DIY Leather Cord Keepers

These leather cord keepers are a great last minute DIY Christmas gift! They are inexpensive and super easy! Each one only takes a couple minutes to make and you only need a handful of supplies. These make great gifts for the traveler and the person with more cords for their tech than they know what to do with! The full DIY is below:

Supplies & Tools:

1. Ruler
2. Heavy Duty Plier Kit for Snaps (you can get these at your local craft store they are about $20 and come with 5 sets of snaps) 
3. Exacto Blade
4. Martha Stuart Hole Punch (Also at your local craft store. It's intended for paper but I decided to try it on leather and it works AMAZINGLY and is so much easier than leather hole punches that you have to hammer. My husband was glad to get a reprieve from the pounding!) 
5. Scissors
6. Leather
7. Snaps

Process:

1. Cut pieces of leather 1in x 3.5in (this size works best for smaller cords, if you need them for larger cords, I would go for 2in x 6in and add another set of snaps)
2. Punch holes in the pattern shown above, use the medium sized punch for the ends and the small punch for the holes in the middle
3. Cut a line connecting the smaller holes as shown
4. Using the punch pliers, follow the directions that come with the Pliers to attach the snaps, it's pretty strait forward. 
5. Cut the ends of the leather to have a nice rounded shape.
6. Thread the bundled cord through the straps and snap them together! 
7. Done! 

DIY Cheese Labels

I used to be a SUPER picky eater, so it is only as an adult that have I come to appreciate a good cheese plate spread. When hosting Thanksgiving, I knew I wanted to make an awesome cheese plate appetizer (mostly so I could justify eating cheese and sausage with honey and fig jam for dinner every day the following week). One of the parts of an awesome cheese spread are cheese labels, so people aren't constantly asking what everything is. I decided to DIY it, it was an hour project and came out great! These make a great DIY gift for the holidays too!

Supplies:

1. White Fimo
2. Fondant roller (really anything to roll out the Fimo, but I like the fondant rollers because they come with these rings to make sure that it's rolled a consistent thickness)
3. Thin Paintbrush
4. Brass Paint
5. Exacto Blade

Process:

1. Roll out the Fimo, I rolled mine to about 3-4mm thick 
2. Cut out the shape as shown, don't worry about making them all the same, I think the irregularities are actually what make them so charming
3. Lay out all the tags on a cookie sheet and follow the instructions for cooking on the Fimo. Cook in the oven until they are hard. Take out and allow to cool.
4. Using the paintbrush and brass paint, write out the names of various cheeses, I did the following: Chèvre, Brie, Morbier, Fontina, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Gouda, Cheddar, and Blue Cheese. With all these you should be able to cover almost any cheese option! 
5. Paint the edges of the Label, closing the rectangle at the bottom, don't paint the part that will stick in the cheese! 

Let them dry and either wrap them up as a gift, or use them the next time you host a party!

Kitchen Reno in Process!

Above is what our kitchen looked like when we bought the house. Notice the lovely brown cabinets, off white appliances and linoleum counter top. My favorite was the time machine sized microwave (that didn't work) and overall dark and depressing feeling! We didn't have the budget for a fancy shmancy full overhaul, so I had to get creative.  We did a couple things right when we moved in a year ago. We painted the cabinets right away, then got a new counter top and some new appliances as the year went on. The past two weekends have been all about the final touches! I decided to move around some of the upper cabinets and we're adding some open shelving and a new backsplash as you can see from the pics below! I can't wait to share the final room when it's all done! I feel like it's finally all coming together to be exactly what I wanted! (How much do you love that picture of my Dad? We had been doing the backsplash all weekend and were both feeling the aches and pains!)

Sneak Peek: Save the Dates

I've been toiling away on some save the dates, we're making sure they go out BEFORE the holiday card onslaught. It's a photo postcard, so most of it is done on the computer, but to give it a little something special, I decided to hand letter their names and wedding logo. This is a little pic of me working on it while Lincoln snoozes on the couch. The full reveal will be in the next couple weeks!

DIY Book Profiles

I don't know if I've said this before, but I LOVE books. I love the feel and smell and curling up with one for hours. That being said, I have a plethora of books, even though I've more or less converted to the kindle, books still seem to accumulate in our house. I had some old books that would never be reread, so I decided to do a little art project.

