So I have a pair of boring aluminum 5.0 HO valve covers.  I decide to make them look more 'vintage' by painting them, so they seem more at home in the engine bay of my '67 Cougar (almost a mustang!).

Everything's going well, except that I'm painting outside, and sure enough, a couple little bugs and bits of stuff get on them while they are drying.

I think to myself "Well, I'll let them dry for 3-4 hours, and sand the nasty bits off."

3-4 hours was not enough.  Even on a warm day, in the sun.

So the paint is pretty awful looking now, and all balled up.  SO!  No problemo.  I get a rag, and I get the acetone!  After getting paint all over everything, especially me, they are now down to mostly aluminum again, and smooth enough to paint.  So I start to spray them.

... and notice that the rag I used left huge fuzzies *ALL OVER*.

So now they look far worse than they did when I started.  I get out paper towels, because I have no non-fuzzy rags.  I start to work on it with acetone and the paper towels start leaving parts of themselves, adding to the lovely decoupage appearance I've created.

Maybe I should give up and just ... what is that stuff little girls use?  Plastic gems, glued all over?   Oh yeah!  BEDAZZLE!

At this point I should probably Bedazzle the dang things and call it good...

... but I won't.   I'm letting them *really* dry now.  And in 24 hours-ish, I will go back to them, and really sand  them smooth.  I will buy some rags that won't leave fuzzies all over them. And, God willing, I will spray them again, hopefully making them look like they aren't part of a 5th grader's model car. 

I'm sure there has to be a lesson in here somewhere!