Win Free Gypsy Girl Cowboy Boots + $50 Gotham City Online Gift Certificate

Cowboy boots are a timeless staple. They look great with everything from jeans to wedding dresses and are probably one of the only shoes that look better with age too! There's something charming about a pair of scuffed up, broken-in cowboy boots paired with a floaty summer dress or an oversize sweater. Gypsy Girl's genuine leather western boots feature intricate embroidery, metal accents and laser cuts with contrasting underlays. And with their walkable 2 inch heel, these cowboy boots are sure to become a favorite part of your wardrobe for years to come.

One lucky winner will receive their choice of Gypsy Girl boots sold by Gotham City Online (Retail $229-239) AND a $50 gift certificate valid at GothamCityOnline.com to use towards more shoes or to give to a friend (perfect for the holidays!). Enter for your chance to win below and for additional terms and conditions.

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DIY Halloween Shoes

Ah, October. Time to start thinking about costumes!! Most prepackaged costumes include clothes to cover your middle, a few accessories, maybe a hat, but rarely do they include shoes. However, shoes can seriously elevate your costume from boo to boo-tastic (lame Halloween joke, you're welcome), so don't you dare just throw on a pair of your old sneakers or some plain black heels. Here are some simple but great do it yourself shoe projects to make your Halloween costume even better.




Bloody High Heels

1. There are so many costumes a bloody high heel will work with: zombie, dead bride, ghost, witch, skeleton, Grim Reaper, Dexter's girlfriend, and really dead anything from cheerleader to chicken.
    To make your own version, purchase a plain white pair of heels, red paint and a paintbrush. Go outside and go crazy. There's no wrong way to splatter paint - drip it, throw it, flick it, whatever. Let the shoes dry and enjoy your Halloween.

Tinkerbell fairy costume with shoe poofs

2. But not everyone goes for the gory, so if your Halloween costume is a little happier, I recommend DIY fairy shoes. Get a pair of green heels or green ballet flats, depending on your style, and affix a giant white pom pom to each toe. See my pom pom tutorial here. If you're a Tinkerbell cartoon fan, you might want to change it up and get blue shoes to channel her sister, snow and ice fairy Periwinkle. Or you could add this shoe accessory, maybe with a different colored pom pom poof, to any fairy costume idea: flower fairies, energy fairies, seasonal fairies, element fairies - fire, water, wind, earth fairies, light or sunshine fairies, and dark, night or moon fairies.

Shoe cover tutorial at Fabric.com

3. At the bare minimum, you should make sure your shoes (and your kid's shoes!) are at least the same color as the rest of your costume. If you don't want to go out and buy a brand new pair of shoes to wear for one night, you could make a shoe cover! Basic shoe covers consist of just a little bit of polar fleece and a little bit of elastic. You could technically use any type of fabric but polar fleece keeps its shape well without flopping over, stretches a bit for better fit, and if your stitching isn't straight, the fleece will hide a lot of imperfections. Fabric.com has a fantastic and surprisingly easy tutorial here. Note: their tutorial looks like it's just for kids, but the instructions will work for any size shoe, adults included.

Happy Halloween!

DIY Ways to Glam Up Cheap Flip Flops

We're visiting lots of sites on the web to find you the best DIY step-by-step tutorials to help you glam up a basic pair of flip flop sandals. You know, the kind you can usually get for one dollar? Personally, I completely stopped buying cheap flip flops because the straps always rubbed and gave me blisters - but now that I know I can totally prevent that, I'm saving my paycheck for expensive boots instead. ;)

1.   The easiest way to make a pair of cheap flip flops fabulous is to thread ribbon through both sides, cutting small holes (hole punch!) or slits in the rubber straps, and then tie the ends of the ribbons together in a box at the toe post. The crafty mom over at Henry Happened will walk you through the steps here (click the picture to see all the details):

2.  Another easy way to refashion your thongs (as the west coasters like to call them) is to cover them with some pretty fabric and just hot glue and tie them the fabric to secure. The bloggers over at The Mother Huddle show you how here:

3.  You could also cover the straps by wrapping soft t-shirt material around the entire length and even continue upwards to form gladiator style sandals too. The Gap and Threadless show you how to copy the style here:

4. Now we're beginning to move into the slightly more advanced DIY shoe up-dos. While they're still easy, these refashioned shoes have a few more steps and slightly more room for error. But don't worry, Ashley at Make It & Love It has great instructions and pictures via the link below. You can also make these with plain, unbraided straps too.

