I’m so excited to share this fun DIY collaboration with Converse One Star for Target! They sent over an adorable design kit with a brand spankin’ new pair of classic white Converse One Star sneakers, and asked me to customize them to match my personal style.
I put my own little spin on them with a few tricks and some simple craft supplies. Get the full run-down after the jump — including details about a giveaway from Target for a chance to design your own pair!
I started with a super-white pair of Converse One Star for Target sneakers, and big plans to spice them up a little with some gold and leopard for fall {ya’ll know I love myself some leopard}.
First, I wanted to take the bright white to a natural canvas color. [Enter my first try at tea dying]. I brewed a full kettle of strong tea, then cut the tea in half with an equal amount of water. After letting the liquid cool to room temperature, I removed the laces from the sneakers and dunked them in a big pot with the tea covering them completely to soak up the stain.
While they were cooking, I took some time to practice my leopard print [another first]. Using my favorite Michael Kors leopard pony hair wedges as inspiration, I got to work making spots with fabric paint in metallic gold and medium brown and sponge brushes from the craft store.
The great thing about leopard is it’s perfectly imperfect, so recreating it isn’t as hard as it looks. I found the best results when I made messy ovals with the gold metallic paint and the round end of the sponge brush, then made the edges of the spots with the medium brown and the narrow sponge.
The sneakers soaked in the tea bath for about an hour until they reached the color I was looking for. Keep in mind that the stain will look darker when it’s wet, so let it get a little darker than your desired end result. I let them dry overnight.
The next morning, I painted the black stripes and the top part of the rubber sole with two coats from a metallic gold paint pen.
When the gold paint dried, I went to town on the leopard spots! I toyed with the idea of covering these babies completely {meow} but decided to focus on a few strategic areas instead. We try to keep it classy around here.
Speaking of classy, I thought they could use a little extra fancy with some bling. So I added a few light brown Swarovski crystals…
… And gave the star the respect it deserves by painting it with the gold metallic paint I used on the leopard spots and my angled eyeliner brush {clearly my DIY kit needs some restocking}. Finally, I replaced the laces with ribbon.
Fini! What do you think? Are they me? ;-)
Now it’s YOUR turn…
Target is giving one lucky APP reader a design kit and a Target gift card to customize your own pair of Converse One Stars! To enter, leave ONE* comment telling us how you’d style your pair, along with an email address and/or URL where I can contact you if you win. All entries must be received by this Friday, October 14th, at 11:59PM EST. A winner will be chosen at random next week. Good luck!
Editor’s Note: Giveaway CLOSED
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Target. I received material compensation for this post, which I will keep. Target sent the Converse One Star sneakers and design kit for my review, editorial consideration, and for a giveaway to A Pretty Penny readers.
* To keep things fair, any duplicate comments will be deleted.
Wow. This is soo cute and creative! I really want to do the same! Keep these types od DIY’s coming! :]
Eneida | xoEneida
super cute and rockin
OMG! I love these. I’m not even sure what I would do if I won because I love yours so much. I might have to copy you. :)
http://justfabuless.blogspot.com
justfabuless at gmail dot com
I would do a glitter Skull design. Love this do it yourself Idea!!!
Wobisobi@yahoo.com
I love what you did with your pair – leopard print is my favorite! I think I’d decorate my pair with a zentangle doodle. I love to draw freehand without too much of a plan – it always ends up with a fun abstract design!
I would style them in my little sisters favourite colours – blue and green- with some sparkle as a gift for my favourite (and only) little sister!
I would love to cover mine in script, using the lyrics to a favorite song, with metallic or neon markers.
I love how you did the stripes in gold along the bottom, and the print of course. They suit you! ;) I would do a blush peach mixed with sea foam. Probably in a flowery pattern.
Wow a chance to design my own shoes.. What to do, what to do? Hmmm… When I asked myself that question ideas ran through my head and as i browsed down the page to get to the comment box i noticed that i wasn’t the only one that loved this idea. Then it hit me..
ZEBRA print!!!~!
Why not… i mean i love that you can do so much and not to mention that it looks GREAT with a pair of stone washed jeans.. i can just see my feet now…
Well thanks for listening.. you can find me @ http://www.colourmei.wordpress.com or email me @ fordmei@yahoo
Oh, my. This looks like so much fun! I love your design. I’d probably go for studs and a little sparkle.
Ooooh, fun!! Maybe I’d do a zebra print. Or a faux tie-dye. Or…or….or!! :) So many possibilities!
This is awesome!! I love the idea that you can design your own converse! The end result could have looked arts and craft, but you did a great job and the shoes look like they were sold with cheetah already on them! Well done.
OMG love this Keira so cute!!! <3
Love this idea!! I am thinking I would do either a Minnie Mouse inspired look with red and white polka dots or maybe something Go Gators!! with orange and blue!!
That is such a cute idea! A very good, inexpensive way, to spice up a pair of converse shoes. And, each person can get creative with how they style their shoes!
mine would have to be red polka dots… bright and fun.
Love Love this!!! Love your design!! What a cool idea ..
I think I would kick my kickers up with the some Steeler colors!! Let’s Go Steelers!!
Love your creativity with this pair! I’m not sure how I’d restyle it..maybe something pink and bike related to go with my pink cruiser bike! thanks for the chance to win!
Love your pair, soo cute. Since I’m uber obssessed with Converse (only sneakers I wear, yeah a little of a dork) I would love an ombre pair. Maybe with colbalt blue or a deep purple?
You did such an amazing job – I would so buy leopard converse! I would do some sort of gray stripes – simple I know, but I like it!
Polka dots, flowers, stars, multicolored stripes of varying thicknesses – the possibilities are endless!
ssimpson83(at)gmail(dot)com
Oh my Gosh, this sounds like so much fun! I was thinking since it already has a few stars, I would do the American Flag somehow. So basically red, white & blue….Hmmm….my brain is going crazy with ideas now! Thanks so much for the giveaway!
I think I would try a red, white and blue combo – so patriotic! :)
ADuplessis@roadruner.com
wow! this would be a fun project- I would do mine a damask black and white pattern
cinnamonlvr at aol dot com
So cute- love how you personalized them!
http://www.saysskippy.blogspot.com
these are adorable!! great job.
http://www.modernsuburbanites.blogspot.com
this is so fun, i absolutely love what you created! dying them in the tea bath was a fantastic touch! i would love to try my hand at dye too, maybe a light teal? and then accent with some coordinating crystals in a random groupings… my creative juices are already flowing! thanks for the giveaway!
This is absolutely adorable! How fun! I would probably design them with a floral print because that it one of my all time faves and I think it would be a fun girly/tomboy piece to own.
<3 Rachel
I absolutely love the outcome of your Converse! I’d love to try doing a similar animal print, maybe zebra or small cheetah. Though it’d be up in the air once I had them in front of me. :)
Love this giveaway. I would probably do your design as I am a cheetah/leopard print fanatic myself. But I would add glitter to them on top of the cheetah design and probably I would do a non traditional color like pink and black.
So cute! I would love decorating my own; I would probably do colorful flowers.
No doubt represent PHILIPPINES! get a philippine flag painted on there!! i totally LOVE yours though, keira—i thought u bought them like that from target LoL. well done!!
I would try an ombré style!
Love the animal print you did with these~ <33
I use to buy vans and do custom shoes for myself- but its been a while. I've have a couple things in mind I'd want to do, so its hard to choose any one particular idea. I would probably stick to doing some kind of floral design with paint or markers though. :)
I would stripe it up – likely in red & white.
Girl you have outdone yourself. SERIOUSLY cute. I have always wanted to decorate a pair of cons with type. Possibly my favorite poem or verse? I’d also add ribbons for laces. : )
What a fun idea! Your leopard design is great for fall, but I’d like to cover them with green apples to match my blog header and profile pic. Green is also my favorite color, so I know I’d wear them a lot.
The leopard is great i would probably do damask design. The background and the danask would be the same color but the demask design would be sparkly!
I am so impressed by your craftiness!! Since I live in Jacksonville — and am NOT a fair weather fan — I would jag them out with some teal and black jaguar print and switch out the laces with something obnoxiously sparkly to make my game-day attire extra cute!
Roar!! Those are so cute. You could make a few and sell them in the shop? There is a lady in my area who customizes cowboy boots!! You may be on to something. Thank you for sharing.
Zebra print! All about the Zebra print for me these days! However, I do think that leopard comes in a very close second place! These turned out so awesome!
Your design came out great!!
The Converse One Star design I have had in mind for a while is for a friend of mine. Earlier this year he competed in a music competition and made us all very proud. Converse shoes are part of his signature look and I have wanted to make a special pair for him for a while now to celebrate his new found success… I’m thinking bright red swarovski with a touch of black glitter for some bold and ferocious animal print.
Thanks for the inspiration!! XOXO
Yours turned out great! I’d probably keep mine simply and do polka dots. I’m not sure what color. Black and white, red and white, or pink and white.
nsciambi@gmail.com
I like the leopard but I would design these for my best friend (who isn’t into animal prints). Therefore, I would decorate them with words relevant to our friendship (places we gone, things we’ve done, etc.)
mas10aa at fsu.edu
I would buy some lace and wrap it tightly around the shoes and go to work with some spray paint to create a classy, casual sneaker.
I love the leopard! I think I’d get all retro with a damask print or something graphic and clean.
hipsta-magic.blogspot.com
How cool! I love what you did with yours. I just might cover mine in glitter… :)
The leopard print is amazing! I would probably try a “Burberry” look on mine if I won. Could be tricky, but they would go with everything!
I love the stain idea! I think I would replicate that and then decorate them with birds and trees.
redemptionisbeautiful.blogspot.com
You could have totally fooled me that these were a DIY project! I would style mine by dying them a grey color and adding a red or blue ikat border around the bottom.
SO CUTE! These turned out so cute! Love the animal print!
I would customize mine with some black polka dots. Kind of simple but totally cute and totally me. :)
Omg! These are the cutest, that’s such a great collaboration! I love love the design you came up with!
Cess O. <3 The Outfit Diaries
I love the leopard print but would need lots of practice- I’m no artist.
I have a tomboy daughter who hates wearing dressy clothes and shoes, so I will make her a pair with a simple black and white chevron, stripe or polka dot pattern so she can wear them out with a pair of lack pants and a pretty top, her favorite ‘dressy outfit’.
Your sneakers are too cute. I would love to design a pair with maybe a ombre cheveron pattern or either watercolors.
cereza25 at yahoo dot com
Super cute idea. I would style mine with a paisley design with my favorite fall colors.
Those are so cute! I would do mine in gray with stars all over. My daughter would probably make me do sparkly ones, so the classy may be gone when they got done.