Who Are You Calling Crafty?

First I want to apologize to Paul Simon, I thought it was pretty clever.  I received a pack of Lesley Riley’s TAP (Transfer Artist Paper) a couple months ago.  Between my health and lack of color ink my printer it literally has stay in the package (Lisa Fulmer is cringing as she reads this) but I am happy to report I finally was made aware of the possibilities of TAP (no I have not been paying attention during all those TAP demos).  I finally cracked open the package last week and read the directions – you can use artist quality markers, pencils, etc on it (i.e. Prismacolors) ROCK ON!!!  I was so excited and knew what I wanted to do:  Monsters on the soles of my shoes.

I love canvas shoes (you know the cheap canvas shoes you buy at Target or Wal-Mart) growing up I had a pair in every color (I still have a pair of dark green with Green Bay Packer Laces).  They are extremely comfortable with my flat as a board feet.  Over the years I have painted them with acrylic paints (they get crusty and flake), fabric paints (work well but they bleed), oil (not so much – St. Patrick’s Shoes) and puffy paint (my Halloween ones are Black and Black Light Paint Orange with Glow in the Dark Puffy Paint – awesome I know).  My favorite pair I made was Tomato Canvas Soup Can Shoes that I wore out and plan on making them again.  So I bought a pair of white shoes when my mom was here and has planned on painting them but I didn’t know what I wanted on them and how I wanted them painted.  I left them and having a Booga, White Shoes DO NOT stay white for long.

My shoes were (are) dirty and I really didn’t want to clean them (or buy new ones) before I did anything because I didn’t know if this would work.  I printed off a couple of my Monster Digis and colored them with my Prismacolor Markers.  The big challenge would be to get the canvas to stay put without burning myself with the iron.

The monster underneath the shoe colored with Prismacolor Markers.

Washcloths – I stuffed two washcloths in the toe of the shoe which made the ironing surface hard.

The picture I took of the silicone release paper over the TAP did not turn out.

Monsters on the side of my shoes.

Monsters on the toes.

The Monster on the Right I had a little problem with a bubble but nothing big.

I pulled out the iron, the silicone release paper and in 10 seconds I had Monsters on the soles of my shoes.  I am so excited and now I want to buy more cheap canvas shoes and put more of my digis on them.  They are so cool – I think the next set might be a hodge-podge of Monsters or Little Brother Stamps.

Finished shoes!!!!  YAY for TAP and cheap canvas shoes!!!!

Final verdict on TAP – if you don’t have it you need it (yep I am recommending this product that highly)10 SECONDS and a HOT IRON is all you need to transfer the image (opposed to 5 minutes and praying it turns out).  I think Jeff is seriously concerned that I will be buying a plethora of canvas shoes for me and the kids so I can make “TAP shoes” the possibilities are endless – Stone, SpongeBob, Patrick and Thomas, all on one pair of shoes or one shirt (that would be several shirts – lol).  C and T Publishing and Lesley Riley YOU ROCK!!!!!