5.  There are a few ways to add embellishments to your flip flops but Trinkets in Bloom has come up with one of the easiest - wrap ribbon around the straps to form a V over the toes and then sew the beads onto the ribbon - no pushing needles through rubber! Click the image below for the detailed instructions with pictures of each step:

6. Also from Make It & Love It we have the frilly Ruffled T-Strap thong sandals. Honestly the ruffles are not as hard as they seem, but this would be easiest for those with access to a sewing machine. Think of all the fun color and pattern combinations you could come up with!!

7.  One more from The Mother Huddle, this tutorial takes less than 30 minutes and just 2 supplies: flip flips and some fabric scraps. It might even be a fun craft for a kids party!

8. Last, Kathrin from annekata.com shares a flip flop DIY that completely changes the look of your shoes. Take a look at her comfy creation you can create too!

Soft Scuffs on Suede Shoes

Robert Clergerie Livingw boots

If you're a shoe-a-holic, you've probably ordered a new pair of suede shoes online that arrived with scuffs. When it happened to me, being a worst-case-scenario kind of person, I immediately assumed my shoes were secretly worn, cleaned and resold. Maybe even some government conspiracy at work in there too. Or at the very least I assumed my shoes were tried on and returned.

But after doing some research, I found out that the scuffs actually were most likely to have occurred in the mail on their way to me. Know how suede is super soft? Suede is made up of lots of very very short hairs sticking up called the nap; if you rub some of those hairs the opposite direction, it will look different in that spot - lighter or darker.

Unfortunately, mail carriers will not guarantee your box never gets flipped or tossed no matter how many "this side up" notes are written on it. Those scuffs are really just from the suede rubbing against something else, like the inside of the shoebox. This is why suede shoes often arrive with a plastic bag around each shoe as well as lots of cardboard separators and tissue paper bumpers - it's all to prevent those almost inevitable light spots. Similarly, wearing your suede shoes just once can cause these scuffs. I was shocked once when I realized just crossing my feet in a chair made my two shoes rub together and totally destroyed them (temporarily).

Luckily, all is not lost if you see a suede scuff, and trust me, it'll happen. The one thing you should have in your arsenal is a suede brush. Suede brushes usually have both coarse (brass, metal, rubber, etc) and soft bristles (horsehair, synthetic fibers, etc). These different bristles may be  mixed together in a single surface or they could appear separated on a multi-sided brush. Depending on the type of bristles, some suede brushes can be quite rough though (more for cleaning up suede work boots than suede evening heels) so be careful not to assume that any old suede brush you find will be a one-size-fits-all solution. For the most delicate suede shoes, you may want nothing more than a dry toothbrush.



KORS Michael Kors Braelyn

Once you have your suede brush of choice, just use the soft side to brush the suede in a single direction to conceal most of the scuffs I mentioned above. For stubborn, matted down scuffs, you can try using the rougher side of the suede brush - but do it carefully or you risk removing the suede nap altogether. However, if you do over-brush an area, you can always rough up the rest of the shoe to help hide it.

Hint: If you have a dark mark on your shoes that isn't being brushed away, try using a suede eraser or pencil eraser on the area. And using a waterproofing suede protector spray before wearing any suede shoes is always a good idea.

This Ankle Strap Is Driving Me Nuts!

Marc Fisher Jericho

Few things can cause more discomfort than an ankle strap. Whether they're too loose, too tight, broken, have a scratchy seam, or they just rub and cause blisters, ankle straps can make or break a shoe. Luckily, there is a lot you can do to save those shoes and make them wearable again!

First, take a look at the shoes you want to fix. Many shoes have ankle straps that are threaded through loops (like the silver Marc Fisher heels pictured to the right). And even though that strap has no buckle, you can still adjust the fit! Below are my favorite ideas to get you started:

1. Take the shoe to a cobbler or shoe repair store to have the strap cut and sewn closer together for a smaller fit or have elastic added in for a looser fit.