I have a thing for silhouettes, and I saw these book letters at Anthropologie, and decided I could do something similar but with profiles of me, the hubby, and the dogs! I think I like the dog ones the best! something about their profiles just works better on display. I think these would make great DIY Christmas / Holiday gifts for family members and friends! They could also be a great addition to a wedding display!

Supplies:

1. Old books
2. Pretty paper, I bought mine from Paper Source and decided to stick to a metallic and neutral color pallet
3. Modge Podge 
4. Paintbrush
5. Sandpaper

Tools:

1. Bandsaw (though I imagine you could do this with an exacto blade, the bandsaw is just faster!)

Process:

1. Make profiles of the people or animals you plan to use, scale them to fit the book and trace outline onto the cover
2. Cut out profile using a band saw or exacto blade
3. Sand edges of the book cover
4. After cutting the edges, the were browned by the band saw, so I decided to lux them up a bit like really nice books and spray paint the page edges gold. As you're covering the books, just go crazy with the spray paint and make sure the book edge is fully gilded. Give it about an hour to dry. 
5. Trace new book shape onto the paper you plan to cover the book with. Cut around the edges leaving a 1/2 inch boarder.
6. Brush Modge Podge onto the paper and smooth it onto the book. Do it one piece at a time, i.e. the back first, then the spine, then the front, smoothing out the paper as you go.
7. Fold the extra paper over the edges of the book, you will need to put slits in the paper to accommodate the curves. 
8. To make the inside cover looks finished, Modge Podge the first and last pages to the cover. 
9. Cut a 3 inch piece of paper the length of the spine and Modge Podge it onto the book, curling the ends around the edges of the book.
10. Let dry and display! 

DIY Throw Pillows

Sometimes the easiest way to refresh a room is to make new throw pillows. It's an easy way to introduce new patterns and colors into a room without spending too much money. I had bought some Merrimeko fabric last time I was in Boston and decided it would be a fun print in our living room. Since it was a little pricy I bought just enough for the fronts of two pillows, figuring I could use some cheep fabric for the back. I paired it with a basic striped fabric I bought from Ikea and some pompom trim I had laying around, I'm pretty happy with how they came out!

When it comes to choosing fabrics, patterns and colors for throw pillows, don't stress out about it too much, things don't have to match perfectly to look great. My Mom always jokes that I don't like anything to match because I never want to buy furniture, plates, or linens in sets, I like to mix and match to get something that feels unique. My basic rule of thumb, make sure the scale of the patterns and color pallets feel like they could be friends, they don't need to be twins or even siblings, they just need to look like they could hang out together and have a good time! See the full how too below.

So let me preface this DIY by saying I am by no means a pro at sewing. I'm awesome at strait lines and basic patterns, but it's something I do out of necessity, not love. So I'm sure there are better and more "by the book" methods to make pillows, but this is mine and it has worked pretty well! I avoid sewing in zippers because I find them annoying and I hate changing the foot on my sewing machine, so this is a great way to make pillows for a beginner (or lazy) sewer!

Supplies & Tools:

1. Fabric (I made 15x15in pillows, so usually 1/2 yard of fabric for a pillow is more than enough)
2. Thread that matches your fabric
3. Sewing machine
4. Fabric Scissors
5. Pompom trim (optional)

Process:

1. Cut front square of fabric, cut it about 1inch longer and wider than you need for seem allowance
2. For the back, I like to make a pocket to slide the pillow into so I don't have to sew in a zipper. So cut two pieces of fabric the same height as the front, but the length of the two should only be about 2/3 the length of the front.
3. Finish one edge of each of the back pieces of fabric (the long edge) see photo above.
4. Layer the front fabric and back fabric with the good side facing each other, making sure the two back pieces take up the same amount of space as the front, they should have a couple inches of overlap to create your "pocket" style pillow case.
5. Pin the edges of the fabric for sewing, if you are using trim, pin that along the edge as well. When pinning, put in the pins horizontal to where the seem will go so that you don't need to remove them as you sew!
6. Once you've sewn all the edges, remove all your pins and turn it right side out! Slide in your pillow insert or stuffing and you're good to go! Yay pillows!

