DIY Easter egg faux marquee chalkboard tutorial

See how to create this DIY faux marquee chalkboard using an unexpected material - plastic Easter eggs!  

I recently showed you a faux marquee sign that our Girl Scout troop made for their cookie booth.  It was far from the best photography (okay, it was awful) and the sign itself was far from perfect, having been made by a handful of 13 year old girls.  They did a great job considering the time frame, budget, and general chaos of a troop meeting.

But I wanted to redo it to see what it would look like, without the time and extreme budget pressure.  And I wanted to get good photos this time!

So now I'm back with a new-and-improved version of the faux marquee sign!

I made some changes from the original.  The first sign was an advertisement for cookies, so we just decoupaged some letters so they would stand out across a parking lot.  This time, I created a chalkboard so I could create new messages whenever I want.  I also changed out the eggs from all yellow (like lightbulbs) to several colors to make it more colorful.

I love how it turned out!  Bright, happy, totally something I can hang on my front door!

Read on to see how you can create a DIY faux marquee from left over plastic Easter eggs.

Gather your materials

16 x 20 canvas (or other size if you prefer)

Chalkboard craft paint

Acrylic craft paint

Gold paint pen

Easter eggs

Glue gun

Masking tape

Even though I relaxed the budget restrictions, it was still an inexpensive project to make.  Between the canvas, eggs, and chalkboard paint, I spent less than $10 on materials. I already had the hot glue sticks and the paint pen.  

Make the Easter egg DIY faux marquee chalkboard sign

First, I painted the entire canvas with the chalkboard paint.

When it's dry, paint a frame around the outside of the canvas, 2.5" wide.  I used masking tape to get straight lines.

Even with taping, some of the paint will probably bleed through.  Use a paint pen to help camouflage those spots and to add a little "pop" to your frame.

Now is a good time to prime your chalkboard.  It'll be easier to do before you add on all the egg "lights".  Just rub chalk all over the chalkboard area and then wipe if off.

Now all you have to do is glue down your eggs.  You'll use only the bottom, more rounded, half of each egg.  Arrange them around the frame to get the spacing and the color pattern the way you like.

Then, use hot glue to glue each one of them down.

I put a line of glue all around the bottom edge of each egg, with a little extra on the inside.  To make sure I got good adhesion to the canvas, I put pressure from above but also slipped my hand underneath and put a little pressure from the bottom as well.  The edges of the eggs are so narrow there's not much for the glue to hold on to, so I wanted to make sure the glue that was on there stuck good.

That's it!  Write a fun message and find a place to hang your DIY faux marquee sign where everyone can see it!