2. For the most custom fit every time, cut the strap and remove it completely. Then thread the ribbon of your choice through the exisiting loops and tie a pretty bow. This looks great with evening shoes and ballet flats.


3. If you prefer the clean look of a buckle, try replacing the offending strap with a slim watch strap instead. Watch straps are usually easier to find than an identical replacement shoe strap.

Joe's Kai Sandal

If the ankle strap on the shoes you want to fix does not go through a loop, like the brown and black heels by Joe's pictured to the right, you may have to be slightly more creative, but you still have some options for adjusting the fit:

1. Punch additional holes in the strap for a looser or tighter fit


2. If a decorative element on the strap prevents you from adding additional holes and you need a the strap to be tighter, have a cobbler or shoe repair person sew a piece of flesh-tone elastic on the inside of the strap creating a smaller area for your ankle to fit into when the shoe is buckled. The existing shoe strap will not appear to be tight around your ankle, but the shoe will not flop around so few will notice.


3. If the strap is rubbing or scratching, try adding a cushioned sticker to the offending area like Strappy Strips from Foot Petals.

Help! My Boots Need a New Pom-Pom!

Report Flurry boots with a nice pom pom detail

Did you come across a pair of clearance shoes that are perfect except for the fact they're missing a pom-pom? Or did you perhaps spill something on one of yours and want to replace it? Either way, creating a new pom-pom is super easy!Pom-poms are the little round poofs of furry stuff that decoratively dangle from clothing and accessories like zipper pulls, handbags, boots and shoes (as pictured to the right).

There are 3 ways to make a pom-pom: the finger wrapping method, the cardboard donut method or buying a pom-pom maker. All make nice looking pom-poms but each has it's own advantages and disadvantages which I'll discuss below. Keep in mind too that although any yarn will work, the type and thickness of yarn you choose will effect the final look of your pom-pom.

Finger Wrapping Method

This is the fastest way to make a pom pom, but the size, of course, depends on the person making it.  Using this method you can only make pom poms in the 5 sizes created by stacking your fingers together and you won't be able to make a pom pom that is any larger than your own hand.

Start by laying a piece of string flat on your work surface or table - this is what you will use to hang/attach your pom pom so make sure the length is double what you need (or at least 12 inches). Then start wrapping a separate piece of yarn around your fingers. You'll want to go around at least 50 times, probably closer to 100 times, but this depends on the thickness of your yarn: thicker yarn needs less revolutions. The more times you wrap the yarn around your hand, the fluffier your pom pom will be. Once you're done wrapping, carefully slide the bundle off your hand and place the center of the bundle at the center of the string you laid out earlier. Tie a tight knot around the center of the bundle.  Next, cut the loops of yarn at the top and bottom of the bundle (which were created by the knot you just tied). Then just fluff, trim any longer pieces, and you're done!

To make tiny pom poms, you could loop your yarn around a single finger, but it can be difficult to tie your string around the center of such a small lump after sliding it off your finger, so if you need something small, take a look at these brilliant Fork Pom Poms!

Report Flurry boots with a nice pom pom detail

Cardboard Donut Method

This method takes a little longer to set up, since you need to make the cardboard templates, and it takes a tiny bit more skill, but you will be able to create any size pompom you want (and create more identical pompoms in the future if necessary too) and arguably a more professional looking pompom.

Start by cutting out 2 identical circles from cardboard (the easiest way is to find something circular around the house that you can use to trace that is approximately the size you want). Then you're going to trace and cut out another circle inside the first one - and take a small cut out of the sides - so like you're making a donut shape with a bite taken out of it (the "bite" also makes it easier to cut out the inner circle). To describe it another way, the shape is like a little C inside a big C.

Second, place a piece of yarn, about 12 inches, between the 2 cardboard donuts you created so that the end of the yarn hang out of your "bite" opening and squish it in place.

Third, take the rest of your yarn and start wrapping it around your donut. The more revolutions you make, the denser and fluffier your pompom will be. (One method is to start at the center, wrap to the right, then wrap all the way around to the left side and finally back to the center again). Remember to hold the two pieces of cardboard together so that piece of yarn between them doesn't fall out while you're wrapping.