DIY Wood Marquee Sign

I hung some art in our dining room / my office when we moved in, and every time I looked at it, I felt like it needed a little something more. I decided to make a wooden marquee sign because really, who doesn't love marquee signs? I wanted to make it out of wood, to change it up a bit from the norm. Then came the question of what the sign should say. I decided on "Whistle" because it's one of my favorite sounds, when people whistle it reminds me of my Poppop and always makes me smile. Plus it's a saying for an office, reminding me to "whistle while I work"! See all the photos and the full "how to" below.

Above is a better pic of me working away in our dining room/ office before I met with a new client last weekend. Now, onto the "how-to"! All I have yet to do is buy a pretty cloth covered extension cord so it looks nice and I can plug it in! Just a heads up, this is the kind of project where some wood working skills are probably necessary! I usually try to keep it easy so that anyone can do it, but that just wasn't going to happen this time around!

Supplies:

1. Wood, I used oak, but I would actually suggest pine, because finishing all the edges on the oak was a pain in the patoot because it's such a hard wood.
2. Round string lights, I got mine from Target, it's a string of 25 lights, so I had to make sure that 25 lights would make sense on the word I chose, so keep that in mind!
3. Hanging hardware

Tools:

1. Jig saw
2. Router
3. Drill
4. File
5. Sandpaper
6. Staple Gun

Process:

1. Print out your word to scale and lay it out on the wood, trace with pencil.
2. Rough cut with a jig saw or band saw. I rough cut it first, then went back in to get closer
3. Use a rough file to clean up the edges
4. Using a router, round top edges
5. Go back in with a finer file and sand paper to finish out all the edges, the router usually can't get in the tight corners. 
6. Drill holes for the lights. On the lights that I bought, there was a little clip on each one, I broke that off so that they would be round and fit into the holes I drilled perfectly.
7. Take out bulbs, insert all the light sockets into the holes.
8. Attach hanging hardware, measure up from the bottom so that it hangs level, I put mine on the H and L
9. Staple down all the wires so that they are hidden when you hang the sign
10. Screw in all the light bulbs
11. Hang it up and enjoy! 

DIY Drawer Knobs

 

 Oh Ikea Epedit shelves, how I love you. I have two Expedit bookshelves from Ikea in our dining room/ office and they are amazing. When we moved into our house, I knew that I would be using our dining room as my office. Since I'm pretty much almost always working,  I wanted my office to be in the center of things instead of being closed off in one of our extra bedrooms. So, when designing that room it needed to be easily converted from office to dining room and back again for the handful of times a year that we would actually need it to function as a dining room. Hence the Ikea Shelves, they are clean, and you can add in cabinets and drawers if you don't want open shelving. They are great for hiding all my Wouldn't it be Lovely supplies and also function as a banquet when we are using it as a dining room. So that's what I did, but I wanted something a little more unique for the drawer pulls. 

Which leads me to this weeks DIY project. Since I needed 20 knobs total, it basically ruled out buying special knobs from Anthro as they run about $8-15 each and there was no way in hell I was going to spend $160-$300 on knobs! So I bought some little round wood knobs on Amazon, got some olive colored spray paint from Michaels, pulled out some left over gold spray paint from the basement, and found the painters tape and I was good to go. Total cost, about $45.  

Process:

1. Tape all the knobs at an angle with the painters tape
2. Paint with the first color (olive)
3. Let them dry and take off the tape
4. Repeat the process, taping off a different area and spray paint the second color (gold)
5. Once dry and tape is removed, use an exacto blade to scrape off any of the paint that leaked under the painters tape
6. Coat with clear shellac spray paint, do at least two coats for a nice shiny finish. Let dry over night.
7. Screw onto your dresser and you're good to go!

DIY Vintage Rolling Wood Crates

In our living room, under the book shelves I made, I had stacks of books. It didn't bother me much in the beginning, but it was starting to feel visually cluttered, so I started looking for nice storage to use there. I couldn't find anything affordable that was striking my fancy so decided to DIY it when I found these great vintage wood crates at a local antique store. One of them was in pretty good shape as you can see from the first picture, but I needed to make the other two match. I also wanted to add little casters so that the would be easier to use and wouldn't scratch the floors. It was a pretty simple project, the whole thing probably took about two hours. The full how two is below:

Supplies:

1. Vintage Wood Crates
2. Clear Satin Finish Polyurethane
3. Paintbrush
4. Brass Casters (I got mine from Amazon)
5. Metal Brush (go with softer bristles so it doesn't gouge the wood_
6. Sand Paper (heavy and finer grains)
7. Hammer

