Footless Baby Sandals

I don't know about you, but Pinterest is what opened my eyes to all of the neat DIY projects I am capable of creating. A lot of the projects that I intend to blog about I found while browsing on Pinterest. That being said, I haven't told you this yet, but my sister-in-law, Stefanie, is expecting a baby girl, and she is due in August! Naturally, when I found this out, the wheels in my mind were turning about all of the adorable baby items I could make. While at church last week, I saw a baby girl with the most ADORABLE little sandal things on, and I knew I had to get a pair for baby Ella. So, I set out on an online search to find the tiny wonders for my baby niece! I found some on Etsy, but they were too expensive for my liking. However, I am not so easily defeated. I decided that they looked simple enough to make, so I will now share with you all the method I used for creating these little beauties.

I began by going to Walmart and purchasing my materials. 

You could also find all of this stuff at your local craft store.

      You will need:

• A few sheets of 9"x12" felt 
• 1/4" elastic (mine came in a roll of 3 yards for about $2.00)
• A hot glue gun
• Hot glue sticks
• Scissors
• Cardstock paper (or something to print on) *This is to make your flower template, if you are skilled at drawing, you may not need to print one. You could just draw one!
• Double-sided tape (this is optional)

I started off by printing off my flower template on my cardstock. I had to re-size mine. After a little trial and error, I ended up re-sizing mine to be about 2.25" across. I think that is the perfect size for baby feet!

*I opened my template in PowerPoint to re-size it. 

I'm sure there are other programs that work just as well!

Next,  I cut out my template and put double-sided tape on the back of the template. What you want to do next is stick the flower right onto your felt. {I promise it won't hurt it!} You will need to cut out 9 of these flowers for this project.

Once you are done cutting out your flowers, you might want to let your hot glue gun start heating up. Then you need to cut a piece of felt to glue your flower on. (You will actually need 2 of these.) Mine was about 1"x1" It just needs to be the right size to fit on the top of the baby's foot! Your hot glue gun should be heated up by now {if you're lucky!}

Now comes the fun part! You will take one of your flowers you cut out, fold it in half,

and then put a small dab of hot glue on your felt

and fold the flower in half one more time.

The glue should be keeping the flower folded into a 1/4 piece. Do this to 3 more of your 9 flowers.  

Now glue them to the square of felt you cut out like this!

Next you will repeat this process for 4 more of your flowers, but you will glue them on like this.

Make sure that the 5th flower's point is right on the line in-between flowers 1 and 2, not directly on top of flower number 1, or it won't turn out right.

 Once you have flowers 5-8 glued on, your ready to create the center of the flower.

Take the 9th flower, and fold it in half.

 Next, cut off the bottom of the 9th flower about half way down.

 It should look like this!

Next, roll the two petals around the main one that is sticking up. Hot glue it as you go. 

 Now, grab your hot glue gun.

 Make a big dot of glue right in the center of the flower.

Take the 9th flower you just cut, and stick it down in the glue. 

After some fluffing of the petals, your flower is now complete!

*You could use this flower on things like wreaths, headbands, bags, picture frames. 

The possibilities are endless.*

Now let's finish the baby sandals!!!

You will need to cut 2 strips of elastic each 4" long. (This length will vary by the size of the baby's foot.)

You will also need to cut 1 strip of elastic about 5" long. (This length will vary by the size of the baby's foot.)

 Now take your 5" long piece of elastic, and hot glue it to the underneath of the flower you just made. This is the piece that will go around the baby's ankle.

 Next, glue both of you 4" pieces of elastic in front of the 5" piece. There is not specific formula, just whatever looks good to you!

 This is where you will need your other square of felt. You do not want to glued elastic to irritate the baby's feet, so glue another piece of felt over the elastic on the underneath of the sandal. This should do the trick!

Repeat the above steps and voila! Two adorable footless baby sandals! 

Now go and put them on one of God's little precious creations!

Matthew 18:10

See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.