So I was thumbing through the latest issue of Bead Trends magazine and saw an advertisement featuring fashion designer turned scrapbooking queen, Amy Tan of Amy Tangerine.  The ad was for a new Signature Series book about scrapbooking projects.  Now while I’m no scrapbook queen myself, I know a cute pair of shoes when I see them.  In the ad, Amy has on the most adorable aqua mint flats with little black bows.

I searched the web for said shoes with no luck, so I decided to contact Amy herself.  I found her blog Amy Tangerine and sent her a note asking “Where’d you get those shoes?”  To my delight, she replied right away, but not to my delight she said she got the shoes in Brazil 😦 She did let me know the shoes are from a brand called Melissa.  Again, I went to the internet and searched for the coveted Melissa flats.  I did find them on a few sites, but they either didn’t have my size, the right color, or they were several times what I was willing to pay.

Being the resourceful artist that I am, I decided to just make my own.  During my previous web searches I’d found some cute, affordable Mossimo flats at Target.com that seemed pretty close to the color I wanted.  When they arrived today, I went upstairs to my studio and after digging through my box of “fibers” I found a black silk ribbon intended for jewelry making.  With a little glue, I was able to make a reasonable facsimile for under $35.  I am planning to wear them tomorrow with boyfriend jeans, a blazer over a white tee, and top it off with some fab jewelry.

Melissa flats next to my version: