A DIY Christmas Light up Marquee Sign


This post is brought to you by Modern Masters, without them this sign wouldn’t be as shimmery in all its glory!
This project gave me a couple headaches in the beginning… but I powered through it and so happy I did! The great thing about this sign is you can take the concept and really make the sign your own. Originally I was going to do a 6’ tall vertical sign, but changed at last minute to this set up. You could use a variety of materials for the letters too. But keep the paint – the paint is PERFECT for it


Supplies:
Wood surface for the backboard (Mine is just planks of wood held together by two support planks on the back, I had this laying around already painted dark for quite a while so just put it to use finally)
Letters to spell phrase of choice (I found these chunky block letters at JoAnn Fabric in the clearance bin. Originally I wanted 3D chipboard letters but couldn’t find any but so happy because I LOVE the look of these afterwards)
Paint brushes, roller brush, etc
Modern Masters paint
Duct Tape
String of white Christmas lights
Drill with 1/4” drill bit

This project started out with a few hurdles. I wanted a metallic rustic background to the sign and thought that I could just use the metallic paint of Modern Masters over the dark and it would be perfect. Well I did two layers of their Champagne color first and this was the result.
Not bad… just too opaque for what I was looking for. When I originally used their paint in my daughter’s nursery I was painting onto white and the depth of the metallic was PERFECT. So I started over and painted the whole board white to give a fresh background for the metallic paint.

Then I did two layers of Statuary Bronze Once that dried I wanted do apply a dry brush effect, so I dry brushed with Champagne over the darker metallic paint.

Once I achieved the look I was going for, I did the same effect to the block letters background piece, and then just painted the actual letters with white acrylic craft paint.

I just used wood glue to attach each letter to the board and used a T-square to keep my base line straight.

Once I allowed enough dry time, I used a 1/4” drill (technically an auger bit) to drill through the block letters and the back board. This made for a big ol’ mess in my house… but nothing a vacuum didn’t suck up.

Next is stringing the lights! No real beautiful science here, just stick the lights through the hole and duck tape them in place.

I just LOVE how it fits in perfectly with my holiday décor on these shelves. It’s such a centerpiece and fits the color scheme beautifully.

Notice the pallet flower box?! I switched out the hydrangeas, filled it up with tree trimmings and some ornaments and graced with a black bow. Perfect switch out for the Christmas season.

During the day:

Then all lit up at night:



Huge thanks to Modern Masters for the opportunity to use their products again. I originally used their paint in my daughter’s nursery and LOVVEDDDD it so when the chance came to work with them I jumped at it!

(Here’s a close up shot of Modern Masters paint. They have SUCH a huge line of colors and products… endless ideas happen when I hit their website. Side note: The really great thing about Modern Masters metallic paint is it’s forgiving of flaws because of the shimmer. You really don’t have to be an expert to try out new effects with this paint. And you can see the HUGE range of projects you can use it with from this sign to using it directly on walls to so much more. )

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