Amateur car customizers unite! I want to hold a series of D.I.Y. workshops here in Taos so eventually, the roads will be covered in personalized vehicles...just driving around will become an event, once again! To hell with resale values...i say, if yer doing it right, the result should send that number upward!

Here's my work-in-progress, on my previously-boring white honda civic:

Steps:

* Buy your favorite color of high-quality 'Rust Stop' spray paint.  Buy a roll of contact paper (found it in the 'home section' of the hardware store here...who knows where else it might be lurking though)

* Have lots of masking tape and scrap newspaper, garbage bags, cardboard, whatever. (for masking)

* Thoroughly wash/dry car or at least the area you are working with. Best in sunny conditions, although you only need a good hour for the paint to cure. (That said, I did my first bit in a thunderstorm, holding an umbrella over my working area...so with enough stubbornness...weather be damned)

1. Cut with scissors, or utility knife, the shape out that you want to spray paint. Discard the shape.

2. Place the remaining rectangle of contact paper (with backing peeled off) right on your car. This is a bit awkward, but it's not too sticky & is re-positionable. (be sure to rub down all the edges of the contact paper surrounding the shape, so no paint seeps under...you want that clean edge!)

3. Mask the hell outta the surrounding 2 - 3 feet in every direction (more, if its windy)

4. Shake spray can for one minute...hold about 4 - 5 inches from surface, and spray in little spurts, making strokes from one end of the shape to the other. This first coat will be somewhat transparent.

5. Do another coat after 5 - 10 minutes of drying....repeat several times until desired opacity is achieved.

Nice thing is, if you make a mistake or you spray so densely that color creeps under the contact sticker a bit...take q-tips and acetone and you can dissolve un-intended marks without hurting the original paint coat underneath!