It’s been quite some time since I’ve been in school, over a decade. But way back when, these days in early August I only had one thing on my mind… My back to school clothes and shoes and shopping, shopping, shopping.

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I remember visiting store after store and having the hardest time making up my mind on what I wanted to wear, what I wanted to say with my clothes for the year. And to be honest, again, I don’t quite know what you would consider my style to have been but I have been informed that it would be something like preppy with a side of a drama student.

DIY Shoe Makeover: Pencil & Composition Book Shoes

Yes, I dug the Polo tops but I also liked some things that weren’t quite the norm. For instance, not once in my high school career, outside of gym glass or dance class did I wear white socks. No sirree, bob. I had quite the collection of patterned socks and one of my favorite pairs looked like pencils.

DIY Shoe Makeover: Pencil & Composition Book Shoes

So when I was pondering a pair of plain, white, classic canvas shoes and thinking of back to school, the pencil thing came back to my mind. And since sometimes I like things to be oddly asymmetrical, I decided that one pencil was enough. The other would bear the pattern of a true pencil’s mate – the composition book!

DIY Shoe Makeover: Pencil & Composition Book Shoes

For this project you will need:

DIY Shoe Makeover: Pencil & Composition Book Shoes

First, our composition book shoe is best done with inspiration nearby… Using a water-soluble marker, or a black fabric marker, draw the shapes you see on the notebook (or a Google image search pic of one) onto your shoe and all around.

DIY Shoe Makeover: Pencil & Composition Book Shoes

Use black fabric paint to fill in the areas around your drawings. I went pretty big, and if I had it to do over again, I think I’d make my pattern considerably smaller… Set aside and get ready to start on the pencil shoe.

DIY Shoe Makeover: Pencil & Composition Book Shoes

Now use your water-soluble marking pen to draw out the shape of a pencil on your shoe. I wasn’t sure how big I’d want the middle, yellow bit so I drew two lines to see which I preferred. Since the pen is water-soluble it’s no problem!

DIY Shoe Makeover: Pencil & Composition Book Shoes

Fill in the yellow pencil area with your fabric paint.

Pencil & Composition Book Shoes Tutorial

And then the black graphite of the toe.

DIY Shoe Makeover: Pencil & Composition Book Shoes

And paint your heel your eraser pink or red, and a small strip of silver just beside on both the inside and outside to mimic the silver thing that holds the eraser onto the pencil. Also, use your ecru to fill in the wood part of the pencil nib.

DIY Shoe Makeover: Pencil & Composition Book Shoes

Let your shoes totally dry (I didn’t and you can see some ecru on the notebook shoe I have to fix up, but I was so darn excited!)

DIY Shoe Makeover: Pencil & Composition Book Shoes

These look a lot more difficult to make than they really are. The pencil is just basic shapes and if you use a good quality fabric painting brush that is stiffer than traditional brushes (mine are Tulip and I LOVE them) you’ll get nice, sharp lines easily. And if you’re more into symmetry, you can have two pencils or two composition book shoes instead of a mix!