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Hands Occupied

Contemporary yarn crafts by Heidi Gustad. Knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame.

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How-to: Light Up Banner

October 4, 2010 8 Comments

How-to: Light-up Banner at handsoccupied.com

Inspired by the sign hanging in Venice, CA and vintage carnival signs, I decided to make a light-up banner for my wedding (which is 5 months away as of tomorrow!). We’re having a non-denominational ceremony and have decided to add a couple of personal touches to the ceremony, this sign being one of them. The sign will remain dark until we’re officially wed, and then we’ll turn it on using a foot switch.

Here’s how to make one of your own:

Gather your supplies: set of 100 LED Christmas lights, an old cardboard box, straight pins, all of the letters you’ll need (I printed mine from the computer, but you could stencil them too), x-acto knife, sharpened pencil (non-mechanical), scissors, floral wire, wire cutter

Cut out your letters and straight pin them to your cardboard. I folded one of the former tops of my cardboard box under the cardboard to which I was pinning my letters to protect my work surface.

Using an x-acto knife, cut around your letters, but don’t cut through the entire sheet of cardboard. Just cut through the top few layers. If you’ve got stencils, the above process is much less complicated. Just trace and go over your traced lines with an x-acto knife, cutting only the top few cardboard layers.

Cut around the outside edges of your cardboard using a scissors. The complicated step comes next when cutting out characters, like an ampersand or a “d” for instance, that involve cutting out pieces from their centers.

Poke holes all the way through your cardboard using the x-acto knife. Flip your letter-in-progress over and connect the dots using your knife to finish cutting out your letters. Check out the three pictures on the left above for guidance.

Using straight pins, poke holes through your cardboard where you’d like a light to go.

Flip your letter over. Using the x-acto knife, poke tiny crosses through your cardboard letter from the back to the front. Then, use your pencil to enlarge the holes. Poke your Christmas lights from the back through to the front.

Once your lights are all in place, you’ll probably notice that it’s hard to get your letters to stay in place. I had some floral wire lying around from when I made my bouquet. Thread your letters like beads on a necklace using the floral wire. Use two separate pieces of wire, threading the letters at both approximately an inch from the top and bottom of your letters (see right-hand picture above). The cool thing about using an old box is that the cardboard is corrugated, so threading the letters really is just like threading a giant bead on a string.

You’re all done! The finished product is a little heavy, so be careful when you hang it. I mounted mine to a piece of spare wood with staples and hung it with eye screws. In all honesty the LED lights are so bright, it didn’t matter what the thing it hung on looked like.

Filed Under: DIY Wedding, How-to Tagged With: banner, cardboard, carnival, floral wire, LED, lights, x-acto knife

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. She specializes in knitting, crochet, latch hook and macramé, and her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now!

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi, an author, yarn craft designer and content creator specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. My work unapologetically features primary colors and vintage-meets-modern style. My first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is now available!

Professionally I’m most known for: advanced intarsia knitting design & modern latch hook design.

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handsoccupied

Craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. / #latchhookbook out now!
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knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé

Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
“You’re telling me words can be pronounced in “You’re telling me words can be pronounced in different ways and mean the same things?!” 👀 Posting this here, just to make it clear: when anyone says skayne, skeen, or skyne, it can be safely assumed we’re talking about a bundle o’ yarn,  a SKEIN. It’s not necessary to shame someone for using a word that is known to have MULTIPLE common pronunciations. 🧶
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Can you plz comment sharing how you say SKEIN and where you learned it? The OED happens to say SKAYNE, but it’s not a personal attack if someone says SKEEN and you say SKYNE or even Saskatoon. I’m legitimately curious. We don’t all knit or crochet the same way, and craft evolves a bit like language - it is passed on. There is so much value in having conversations about & embracing these variations! ✌🏻
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Pictured: A blond woman holds a skein of mustard yellow yarn up to her head like a phone, looking shocked. She’s wearing glasses & a knit sweater. 
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#handsoccupied #heidigustad #skein #yarn #yarncraft #knit #crochet #yarnaddict #knitincolor #soldotnacrop #language #englishisweird #oed #oxfordenglishdictionary
Sometimes my weekend projects involve hair rather Sometimes my weekend projects involve hair rather than yarn. Here’s the latest mediocre-but-improving result of my slow quest to learn to set vintage inspired curls. 💇🏼‍♀️ I’m hoping to be able to wash my hair less using a regular vintage set, but we’ll see if it ends up being practical. 😆 Hair frustrates me so much more than crafts! 
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Do you also style your hair using vintage methods? If you have any tips for vintage hair styling or good resources to share, please do!
I suppose this is one way to decide what yarn colo I suppose this is one way to decide what yarn color suits your pooch. 😆 Navy really might be Woodrow‘s color - what do you think? 
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Pictured: A medium sized, brown, senior dog asleep on a green bed. For some reason a donut ball of navy wool yarn sits on his head.
The first stitch tutorial of the new year is live The first stitch tutorial of the new year is live on YouTube! Diamond Brocade is a great knit+purl only stitch for beginners or anyone wanting a classic look for their knitting project. Find the video with a written stitch pattern on the blog or head directly to the video on YouTube. Both are linked in bio. ✌🏻 
#kpambassadorsfeb21 #sponsored
When your WIP loves ya back! 🥰 This may or may When your WIP loves ya back! 🥰 This may or may not be the third sample I’m making for an upcoming YouTube series on knitting seamed & vintage sweaters. I figure I’ll get to wear them all at the end, so why not? 🧶🤓 
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Pictured: A few rows of knit ribbing on long circular needles arranged in the shape of a heart on a cream background. The yarn used is @knit_picks Twill worsted weight in Crabapple (wine red). The glasses stitch marker was a diy. 
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#kpambassadorsfeb21 #sponsored #handsoccupied #vintageknitting #sweaterknitting #redyarn #knitinspiration #knitincolor #wool #redheart #handmadewardrobe #knit #heidigustad #knitpicks #knitpickstwill
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