My one true love? Who knows, it might be "shoe"!

After thoroughly getting to know the royal side of Ever After High, I decided to visit an old ghoulfriend, C. A. Cupid, who is sporting some hexcellent new shoes since her transfer!  It was love at first sight; I needed a pair for myself.  If you want to shake up your ghoulish good style and add some EAH flair, give these shoes a try! Who knows you might find your one true shoe love~

What I used:

Pumps

Sharpie

Tracing paper

Gold leather paint (Lumiere)

Plastic leaves

Acrylic paint (gold, pink, copper)

Paint brushes

E-6000

Pleather

Velcro

Model magic

Hand sewing needle

Golden thread

Scissors

Gesso

Sandpaper

Craft foam (thin)

Worbla
Heat gun

Awl

Rhinestones (Swarvoski: SS12, SS16, SS30, 14mm hearts)

Massive amounts of time and patience!

The first thing I needed to do before I started this project was get over the fact that Cupid's feet are very tiny, and honestly a bit oddly shaped.  Therefore my shoes will never have the exact same proportions as hers, which throws off the design a bit... my OCD was not thrilled.
The best shoe I could find was a heel with a hidden platform.  It gives the shoes a big puffy rounded toe, perfect for laying on the intricate designs.  I chose a slightly thicker heel because I am horrible at walking in stilettos, and these will be more comfortable for the event I'm planning on wearing them to.  If you've got a prince charming to catch you if you fall, you might want a thinner heel.

After you've found your perfect shoe match; draw the design with a Sharpie.  This is my favorite part! It's so liberating to draw on a pair of shoes, I'm a rebel after all~  Magic mirror the design on the other side of the shoe, it will need to be adjusted a bit to account for the difference in the shape of the shoe.  My shoes came in slightly different sizes, so I drew the designs on both shoes to make sure they would fit right.

 Next trace the pattern onto the tracing paper, and cut the shapes out.  Then trace those shapes onto the Worbla.  Cut out the Worbla shapes, and using a heat gun stick them to the shoe.  The Worbla needs to be hot enough that it actually adheres to the shoe, but not so hot that it melts the pleather.  Always be careful when working with heat, protect your work surface and yourself.  

The Worbla is a bit rough, so it needs to be coated in gesso and sanded till smooth.  This took me about 6 loving coats, and a couple days to get right.  I left a bit of texture so it would blend in with the shoe's surface.  It's hard to see in pictures, but my shoes have a natural leather look.  It's best to avoid getting gesso on the shoe itself.   If you do, a bit of water and some careful scarping will remove it.  The cleaner the shoe stays the better.  I've cleaned the back part of my shoe only in this picture.

Now to move onto larger details.  The wings, and the large back hearts are made in a very similar fashion, but the wings are more complex so I'll hocus focus more on them.  To start, I wanted a bit more detail and depth than the wings on Cupid's heels.  Since my shoes are life size, I felt that they needed it to take flight. After designing the general look/size of the wing, cut out layers of craft foam and glue them together.  I defined the feathers by dragging an awl through the foam.

 The wings can be left like this, and finished with coats of glue and paint, but for me they need some more love and care.  Relationships never work if you don't put all you've got into them~ I decided to cover them with Worbla.  It covers up the stacked edges and makes the whole wing look as if it was one piece. Heat the Worbla flat to your surface pushing it into the details with the side of the awl.

Allow to cool, and pull the whole thing up from the board.  If you try to move it while the Worbla is still hot, it can rip.  Then cut the Worbla close to the edges.

Reheat just the edges and wrap to the back.  Leave the foam inside for support.

Then trace this shape to a new piece of Worbla.  Cut that out and use it to cover the back, smoothing the seams.  Evenly heat the whole wing and bend it to nicely fit on the shoe. Repeat, remember you are making two!

Gesso and sand till glass slipper smooth, or leave a bit of texture for a more vintage look.

Paint gold, adding some shading around the feathers in copper for depth, and finished with a few coats of varnish.  Set aside for later.

For the big hearts on the back, I used the exact same method.   My hearts are smaller than Cupid's (they don't reach all the way on to the side of the shoe).  Though I felt they looked proportionately just right for my less than dainty feet.  Also, I choose to paint my hearts all pink, instead of gold on one side.  Rewrite these details to best fit your shoes, and your heart.

Since these shoes are so full of small raised details, spray painting them seemed like it would turn out to be a total fairy fail.  I decided it would be fun to try a different type of paint (Lumiere), and trust me it was love at first sight!  I've used it to paint fabric before, but never shoes, and it is simply spellbinding.  It is a fairy thin paint, so it will need many coats.  Don't paint thick coats or you will risk paint cracking, or leaving brush strokes.  It took me 5 coats to cover the shoes.
The hearts and wings are painted with regular craft acrylic.  My golds matched really well, but if yours don't, use the Lumiere paint as a last coat, it will make the process go much faster.
After the paint is dry, use E-6000 to attach the hearts to be backs of the heels.  The shoes and hearts weren't quite a perfect match.  I had to add a piece of model magic to help bridge the gap between the hearts and the shoes (the leaves need something to stick to).  Once the clay is dry, glue it to the shoe as well as the heart, and paint gold to match.

Now it's time to work on the strap.  My shoes had a fairy thin strap, which needed to be made bigger.  I used pleather and craft foam to make a cover for the straps.  First trace the shape of the strap onto the back of the pleather.  I had to cut the edge of my strap off at the end to make the right shape, as well as remove the button that was attached to the shoe.  Next cut two straight strips of foam and two thin curved ones (one set for each shoe).  Glue them down along the edge of the pleather.  Trim the pleather so that it will just barely overlap in the center.  Next, using a zipper foot, fold the pleather over and stitch close to the foam.  This will create the little raised edge.  I would suggest starting with the curved side, since the straight side is easier to sew.  If you have trouble with the zipper foot griping the pleather, place a piece of tissue paper (the type you use for presents not your nose) between the foot and the pleather.  Pick it out of the seams once the piece is sewn.

To connect the strap covers to the shoes, take a few stitches with your hand sewing needle, into the shoe itself where the strap meets the body of the shoe.  It's fine if this connection point looks a bit messy it will be covered later.  Then wrap the pleather around the pre-existing strap and sew closed.  Some pleathers will delaminate if you try to glue them, so if you decide to use glue, test it on a scrap first.  My pleather came pre-gilded, so it didn't need to be painted like the shoes, but I did add some copper paint to the stitch lines to bring out a bit more depth.

Now that I've added a new strap, I needed a new way to hold it closed.  Despite the fact that I just covered the old strap I thought it looked better moved up higher, and I'm a good .5" above where it used to connect.  If you have to do this to your shoes, make sure your feet are in the shoes when you find the new attachment point.  I left the strap with enough give that a piece of industrial strength velcro would hold it on.  I decided to move the connection to the inside of the shoe as well, it makes the surface the wings attached to flatter.  The rough side of the velcro is on the strap with the soft side facing my feet.

Before flying on to the next step, I went back to the wings I had finished previously and located my attachment point.  I decided to use velcro to attach the wings to the shoes.  The reason I didn't glue them, was in case they got snagged or pulled they would come off without tearing half the shoe with them.  Also, they can be easily removed for storage, and travel.  Write on your destiny on that one though.

Once I had where the velcro would be placed for my wings ( I stuck it on later, so that it wouldn't get any stray glue in it) it was time to start on the plastic leaves.  I purchased something called "Ruscus" from Michael's.  Never heard of it, clearly I need to spend more time talking to Ashlynn about nature, and less about shoes~  I was looking for Laurel, but this was the closest they had... and were on mega sale!  Unfortunately it only comes in green, so every leaf needs to be painted.  Pull the leaves off the steam separating them by size.  I was making the rest of Cupid's outfit so I saved the smaller leaves for her accessories.  I used mostly the largest leaves on the shoe.

Start by painting the backs of the leaves first, then move to the fronts.  Why? If any of the paint gets on the other side of the leaf it can stick to their drying surface and ruin your paint job.  It's more important that the front looks nicer than the back.  Don't be lazy and only paint the front, the back does show at certain angles, and this is a labor of love~
Once you have enough leaves painted start gluing them to your shoe using E-6000.  Its best to work from the top down and from the sides to the center back.  You might want to enlist the help of a few prince charmings to help hold down the leaves as they dry. Make sure to cover up the connection point from the new strap, but leave an open space on the opposite side for where the wings attach, so they still can lay flush against the shoe.

After all the leaves were glued I placed my wing velcro, and allowed the whole thing to dry.  A few more pieces of this story are missing though!
No matter how hard she works on her aim, Cupid's arrow will never fly straight if it doesn't have its feathers.  I used a sheet of textured craft foam to achieve the tiny stripes.  Glue it together so both sides have the texture, and cut out four rhombi.  Coat all sides with gold paint and glue to the heels of your shoes.

Now for the final chapter~
I like my fairy tales with extra sparkle, so for all the fine dotted and heart details I used rhinestones, Swarovski crystals to be exact.  You can also use the worbla or puff paint (they are a bit more budget friendly)  but can you really have a happily ever after without copious amounts of pixie dust and sparkle? I don't think so, and everyone deserves a happy ending~  Use the E-6000 to glue all the rhinestones to the shoe, and allow to dry.

With that your fableous shoes are finished.  Give them a test walk, who knows they might lead you to your happily ever after~