$2.99 shoe redo

I got these shoes for $2.99 a pair (at Marcs).  My girls do not like plain things, but for $2.99 I knew I could make them work.

I like Converses.  They hold up much better than other, more expensive brands.  Last Christmas we bought Alli a pair of sparkly Stride Rites (good shoes, right?!).  Well, by the end of February they looked like hobo shoes... complete with falling off rubber pieces and holes.  (And Alli had been wearing her boots to school since it was winter, so they were only worn indoors.)  They were replaced with Converses which she wore and loved and outgrew... and they still look great seven months later.  (I will save them for Ruby.)
Anyhow...
I painted the shoes.
To do this, I removed the laces.  I used quality acrylic paint (it comes in tubes and is pretty thick).  The better paint holds its color better and is less brittle.  I watered the paint down to the consistency of salad dressing (runny, makes a puddle, but not too thin).  The paint should spread easily and soak into the fabric a little. but not all the way through to the inside lining.
Painting on shoes isn't too difficult.  I used a small brush near the edges and around fine details, and I used a bigger brush to fill in the rest.  I kept a wet wipe nearby for when I got paint on the rubber part.
The girls picked their colors.  And Alli wanted stripes on her tongue and Ruby wanted polka-dots.

We let them dry for about an hour.  It was tough waiting.

Worth the wait.

We laced them up... and then the girls checked to see if they could run faster with their new shoes.

They were pretty fast.

Ruby said she would wear these shoes forever.  (Not likely.)

All smiles for Alli.

I'm thinking I should go back and stock up on bigger sizes.