Flip Out Flip Flop Summer Free Craft Project from The Impatient Crafter Margot Potter

When I was a kid, rubber flip-flops worn anywhere but at the beach or on the boardwalk were considered to be the height of tacky. Somehow we’ve become so utterly casual that rubber flip-flops are everywhere these days. They’re flipping through the office corridors. They’re flopping along the shopping malls. They’re slapping and slopping their way into every location...even in the dead of winter.

Flip. Flop. Slap. Slop.

So...am I okay with that?!

Honestly? On one level I’m horrified and on the other I’m sitting here typing in a pair of rubber flip-flops so who the heck am I to judge?! Besides anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE shoes!

I’ve taken to the DIY Flip-Flop route after sizing up the price points of the upscale variety online and at the mall. When my daughter and I were shopping she mentioned wanting lace-up flip flops and I put on my thinking cap to make it happen. Here’s the 411 on The Goddess Flip-Flops...and stay tuned because this is the first installment in the Flip Out Flip Flop Summer™ Series!

Goddess Flip-Flops
Flip Out Flip Flop Summer™
Copyright 2009 Margot Potter

Tie on these saucy sandals when you want to release your inner Goddess. The laces minimize the flip-flop sound to make them a skootch more office friendly.

Materials
Black Rubber Flip Flops from Old Navy
Pair of long hi-top style shoe laces in light grey
24 black grommets
2 swirl pattern grungeboard by tim holtz™ sheets
2 8mm 5002 crystal AB (001 ab) CRYSTALLIZED™-Swarovski Elements beads
2 20 gauge silver plated head pins
Claudine Hellmuth Studio Line paint in charcoal black
Ranger Adirondack pigment ink pad in snow cap
Inkadinkado Flourish Stamp 96253-P
Claudine Hellmuth Studio Line paint brush
White pen (to mark hole placement)
Hello Kitty® Daisies Bigz™ Die
Aleene's Clear Gel Tacky Glue

Tools
Round nose pliers
Wire cutters
Chain nose pliers
Crop-A-Dile™
Ruler
Sizzix Big Shot Die Cutting Machine
Bead reamer or other drill with 1/16” bit

1. Die cut your grungeboard by tim holtz™ flowers using the Sizzix Big Shot and the Hello Kitty Die. Make two cut sheets.

2. Paint the four smaller flowers black and allow them to dry.

3. Use snow cap pigment ink to stamp flourishes on surface of flowers.

4. Allow to dry.

5. Glue flowers together.

6. Drill a small hole in the center of each flower.

7. Thread each flower with a beaded head pin.

8. Bend pin flush to the back of your flower and cut to approximately ¼”.

9. Use largest part of round nose pliers to create a large loop at the back of each flower.

10. Measure your straps and mark six evenly placed spots for holes on each side. Make the front holes close to the strap fronts and your final hole should rest on the lower side of your foot.

11. Use your Crop-a-Dile on the larger setting to punch out your holes. (You can opt for a hole punch here.)

12. Set your grommets with the Crop-a-Dile. (You can use a grommet setting tool here.)

13. Thread a lace into the underside of the outside of one of your flip flops and lace through the holes until you reach the center.

14. Thread under over, under and over the toe portion of the flip flop criss-crossing the lace into a small x.

15. Continue lacing down the outside of the flip flop until you reach the final hole.

16. Repeat for second flip flop.

17. Open and thread the looped flower into the top lace in the x design at the front of each flip flop. Secure closed.

18. Lace on your new creations and go have some fun already will ya?!