Now that all your yarn is wrapped tight, make a loose slip knot in the 12 inch piece of yarn that you placed between the cardboard pieces when you started and then cut through all the yarn in a line by placing your scissors between the 2 pieces of cardboard. Carefully remove the cardboard templates and then pull the previous slip knot super tight. Knot it again to make it a real knot. Then just trim to make all the pieces evenly and you're done!

Using a Pom-Pom Maker

Pom-Pom makers cost about $8-$10 and work like a cardboard donut but with less chance the cut pieces of string can slip out of place. They also require less set-up and always create the same size pom-pom. Follow the instructions included with your specific pom-pom maker for the best results. I love these pompom makes by Clover.

Can I Use a Near Mate Shoe?

If you see a pair of near mates that you just can't walk away from, but your feet are both the same size, don't immediately assume that only people with 2 different size feet can use these items (although there are people who need 2 different size shoes!); you do have some options: stretching, stuffing and adjusting. Unfortunately, stretching is the only option you have when a shoe is too small  (or just suffering through it). But both stuffing and adjusting can be used when a shoe is too big.

Near mate shoes describes when the left or right shoe is a half size bigger or smaller than the other shoe in a pair. Here are 2 examples:

 

The description says the shoes are a women's size 8 with the Note: Near Mate Pair, right shoe 1/2 size larger. This means that the right shoe is a size 8.5 and the left shoe is a size 8.

The description says the shoes are a women's size 6.5 with the Note: Near Mate Pair, left shoe is 1/2 size smaller. This means that the right shoe is a 6.5 and the left shoe is a size 6.
 

Stretching

You probably won't be able to stretch a shoe 2 or 3 sizes bigger, but a half size is usually doable. But you will first want to consider the material the shoes are made from. Leather will stretch, but vegan leather or faux leather usually will not.  Some fabric shoes will stretch too, but you do run the risk of tearing or separating the top of the shoe from the sole, so stretch fabric shoes with caution. Shoes with fur, shearling or faux fur lining may or may not stretch but the interior lining will compress after wear making it feel as though the shoes have stretched slightly.

There are 2 common ways to stretch shoes: you can either take them to a cobbler (shoe repair store) and have them professionally stretched, or you can use the ice method. I highly recommend taking a look at YouTube blogger MichellePhan's tutorial on stretching with ice for detailed step by step instructions.

Stuffing

If one shoe in the near mate pair is too big, you may be able to stuff them. This method only works with closed toe shoes because the stuffing stays in the shoes while you wear them, it is not removed. You can stuff the toe of the bigger shoe with any material you want but, for example, a soft fabric will certainly be more comfy than newspaper. I don't recommend using cotton balls or small pieces of anything as these will shift during wear and almost certainly not feel good. Many people recommend using tissue paper since it will compress into any shape you want and can mold around your toes - just don't use colored tissue paper as the color will come off on your feet. When you've found your stuffing material, simple pack it into the toes of your shoes, try the shoes on, and then add more or less stuffing to adjust the fit. Wearing a half sock (one that just covers your toes) might help make the stuffing feel a little less obvious.

Adjusting

Adjusting is adding something to a pair of shoes to fix the fit. If you've got a shoe that is too large, for example you can try wearing thick socks or layer one sock over another, however this, of course, works better for boots or sneakers than it does for dressy pumps or sandals. Another possible adjustment is using a pad that sticks to the insole of the shoe (like these Foot Petals) which helps prevent your foot from sliding forward in a shoe that's too big. Personally I think Foot Petals are better for shoes that are just squishing your toes but otherwise fit fine, but other people swear by them - since they are relatively inexpensive (even drug stores have their own versions), it's probably worth a shot! Similarly you could add a pad to the heel of the shoe which moves your entire foot forward (layer extra pads or use different thicknesses as needed). The con to this option is that it can be a bit more noticeable than other fixes.

I hope these options help you enjoy the shoes you love for years to come. And definitely comment below if you've had experience using any of these fixes or if I missed anything.