DIY Marquee LOVE Sign

I admit, I didn't see the "no photos" sign until later...oops.

I saw this in a little shop in Laguna in December and I fell in love. Not with the $949 price tag though. Ouch. I thought to myself, maybe I could do a modified version myself. It's a least worth a try right. So I did some online research and found this little gem. But I definitely wanted globe lights and not christmas lights. The great thing about this site is that she has a template for the text. I decided to go with a smaller version since I had these 8 x10 canvas already and the template would work perfectly for them.

As far as supplies here is what you need/or what I used (Cost: +/- $40):

• (4) 8"x10" canvas
• Acrylic paints in your colors of choice
• Paint brush/sponge brush
• Xacto knife
• Straight edge/ruler
• String of 20 Globe lights (Orchard Supply Hardware)
• LOVE template
• glue gun
• (1) piece of 2" wood baseboard (Orchard Supply Hardware of any other hardware store)
• Double stick tape
• Extension cord 

Steps:

1. Print and cut out LOVE template. 

2. Center and tape each letter on a canvas.

3. Paint the canvas with your paint or sponge brush and let dry. 

4. After the paint has dried, peel off the letter and then carefully paint the interior of the letter with your secondary color. (I realized after the fact that I could have painted the entire canvas silver first, let dry and then placed the stencil on top and painted the darker color. Maybe experiment with this way, probably easier).

(Missd some photos in between but you get the idea)

5. Flip over the canvas and cut a small "X" into the places where you want your globe lights. I did't use the dots on the template because I was using the larger lights not the Christmas lights. I did use the entire 20 globe string perfectly so feel free to copy my layout of the lights. Unscrew the bulb from the base and push the silver screw part through the front of the canvas. Screw base back on. Be strategic about how you place the lights. You probably want the string to end on the "E" so just think about that as your are screwing them all in. 

6. The globe lights are pretty large so I had build a black frame out of wood baseboard in order to hide the wires and allow it to sit flush on the wall. It also helped with hanging it too. First cut down the pieces to the size you need. (2) 15.5" pieces and (2) 19.5" pieces. You want these slightly smaller so you can easily glue the canvases to the frame. 

7. Glue together with glue gun and paint

8. Glue canvas to the frame. 

Here she is finished!!

Booses, 

Shenine joon