One-of-a-kind Luggage!

I thought some of you might be inspired to paint your luggage, so here are some basic tips I can offer after having painted mine. The first photograph lists the supplies I used. I had hard suitcases instead of fabric ones. I didn't want to deal with the fabric type soaking up all the paint. I prefer using the hard cases because of how lightweight they are.

• For spray paints I went to our stash in the basement and picked out colors I thought would work with the pink color suitcases I had. Matt or gloss will work. Use what you have if you can. No need to spend money if you have some around. My suitcases had a textured surface, so the glossy spray paints were kind of lost on it.
• As far as how many layers, it depends on your level of patience. I added my paint in light layers, so it dried quickly. My advice is don't go too dark right away if your suitcases are light colored. Work up the color gradually. I selected similar type patterns for my stencils that coordinated well together. Think about the scale of each of the patterns. I found I liked the larger patterns in the background and added the smaller ones as accents to the larger ones. 
• I used pieces of cardboard (like the backs of a pad of paper) to mask off areas where I didn't want the paint to go. 
• After all the spray paint dried I added some line work with paint pens.
• I haven't decided if I am going to coat it with a layer of clear coat or not. I kind of like the idea of the paint possibly coming off, so I can paint them again to freshen them up.

If you decide to try this out on your luggage, please share a picture with me!