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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 (she/her/hers), a craft book author & pattern designer specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. Really anything with yarn! ❤️  My work combines vintage and modern design elements, featuring bold colors and graphic motifs.

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handsoccupied

Craft book author & pattern designer ❤️💛💙
knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé
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Please email for pattern support. 🧶

Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
When you have four big skeins of pretty 2 ply yarn When you have four big skeins of pretty 2 ply yarn, you immediately think sweater, right? 
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My wardrobe could use another handmade sweater - I’m thinking something simple, seamed and with a decent amount of ease for potentially wearing tucked in with jeans or skirts. 🤔 
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Yarn: @universal_yarn Fibra Natura Cobblestone in Antarctica and Dragon’s Breath, wound in thick skeins of 100% superwash wool that’s a light DK weight.
How to to knit throwing (a.k.a. English) style . How to to knit throwing (a.k.a. English) style 
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In knitting, there are a few common knitting styles. Most often you’re going to encounter continental style and English (throwing) style on your knitting journey. I recently had an old video teaching continental style get a lot of views. Based on the comments, it was clear the people wanted to also see a throwing tutorial, so here you go! 🧶
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Please note that there is a LOT of variation in knitting styles, and one isn’t necessarily better than another. Most often, I’ve found it comes down to two things: how you were taught and whether or not you’re really into colorwork knitting (which can involve a mix of styles). 
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Longer-term knitters who’ve made it this far: do you prefer one over the other? And why? 
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#handsoccupied #englishknitting #learntoknit #knitting #howtoknit #knittersofinstagram #knitting_inspiration
How to do a one-step provisional knitting cast on How to do a one-step provisional knitting cast on / a.k.a. crochet provisional cast on, scrap yarn cast on
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I read recently that tiktok and Instagram are being used as search engines more and more. 🤔 I thought since I’m going to all the work of making tutorials on YouTube, I should experiment with making a quick version of them for other platforms. There are obvious teaching limitations to vertical video, short-form content like this, but I think I covered the gist of this cast on in a minute. The YouTube version also covers how to unzip this cast on because there was time for it 👍🏻 L1nk is in my profile. 
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I’m very much looking for feedback as I continue to make instructional knitting & craft videos. Sometimes good tutorials are hard to find, and (ideally polite) feedback helps me improve. 
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#handsoccupied #provisionalcaston #knitting #knititngtutorial #knittersofinstagram #crochethook #knittingtutorial
For the first time in a long time, there’s a new For the first time in a long time, there’s a new tutorial from Hands Occupied! 🎉 The video is live on YouTube & the blog. 
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The post covers what provisional cast ons are & how they differ, and the video covers how to work a one-step provisional cast on using scrap yarn and a crochet hook. (This is a great one to save for future reference.)
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I learned several names for this method while researching this video & post. Crochet provisional cast on, one-step cast on, scrap yarn cast on - if you know even more names for this technique, please share! 
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#handsoccupied #provisionalcaston #knitting #scrapyarn #crochethook
Working on a sample for some upcoming videos. It’s an overcast day with intermittent sunshine & I have a scruffy little sidecar. 🐶 Can’t complain! 
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What’s on your needles this week? 
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Yarn: @debbieblissknits Cashmerino Aran 
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#handsoccupied #knitting #knittinglife
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