Family Chore chart and Menu board

I've been pondering a Chore chart and Menu board for weeks now. I even spent most of a morning scouring the Internet for ideas, but couldn't find anything I liked. I finally finished them and I'm really happy with the result. So here we go:

Here's the finished projects.

I bought a sheet of Plywood from Home Depot that was 2 ft x 4 ft and asked them to cut it in half. I also had a roll of galvanized metal from a previous project. I sanded and painted both boards a creamy white color and cut the metal to fit the space with tin snips. I had to lightly sand the edges of the metal and use the back side of a knife to get the edge nice.

Next get some Liquid Nails adhesive. They sell it in smaller quantities which was nice. Only about $2 for the tube.

Spread a thin bead around the space where the metal is going to go. Be sure to add some squiggles in the middle. Place your metal down and then place a large heavy object on it. Leave it for about 24 hours to let the adhesive cure. I had to add a little more to the edges with a Q-tip the next day to stick the metal down better. But once it's down, you're done with that.

Next I made some labels for the boards. I considered stamping them, but that would take way too long so I made them in Photoshop using the Elipical and Rectangular Marquee tool to make the shape, then adding the text. The font is Times and Times again. You are welcome to use my labels if you want. They are made to fit a 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. I used some gorgeous Wassau paper to print mine on.

These are for breakfast.

Yes, I have a card for Leftovers.

If you are curious about what a recipe is, just ask.

I also left the cards vague enough to allow for versatility. Keep the main ingredients the same, but change how they are put together. I made 2 weeks worth of cards for dinners. That way we aren't eating the same thing every week. That's good for me and the kids.

After printing out the cards, I cut them all out and adhered them to some cute paper. Some of the backgrounds I cut with my Cricut. Here's what they looked like:

Next I ran them through my laminator. It's from Scotch and I got it for about $20 at Wal-mart.

Cut them out and stick the magnets on the backs. I bought a tape of magnet. It was much cheaper than buying the individual circle ones. I made all the magnets and still have a bunch of the magnet tape left.

For the boards I used my Cricut to cut the lettering out. The cartridge is Alphalicious and I used the "real dial size" setting to get the lettering the same height. For the swirls I used the Home Accents cartridge, and the branches came from the Storybook cartridge. I used contact paper that I got from my friend since my vinyl is still hiding in a box somewhere in my garage. It cut perfectly and I even bought transfer paper to place the letters, but for some reason the contact paper didn't have very much adhesive on the backs so I had to individually place each letter. Then I stuck them all down with a coat of Mod Podge. (the crafters best friend)

Now I need to hang them in my kitchen to help keep everyone on track. Here they are finished again.



Happy Crafting!