Process:

1. Use the metal brush to get as much rust off the metal as possible
2. Hammer in any loose nails or bowing metal pieces
3. Lightly sand the surface by hand, you don't want to take off any of the painted logo
4. Use the heavier sand paper to take off any hard edges on the top
5. Wipe down the entire box with a damp towel
6. Once it's dry, paint a coat of clear polyurethane over the entire crate. After it dries, see how it looks and do another if you think it's needed
7. Place the casters on the bottom where you'd like them to be, mark the holes with a pencil
8. Screw pilot holes 
9. Screw in casters
10. You're done!  

 This is the before and after of the shelf with the crates, looks so much cleaner!!

Pumpkin Mini Bunt Cakes!

It's fall! which means it's time for pumpkin flavored goodies! I made these pumpkin bunt cakes this weekend and they were DELISH! A little plus, pumpkin cake always seems more like a muffin or bread to me, so it is totally allowed to have one for breakfast! The full recipe and directions are shown in the photo above. For the topping, I made a simple vanilla glaze which I made even better with a bit of cinnamon!

Glaze:
Wisk together 1C confectioners sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 2tbs unsalted butter, 2tbs milk, and 1tsp vanilla extract. I added about 1/2tsp cinnamon to give it that extra warm fall flavor!

Ottoman Transformation

My friend Dana moved into her new house not long after Chris and I moved into ours. Like many new home owners, she wanted a new look but couldn't afford all new furniture. She had an ottoman style coffee table that she had purchased from Target for her first apartment a couple of years before. When designing her new room and color pallet, she realized that the brown leather ottoman while having good features such as comfort and storage, really didn't fit the new aesthetic. This is where I came in!

She gave me a call, I took a look, and determined it would be a pretty simple reupholstery project. Typically, the cleaner the lines, and the less complimented designs are easier to to transform. We went right to the fabric store and picked out a heavy printed canvas. To save money and time, we decided not to tear the existing ottoman apart. We disassembled the whole thing, taking off the feet and top pieces. Then I sewed a basic box shaped piece of fabric, measuring carefully to be sure the seams would lay in the corners. Then we slid it over the existing leather, and using a heavy duty staple gun, stapled it into place. Then we cut pieces for the top, leaving plenty of extra to wrap to the undersides, making sure to fold the corners nicely. Then, all that was left was to screw the top pieces and feet back on and we were all done! A little bit of elbow greece, about $30 of fabric, and we were able to transform her old ottoman into a perfect compliment to the rest of the room!

Toy Magnet Letters to Fabulous Magnet Letters!

 I bought some cheepo toy magnet letters on a whim the other day. I mean they're super fun right? But after sticking them on the frig, they just looked a little tacky. As we don't have kids to blame cheesy things on, I decided to do the obvious thing. Spray paint. A couple coats of gold paint and they transformed into a classy little decor detail!! LOVE them!

DIY $3 Animal Candlestick Holders

At Michaels the other day, while standing in line, I was looking through those bins they cleverly surround the exit row with, and I saw these plastic animals for $1 a piece! I grabbed them knowing there would be something fun I could do with them. I'm not usually a fan of candle tapers because they tend to have a more formal vibe. I decided that making candle stick holders from the plastic toys was the perfect remedy! Check out the images below for the how to as well as a full description below the images.

Materials & Tools:

1. Plastic Animal Toys
2. Electric Screw driver with a 1/4in bit and a 7/8in bit 
3. Spray Paint, I used Valspar Classic Bronze Metallic
4. Tapered Candlesticks

Process:

1. Spray paint animals
2. Drill pilot hole with 1/4in bit
3. Drill large hole with 7/8 bit
4. Do a second coat of spray paint
5. If your animals were hollow, you may have to stuff some paper towels in them to keep the candles strait

You're done! Now place them on your table for a fun and whimsical centerpiece!

DIY Leather Studded Camera Strap

Time for a new leather project! I decided it was time to upgrade my standard nylon camera strap with some studded leather awesomeness! See below for pics of the process and directions.

