$7 "Keds"

First I saw these magical lavender Keds on Pinterest last week:

Then I found this awesome tutorial for dying canvas shoes:

via sweet verbena

And then I made these:

Thoughts:

• I tried sewing the elastic into the shoes at first, but that was super hard, and I was pretty sure if I kept going I'd finish the project with a few fingers punctured. So I gave up and went with shoelaces.
• I kind of wish I would have spent the extra $2 to buy a package of grey dye, too. I think adding a little bit of grey to the purple dye would have helped it match the tone of the original keds that inspired this project. Oh well!
• I also replaced the insoles with Dr. Schooll's insoles (about $10). Hopefully that will make these shoes more comfortable to wear at out and about for longer stretches of time.
• All in all, this project cost about $7 ($17 if you count the insoles, but that's of course optional): $5 for the white canvas sneakers at Wal-Mart, and under $2 for the dye at Joann's fabric (I think the dye is usually a few cents more, but they were on sale).
• I bought one extra pair of the canvas sneakers, but I haven't decided what to do with them next. Maybe glitter!?

Update:

Martha Stewart Glitter Paint, $3 at Michael's. So good.