My Sister's Suitcase - Packed with Creativity

Packed with Creativity

DIY American Flag Boots

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Yesterday as I read some of your posts about 9/11, I started thinking about how we really came together as a nation, united, that day. We were able to put our differences, politics, and judgements aside to mourn together, and to lift one another. To hold on to what was {and still is} so important to all of us… our freedom. We are so blessed to live in this country, and I am grateful every day for the men and women {my brothers among them} who are serving in the military to protect those freedoms that I hold sacred.  I shared this tutorial over at Infarrantly Creative this summer, and I thought it would be fitting to post it here this week.

When I first saw these Americana boots, I fell in love with them. Unfortunately, a $650 price tag is just a little out of my reach. The DIY-er in me said, “Hey, you could make those!” For less than $60, I created my own version of this patriotic footwear with a flair!

Here’s a picture of my inspiration boots:
And here are mine:

Not bad for almost $600 less than the retail cost! I started out with these plain brown cowboy boots:
Here are the other supplies I used:
GOLD brand acrylic spray paint {color: Stock White}
Acrylic Spray Sealer {matte finish}
Red & blue acrylic paint
Rustic Accents metal stars
Silver spray paint
Black glaze
foam brush
natural bristle paint brush
paint brush pen {for fine lines}
mini circle scrapbooking embellishments
E6000 adhesive
lots of baby wipes!
This project was really easy, just a little time-consuming. The end result is totally worth it! I started by taping the soles of my boots to prep them for painting. Then I tried this Acrylic spray paint for the first time, and I loved it. It is specially formulated to use on flexible surfaces, it is weatherproof, and the coverage is great. It came in a ton of colors too… I’m thinking next time I might go for some yellow boots!
Next, I added my first coat of blue paint — any acrylic paint will work. When it dried, it was a little darker than I wanted, so I grabbed another color of blue and dry-brushed it over the top. It created great texture and dimension.
Then, I was ready to paint the stripes, which turned out to be the hardest part for me… luckily, you can learn from my mistake!
First, I free-handed all of the stripes, but they were a little too thin and didn’t look great. So I decided to tape them off and try again. The painters tape worked much better! I peeled the tape up when the paint was wet and cleaned up any mess on the edges with a baby wipe.
When the paint was dry, I started distressing the boots to make them look more aged. I used a nail file to get the edges of the boots… it works great for sanding in tight spots! Now I was ready to add my metal “stud” stars. I found these metal accents and painted them silver.
The stars still needed a little something, so I added some black glaze. Much better! I attached them to the boots with E600. {Make sure you let them dry for at least 24 hours!}
The final step was to add some spice to the red stripes. For added depth, I brushed the same black glaze over the stripes, and wiped most of it off with a baby wipe. Then, I created my own metal “studs” with some scrapbooking embellishments I had on hand.
What do you think?
Here is a look at the before & after:
A fun way to show that I’m proud to be an American. Check out some of our other Patriotic Projects:
 

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Comments

  2. Holl, My dad would be so proud of your wearing cowboy boots! Now if we could just get you up to Pine Valley to use them correctly (Not that I have been on a horse since I was pregnant with Brionne). The boots turned out stinkin cute!

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