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DIY Heart Marquee Light

My parents picked up my three oldest kids yesterday afternoon and I took the opportunity to stop into Hobby Lobby to see if they had any good Christmas clearance left. I lucked out on scoring any after-Christmas items but I did come across a few other craft supplies that gave me the idea to make my first marquee light. I am in love with the marquee light trend and have seen them popping up everywhere. Some of the prices on the marquee signs I have seen are shockingly high and out of my budget so when I saw a set of marquee lights at Hobby Lobby I knew just what to use them for. Valentine’s Day is the next big holiday so I picked up a paper mache heart box in the next isle over to make a heart marquee light.
Before Christmas I stopped into some thrift stores while exploring the new town we live in. I came across a faux mantle which I have dreamed of having, especially around the holidays. The price for it was $75 and days after I saw it I couldn’t stop thinking about it so I went back and bought it. I asked the shop owner if he would sell it for $65 and he agreed. I painted the main part of the mantle in white chalk paint leaving the wood on the top and bottom. I am still contemplating painting the rest of it but for now it looks lovely in our upstairs living room. The mantle is perfect for setting up holiday vignettes so excuse me while I bombard you with picture overload of the New Year vignette which is slowly transitioning into a Valentine’s mantle vingnette.
Now that it is officially Twenty-Fifteen and the stores already have their Valentine’s Day isles set up I figured I would transition the New Year mantle into a Valentine’s Day mantle. I don’t want the mantle to ooze hugs and kisses so I am using the same color palette – gold and blues.
Enough chit-chat! Are you ready for the tutorial?
First I gathered the supplies for my heart marquee light
  • Heart shaped paper mache box
  • Marquee lights (Hobby Lobby had them in the embellishment isle near the chipboard)
  • Paint
  • Paintbrush
  • Scrapbook paper
  • Mod Podge
  • Exacto Knife
  • Scissors
  • Hot glue gun

I consider items like paint and scrapbook paper to be a crafter’s ‘pantry items’ because we usually always have them on hand. Ya’ know kinda like flour and sugar are to a baker. I consider items like hot glue guns, exacto knives and scissors to be common utensils – just as mixers and spatulas are to a baker. Needless to say I had everything but the heart shaped box and marquee lights in my stash. After I used my 40% off Hobby Lobby coupon on the marquee lights (Regular price was $7.99) I paid $8. If you needed to buy paint and scrapbook paper you could still easily pay around $10.

 Here is how I made the light-

  1. I flipped the lid of the box around and embellished the inside of it. I painted the outside and inside edge of the lid with gold paint. Then I painted the outside of the box with aqua blue paint. For the inside of the lid I mod podged a piece of scrapbook paper into it.
  2. I used a pencil to mark the lid with where I would make my cuts for the lights. (Make your marks on what would be the top of the lid which you did not paint or embellish.) Then I used an exacto knife to cut a small ‘x’ then twisted until the hole was big enough for the marquee light to fit through.
  3. Then I planned out how I would put my string of lights and where it would end. Once the small part of the lights were through I gently added the marquee bulb fitting over them.
  4. Using the exacto knife I also cut a whole in the bottom of the heart box to fit the battery pack/switch for the lights through.
  5. For the final step use a hot glue gun to glue the lid upside down onto the top of the box so your lights and embellished side are facing out.

I am in love with how the light turned out and now that I know about the handy kits at Hobby Lobby I see more marquee lights and letters in my future! The heart looks perfect on my faux mantle adding a bit of love to the winter feel it has going on.

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lala

Wednesday 4th of February 2015

Fantastic idea - I absolutely love this - easily doable (after you showed how!), and you get decor which can be used all year round! I would never have thought to use the lid for the lights. Thank you so much for sharing this!!!!

Bobbi

Saturday 17th of January 2015

This is a real inspiration - I just may have to do this! Love it.

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