Zazzled

Whilst browsing through all my photos on iPhoto looking for the perfect one of the Munchkin to send to the 'rents, I came across photos of my new shoes and realized that I had completely forgotten to blog about them!

Even though I have a pretty decent shoe collection, pregnancy had completely changed my feet and (after much hoping that they would go back to normal) they have never been the same since. So believe me when I say that out of the 30-40 some odd pairs of shoes that I have, only 2 pairs still fit. The good thing is that they are the comfy shoes, the bad thing is that one pair is running shoes and the other is an old pair of Adidas trainers that I had bought 5 years ago when I was in London, England. Yes, my outfit options are extremely limited when those are the only shoes I am able to wear.

Since the beginning of the new year I have been on a search for new kicks but have been extremely disappointed with what is available in the shops. Either the shoes are ugly, impractical (for a mother of a young toddler), or way too expensive for what they are. The shoes that I do like ended up being quite uncomfortable, or were too narrow, or long in the leg. I was beginning to lose hope. I forget how I came upon the website, but somehow, one fateful night in February I discovered Zazzle. And before you know it, I'm designing my own shoes! It took me a few days to decide whether I really wanted one of the pairs that I had "designed" (really, I was just picking out colors and inserting prints. I don't call this actual designing). It wasn't until I received an email offering me an additional 20% off. Ooohh. Done deal!

A few weeks later in March and my shoes arrived on my doorstep! A little loud, yes. They are definitely attention grabbers, which wasn't my intent. I had simply wanted a color scheme that displays my favorite color and one of my favorite color combos.

And the best part? I highly doubt I'll be running into anyone with the same pair of shoes! Another fabulous thing about these shoes: no white soles! No offense to those who like and wear white soles, it's just a look that I can't pull off (my feet tend to look like boats in white soles), can't keep clean, and think should be reserved for actual Converse shoes.

I was hoping that the pink would be a little bit darker yet brighter, but overall I'm quite happy with how these turned out. The soles could be of better quality, but then again, you get what you pay for and for less than $70 CDN you really can't expect the absolute best.

So far they are definitely holding up, although, it's only been a little over a month and already they are a bit dirty...but I'm really not that surprised, especially when you've got a walking toddler who's a bit of a klutz (just like his mommy!).

I do have to admit though, getting the chance to make your own shoe is highly addictive. Depending on how well this pair will fare in the next few months, I'm thinking another pair just might be in order. This time I'm thinking lace-up with a houndstooth print...

Ooohhh....!!