Materials and Tools:

1. Make sure to salvage the plastic pieces from your current strap, I could not for the life of me find new ones ANYWHERE.
2. Nylon webbing the same thickness as the current ones so you can use the same hardware
3. Leather cut in two strips to the length and width you desire
4. Gold rivets, mine are 6mm wide
5. Basic rivet tools (you can get them at any craft store)
6. Leather hole punching tool (you can get them at craft stores or online)
7. Hammer
8. Candle 

Process:

1. Mark where you want the studs to go on one strap
2. Punch the holes with your leather punch tool
3. Once you finish the first strap, lay it on top of the second to insure that the rivet holes will line up
4. Punch holes in second strap, line up the straps so the nice side of the leather is on the outside of both.
5. Place rivets together, then hammer them to permanently secure them.
6. Once you have finished all the rivets, punch two holes in the middle of the ends of the straps. 
7. Mark where those holes are on the nylon webbing, cut small holes and then hold webbing over the candle so that the holes won't fray. You should repeat this process with the ends of the webbing as well. 
8. Put the rivets trough the leather, then the webbing, then the other layer of leather. Hammer to secure. 
9. Rethread the new strap through your camera and hardware to secure it.
10. Now you are ready to go take your pictures in style!

Target Table to Upholstered Stool

I saw this cute little table at Target not that long ago, and when I was there the other day, it was in the sale section for only $15! Though it's a nice table in it's own right, it's meant for a dorm, and the inexpensive top material really reinforces that. The metal bottom is amazing and had great potential! I've been looking for a little seat for our guest room and knew instantly that this would be the prefect base for a cute little upholstered stool! 

Materials:

1. Target side table
2. Wood cut into circle the same size as the top of wire table
3. Cotton Batting, some super thin and some 2 in thick
4. Fabric for top
5. Pom Pom trim (optional) 
6. Button for tufting (optional)

1. Tools:
2. Electric screw driver
3. Staple gun and staples
4. Hammer
5. Scissors
6. Glue gun

Process:

1. Unscrew bottom and top of table
2. Screw a hole in the middle of the wood you have already cut to size
3. Layer thin batting, the 2 in batting you have already cut to be the same diameter as the wood, and the wood circle on top
4. Pull thin batting tight and staple to wood top. Work from one side to the opposite side, then across the other direction, pull tight and continue in the same manner so that it is evenly pulled and there are no wrinkles.
5. Repeat process with fabric
6. If you want the bottom to be neat and flat, cut another piece of fabric a little smaller than the diameter of the wood and glue over stapled area
7. Glue trim to bottom (you can glue instead of sewing it in this instance because it's not a high abrasion area so it will not be pulled off or stretched when people sit on it)
8. Feel where for the hole you drilled earlier and push needle and thread through to the other side. 
9. Thread through the button and go back through the hole.
10. Pull both ends through another button, pull tight and knot to create tufting on the top. 
11. Screw the upholstered piece to the metal base the same way the top was attached. 
12. Flip it over and you're all done! Hurray for easy upholstery projects!!

Chalkboard Door Hand Lettering Art

 Front door awesomeness! When we moved in, these double front doors were a weird off white and felt like they should be letting you into a creepy basement as opposed to being part of a welcoming entryway. I painted them with chalkboard paint which is just generally awesome, but then I found CHALK MARKERS, which made it even MORE fun! I sketched out a new design that I wanted to put on the front door and went to work. I laid it out in regular chalk, and then did it all in detail with the chalk markers, which are a lot like paint pens. The new art has definitely made our front entryway so much better, and I think all my hand lettering practice has been paying off!

DIY Lace Watercolor Art

I've been doing some watercolor experiments for a set of vows I'm turning into art for a client. I liked one of the results so much that I decided to turn it into a little piece of art for myself. When I designed the gallery wall for our guest room, I incorporated one frame in a standard size so that I could swap it out with other art as the mood struck. I thought this was a perfect new piece to fill the frame. This is a simple way to make great looking art, and you don't have to be an artist to make it!

