Lighting panels including embedded illumination devices and methods of making such panels

A lighting panel includes a structural panel, a plurality of inserts containing microminiature light sources, such as LEDs, mounted in openings in the panel or in an appliqué applied thereto, a plurality of electrically conductive traces written on the upper surface of the panel so as to make electrical interconnections with respective leads of the light sources, and a decorative film applied over a bottom surface of the panel and the light sources, the decorative film being translucent or transparent or containing a plurality of apertures therethrough, each corresponding in location to a respective one of the light sources.