Menu Board

I always struggle with "What To Make For Dinner?!!!" and I found a solution!  I can not take credit for this beautiful idea because I first saw a menu board on Pinterest.  But I knew right away that I had to make one of my own and I'll tell you why : 

1. It gives me a weekly layout...which is great because I usually grocery shop weekly
2. The ingredients are on the back of each card, so when I've chosen my meals for the week, all I have to do is turn the card over for a shopping list
3. When the week is over, I can discard the meal cards into "Tasted Good" so I know those have been used recently and when I go to choose new meals I can grab from "Cook Me".  It will help me rotate what we eat without me even having to think about it!  And you can add and throw away meal cards as you please!
4. It sure is darn cute!
5. TOTAL COST was only $6.50 because I already had the frame lying around the house, already had the cardstock and the ribbon was on sale at Hobby Lobby. 

 Want to make your own?? SO cheap and easy! Here are the steps:

1. Gather your supplies
1. 11X14 picture frame ($3 or less walmart/dollar store)
2. 3-4 pieces of 12X12 scrapbook paper ($.59/each)
3. 2-3 pages 8 1/2 X 11 cardstock for meal cards ($.50/each?)
4. 7 clothespins (pack of 24 is $3.47)
5. 2 crayon boxes (mine are 24 ct, but 12 ct would work) ($.50-1.50/each)
6. Embellishments like ribbon, brads (optional)
7. Hot glue gun
2. Take the glass out of the frame and take out the back board.  Arrange your scrapbook paper however you like and glue it on the board
3. Turn the crayon boxes horizontal and cut out one side of the box.  Glue the ends together to keep the box from falling apart.  Cut out scrapbook paper to fit and cover the box
4. Glue scrapbook paper to your clothespins.  I used mod podge and also covered the top with mod podge...kind of made them look more like they came that way. ;) Then I wrote the days of the week with a fine tip sharpee
5. Before you glue the boxes and clothespins on, you might want to arrange it all with your meal cards to make sure everything is spaced correctly:

MEAL CARDS:

1. Open a Word document and set the page layout to "2 columns" with .5 margins on all sides.  
2. Type in the names all the meals you can think of that you make and that you'd be happy to make again. Include a couple that say EAT OUT, LEFTOVERS, SOMETHING NEW (in case you might want to try a new recipe that week) or I even put FROM THE FREEZER as one because I'll sometimes have a frozen meal from costco or something.  You should be able to fit 6 in each column, depending on your size and font
3. If you liked my font, it's called Pea So Lovely, which you can download for free and my font sizes were anywhere from 30-43, depending on how long of a word.  The font for my box titles is Girls Are Weird, also downloadable for free. (tasted great was size 45 and cook me was size 60)
4.  Once you have all your cards printed on cardstock and cut out, you need to write on the back of each one, the main ingredients and amounts...you do not have to write the entire recipe!  
5. You can make your own printout of "What's For Dinner!" or you can right click on mine and save it to your computer.  (Thanks to my friend, Brittney!)
6. Now you are ready to arrange everything on your board and then you can glue on your boxes and your clothespins with the hot glue gun!
7. As far as hanging it, I would suggest to hang it with a nail or two on your wall, BUT I have NO wall space in my kitchen area, so I bought a $2.99 over the door wreath hanger and I put a thick ribbon through the hanger on the back of the frame, tied a TIGHT knot at the top then added a bow and it hangs there nicely for me.  I don't like the idea of it bouncing around every time the door opens, so I am on the hunt for some kind of adhesive to help hold it there.