How to Make a Partially DIY Marquee Sign With Craftcuts

5 Materials
$100
1 Hour
Medium

Decorating for the holidays is one of my very favorite things—I’m already planning ideas for next year's holiday, ha!


I was super pumped to team up with CraftCuts to bring you a fun DIY marquee sign tutorial.


This marquee sign can be used for anything: birthday parties, weddings, kid's rooms...anything!


Original post with links here

I love marquee letters and don’t have anything like that in my holiday decor, so when I was looking through the CraftCuts website I was searching for some wood lettering that would work. I found some 14” tall customizable stand alone lettering and knew it would be perfect for the project. I settled on the word “JOLLY” and then chose my font and color—yes you can customize it to that level of detail. How cool is that?


Here are exact details showing what I chose for my sign:

Text: JOLLY

Color: Red

Font: Montserrat Bold

Size: 14”

Thickness: 1/2″


The letters were shipped very quickly, and showed up in perfect condition already painted and ready to go. Honestly they are so beautiful that they’d look great as is. But as I mentioned, I was wanting some marquee style letters.

Ok, let’s get started shall we?


Gather your supplies:

  • CraftCuts stand alone lettering sign
  • Holiday sphere lights (with removable bulbs – that’s key)
  • Drill and two bits (smaller and larger)
  • Marker

I have made marquee signs using larger bulbs before, but wanted to use standard holiday lights on this one for a more dainty/subtle look. The only thing you have to ensure is that the bulbs can be pulled off and re-inserted (I used these lights).


I took a sharpie and made a small dot where I wanted each hole to go.

Once I had all of my dots marked, I flipped the letters to the back side and using a small bit, I drilled pilot holes over each Sharpie mark.

Once all pilot holes were drilled, I got my larger bit (large enough for the base of the light to fit through) and drilled over the smaller holes.

My drill bit was a little dull, so as you can see, it did damage the backside of the lettering around each hole, but kept the front side nearly unchanged (whew). I plan on buying some matching touch up paint to fix these spots.


I took my light strand and one-by-one started removing the bulbs from the base, pushed the base through the hole, then put the bulb back in.

I repeated this step with each hole until the entire sign was covered in lights. Please ignore the damage to the back side. Oops! The front side is what matters, right? Ha.


My DIY marquee sign found a home on our fireplace, and I can’t wait to enjoy it throughout the entire holiday season. So festive!

I wrapped two pieces of foam core board in wrapping paper to create the art in the background.

Have you ever made a DIY marquee sign? It’s pretty easy as long as you have a drill and (sharp) bits + a little patience. I highly recommend CraftCuts stand a lone lettering—their product and customer service is absolutely wonderful!


xoxo

Audrey



Suggested materials:
  • Wood letters   (CraftCuts)
  • Drill   (Lowes)
  • Holiday lights   (Lowes)
See all materials
Audrey Kuether
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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 2 comments
  • William William on Jan 18, 2022

    Very nice. And the letters are not that expensive on the site. Using a backer board when drilling would prevent the tearout. Good share

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