

 

stitching them carefully with an off color thread. These threads will be easy to snip in the event the recipient wants to take the corsage apart to use the booties. : )

Before filling the shoes with flowers I needed to attach the pin backing.  This is a pretty hefty corsage so I wanted to be sure the pin would hold the corsage and again, I wanted to be sure the booties weren't spoiled in the process.

To achieve this I created a card stock piece which would serve as my "platform" for the pin back. I laid the shoes on the piece of cs - drew an outline then cut it out.

I then pierced holes where I wanted to stitch.

Lining the cs "platform" up on the bottom of the shoes I then stitched the cs to the booties using the same thread I used for constructing that part of the booties.  I did not use an off color thread because I knew it would show on the top of the booties.  As long as the recipient snips only the threads visible on the face of the cs platform they won't run any risk of snipping the wrong threads.

Next I made a couple of stitches to secure the pin backing to the cs and the booties and finally added two drops of hot glue to insure the pin  back would not fall off or be flimsy.

I put some lightweight tissue paper into the toes of the booties for support. This is an important part of making sure your booties can hold the weight of the flowers and leaves.

For this corsage I wanted to use "Grandma Pink" : ) silk roses.  I have been told I may have overdone it on the roses LOL but I guess I should have mentioned first of all I am NOT a florist LOL so I was winging it.

Here I wired my flower clusters to florist sticks (which were way too long but later timed) and then I covered the wire and the sticks with green floral tape.

After trimming the sticks to the length I wanted I was ready to place my flowers.  I wish that I would have had some florist foam or clay so my sticks could have stuck in securely but I didn't have any.  When I do this again this is the only step I would change.  Instead I simply put a layer of tissue paper in the shoe to protect the bootie and then began arranging the floral sticks into the booties adding drops of hot glue as needed to secure them. When I was finished I tucked in any remaining tissue paper that was hanging out - filling in any gaps around the inside of the shoe to be sure the flowers would remain secure.

That's it! : ) neat huh?  I really love making these booties. And I was pleased with how the corsage turned out.  Theresa was too : ) Her grandson, Christopher, was born on August 26th : )

I will be traveling to Florida next week to visit my Dad and I wanted to take some hand sewing with me so that I will have something to do on the plane and in the evenings if I'm alone.  I have cut several different pairs and I'm having to hold myself back from stitching them all up before I go! LOL

I do not plan to make all of these booties into corsages...... but....... then again.... you never know! : )

Thanks a bunch for hanging with me all the way to the end of this post : ) I think it took me longer to explain my process than it actually did to create the corsage LOL

This is my first time for entering Simon Says Stamp challenge! I hope I did everything right : ) What are you waiting for!? It is anything goes this week! so please come on and join the fun!!

Patti

Supplies:
Baby Bootie Die from Papertrey Ink
Baby Bootie Detail Die from PTI
Coffee Cozy Detail Dies from PTI
Felt from PTI
Silk flowers, ribbon and buttons from my stash