Supplies:

1. Watercolor paper
2. Clear glossy spray paint
3. Doilies, paper or fabric would work
4. Watercolors
5. Large watercolor brush

Process:

1. Tape down doilies in a pattern you like, remember, where the doilies are will be where the watercolor ends up.
2. Spray the clear spray paint all over the paper, do a couple coats to make sure you have full coverage. The spraypaint will prevent the watercolor from absorbing into the paper. Let paint dry for an hour or two.
3. Using a large watercolor brush, cover the whole paper in water. Then dip the brush in the colors of your choice. To make the colors mix together well, pick colors close on the color wheel and don't use more than three colors. Good combos would be pink, purple and blue or green, blue and yellow, you get the idea. Add water to make the colors bleed together and just play around to get a mix you like. Make sure not to go back over the colors too many times, you'll risk making them muddy. Once you're done, let it dry, cut out the parts you like best, and put them in frames!
4. If you want to add something else, like text as I did, scan it into your computer and add a fun phrase, quote or music lyrics. This was a little calligraphy doodle I did while in Asia, the jet lag was getting to me a that point!

Home DIY: Wood Dog Gates

Recently, we had a little doggie mishap. I thought it was time to test Truman out of his crate while we were out for dinner. He's such an angel when we're home, even when we're outside and he's alone inside he never gets into trouble. You can probably see where this is going. We left him out in the mancave while we were gone. We had two kiddie gates on the stairs to keep him down there. When we returned, there was a hole in the couch cushion, the door to the laundry room had been forced open and two shirts and a towel were ripped to shreds, last but not least, the dog gates had been ripped out of the walls. AWESOME. We've established that Truman doesn't like being left alone. That being said, it was still time to make some new dog gates for when we want to keep the dogs in one room or another. I wanted something a bit nicer than anything I could find online, so a project was born. The only supplies needed for this projects are a couple of 1x3in lengths of pine, some 1/2in plywood and some wood screws. The whole project took about a day, the painting taking up the majority of the time. You can see the process and "how-to" below.

 

We needed two gates, one at the top of the stairs to the basement and one at the bottom. As the bottom one had to attach to the railing, I had to be creative with the latch, using a sliding door lock on that one and a standard gate lock for the top gate. I just used standard door hinges to attach them to the walls, making sure to screw them into the studs to insure they can withstand a Truman attack.

 Tools:

1. Saw
2. Drill
3. Paintbrush

Materials:

1. 1x3in lengths of pine (I used about 30 ft per door, my doors measured 36in wide x 24 in high)
2. 1/2 plywood 2ft x 3ft
3. 30 wood screws
4. paint or stain depending on the look you want 

Wood Prep:

1. Cut wood to length, the frame on the front and back of the plywood need 45 degree miter joints on the long side of the wood. You need 4 of the shorter length and 4 of the longer length for both the front and back of the plywood. The top edge should be the same length as the plywood so they all line up. The final outer frame needs 45 degree miter joints on the short side of the wood to create a nice clean edge.
2. Whatever the width of your door is, make sure the plywood piece is 3 inches shorter to account for the outer frame and room to swing. 

Process: See drawing above!

Home Before and After: Stairs

Not too long ago I put together a little post for stairway inspiration. I knew I wanted to do something with my stairs, as you can see from my "Before" photos, the white risers don't do too well against shoes and dogs in our house. Even when I scrubbed them they would never truly be clean. The railings were also a wierd bulky shape and the paint was peeling off regardless of frequent touch ups. I taped off the risers and painted them a mid-tone grey, it's a nice contrast with our wall colors and the wood steps all while remaining neutral in the very likely situation that I decide to change the color of the walls at some point. To keep them from staying TOO neutral, I bought new banisters (you can have them cut to length at Lowes, and are only a couple of dollars a foot) and painted them a lovely mint color. Banisters like mine are so easy to repaint or replace since they are strait, so I figured why not? I also took down the rod iron railings to the basement and spray painted them white so they would look a little cleaner and blend better with all the white trim. I'm so happy with how they came out, our house looks cleaner already!

Home DIY: Ikea Mirror Hack

I think this is the last DIY project from our guest room that I had yet to post. It's a quick and easy project, just a coat of spray paint really. I've seen fun and  inexpensive ornate mirrors everywhere lately, in Target, Ikea, Walmart, etc, (mine is from Ikea) but they are almost always black or white and have a plasticy look about them. An easy way to make them look more expensive and unique is to spray paint them. As unique and really trend relevant colors can be hard to find in your local hardware store, whenever I need unusual colors, I buy them from Utrecht, They have a huge selection. To make sure it looks as rich as possible, always use a primer spray paint first, then multiple light coats of your colored spraypaint, and finally finish it off with a clear enamel coat.