Last summer I discovered this awesome website selling cupake/gingerbread/ice cream shoes. I thought these ice cream shoes were lovely for summer, but I am not able to afford shoes for up to 400$ :-(. So I decided to try to DIY them. And see what happens. So ladys (and maybe gentlemen), join me on my journey to a pair of -hopefully- lovely strawberry-ice-cream-shoes.

Because this was a WIP, I had to adapt this instruction a little. This only affects the first foto with nearly all the materials shown. A few were added or left but I will mention this in the discription, so no worries. ;-)

Step 1: Material

The material you'll need:

1. One white pair of pumps
I chose a comfortable pair with a moderate heel to be able wear them a whole day if neccessary.

2. Acrylic in white
This one you use forthe seams between floor tiles.Choose acrylic not silicone because we will have to paint it later.

3. Acyrlic Paint
One in a vanilla or yellow tone, one in ocher for the heel as the waffle. One for your "ice cream", I chose pink. One for the sauce, I went for dark brown (chocolate).

4. A pair of fake fruits
The cherry on top! ;-) Choose between cherries or strawberries. Do not go for fully filled ones, they would be too heavy.

5. Pearl Pen
So I found one of these in my supplies. It is a pen with a viscous paint in it which easily forms pearls if dotted on paper or similar. You can use it for lines as well. Maybe this works with a glue gun as well but I am not sure if I was talanted enough to get a nicely straight line so I went for the peal pen. Choose a color like yellow, ocher or white which matches the colour of the waffle silghtly.

6. A spatula
To apply the acrylic. I had a popsicle in advance and saved the wooden stick for this purpuse. Actually my project was a good excuse to have some ice cream. ;-P

7. Disposable gloves
Just in case you want the paint and acrylic to stay off your hands. I do!

8. Tape
To protect selected areas of your shoe from being painted etc.

9. A paintbrush
Well... guess... :-)

10. A sponge
For appling paint.

11. A craftknife
For... you know... cutting.

12. A pastry bag or something similar
For a cream pile made of acrylic.

Optional:

13. Polymer Clay
For the sprikles. Choose a colour you like best or even a bunch. You could even use glitter instead. (Finally decided against using sprikles)

14. An oven
For curing the clay.

Additional Material:

As mentioned in the discription I changed the project while working on it a little.

15. Acrylic paint in white
Because I did not like the pink colour alone.

16. Toothpicks
Helped to place the dips of chocolate.

17. Cotton buds
For cleaning up mess.

18. Paper towels
See 17.

19. Backing paper or aluminium foil
For placing the acrylic right out of the cartridge.

Step 2: Transform Your Heel Into a Fresh and Crispy Waffle

Well... not your heel...

1. Take your shoe und cover the areas you would like to be protected with tape. Maybe it would be a good idea to sand your heel first to roughen the surface so that the paint would last better. Mine was already rough so I skipped that step.

2. Take your Pearl Pen/ glue gun and draw a waffle-like grid on your heels. Let dry/harden.

3. Take the darker colour you chose for your heel and paint it on with a brush. Let it dry.

4. Take the sponge and dab on the second coat, to give the the heels a rough surface most baked goods show. Let dry.

6. Carefully dab on the lighter colour with the sponge. Try only to cover the grids lines with that colour. (For me this did not work so I had to repaint the space inbetween the gids.) Let dry.

7. Repaint the spaces between the grids with the darker colour if necessary. Keep some damp cotton buds at hand for cleaning up mess if produced. (I did!) Let dry.

8. Remove the tape. You might find it easier if you use the crafting knife to carefully cut through the paint and the pearl pen before unwrapping the protected areas. But do not cut into your shoes. And do not cut yourself!

9. If there are any leftovers of paint on your shoe, get rid of them. I used a wet paintbrush and some paper towels. The paint does not stick to my shoe (but it does to the heels) and was removed easily by washing it off that way.

Step 3: Make Your Shoe Look Like Dipped in Molten Ice Cream

1. Cover the inside of your shoe with tape. Just in case...

2. Get the acrylic out of it's cartridge. You may place it directly onto your shoe but I prefer to take a sheet of backing paper/ aluminium foil etc. for placing it here first. So you can get it form there in small portions with you spatula.

3. Use the spatula to spread the acrylic onto your shoe. Try to make the surface at the top a bit rough like ice cream and go for a more smooth an drippy surface when working downward.

4. Fill the pastry bag with acrylic and pipe on a pile of cream at the tip of each shoe and put on a cherry or a strawberry. Let harden completely.

5. Cover the surface under the acrylic with tape. Be patient. This may take a while but it is worth it.

6. Use the acrylic colour you chose for your ice cream and paint the acrylic. Use a small, flat brush for the areas directly around and "under" the pile of whipped cream. Remove the tape carefully while the paint is still wet and get rid of any mess. Let the paint dry completely.

7. Do a second coat. Then apply white paint right afterwards. Do not let dry the base colour! Just try to marble the paints a bit while both are still wet.

8. Let dry completely.

Step 4: Prepare Your Magic Sprinkles (optional, I Skipped the Sprinkles)

1. Condition your polymer clay. Roll out very thin ropes. You can use a clay gun if you own one but you do not need to.

2. Cut the rope into small pieces, spread on backing paper and bake as manufactor is requesting.

3. Let cool completely.

4. Or just grab some glitter!

Step 5: Sauce on Top!

1. Take the brown colour and paint around the edge of your shoe. Simulate dripping by picking up a blob of the paint with a toothpick and placing it onto the shoe. Connect the blob and the brown line with the toothpick.

2. Go for a second, very thick coat.

3. Optional: Spread on the sprinkles before the paint dries. Dip them carefully into the wet paint.

3. Let the paint dry.

4. Remove all the tape.

5. Violá! Your very own wearable ice-cream pumps! Have fun!!!

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! :-)