DIY Menu Board & a Giveaway!

Happy Wednesday Folks!  Are you just loving fall?  I swear Fall makes me come alive!  I can't wait to make fall work for me the next few weeks! Apple picking, fun & yummy treats, organizing, HOODIES, BOOTS.  Oh man!

Anyway, I have a treat for you today!  

Carrie from Frugal Foodie Mama is here today to share her DIY MENU BOARD!  

And get this!  

She's got a giveaway to go with it!  

Aren't you excited?  I am!  

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Enjoy! 

And don't forget to enter the giveaway!

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Inspired by a number of DIY menu boards I have spied on Pinterest, I decided to finally make my own.  My son is infamous for asking me almost every single day, "What's for dinner?"  Now I can just point at my nifty, pretty menu board when he asks me. ;)

Plus, it gave me motivation to actually start menu planning for the week.  I am finding that weekly menu planning has become essential for keeping us on a budget.  And getting to write out our menu for the week on this pretty menu board makes it fun. :)

Making your own is pretty easy and doesn't have to be expensive.  I lucked out when I found this gorgeous frame for just $1 at a yard sale!  I suggest to check at yard sales and thrift shops before running out and buying a brand new frame.  Just keep in mind that if you like the style but not the color of the frame, you could easily repaint it.  Just make sure that it has its glass.  Replacing glass in a frame can be a little more costly.  

All in all, I had less than $10 in the whole project.

So what will you need to make your very own menu board?

• A 8x10 or 10x13 frame with the glass (I used a 10x13 for mine.)
• Wooden M-E-N-U letters (I bought mine unpainted & painted them to match my scrapbook paper, but you can just buy already painted letters.)
• Letter stickers (make sure you get a couple of packs so that you have enough Y's ;) )
• Scrapbook paper of your choosing (you can usually buy single sheets at your local craft store for less than 75 cents)
• Tacky glue
• Dry erase markers
• Any additional embellishments you would like to use

Affix your days of the week to the scrapbook paper using your letter stickers.  You could also use a stencil to do this if you have one handy.  I will admit that affixing the individual letter stickers to spell out the days of the week was the most tedious part of this DIY project. (This is also the part when you should add any additional stickers or embellishments that you have  to your scrapbook paper.)  Once you have your days of the week on your scrapbook paper, insert the paper into your frame. 

Now for the M-E-N-U.  If you have painted your own letters, allow them to dry completely before gluing them to the glass.  Decide where you want your MENU letters and then affix them to the glass with the tacky glue.  Please note- Once the tacky glue has set, you will NOT be able to move the wooden letters again, so make sure you get it right the first time. ;) 

Allow the glue to dry completely (at least a couple of hours).  Using the dry erase marker, write our your menu for the week and then proudly hang on your kitchen wall! 

*Note: I had to use different MENU letters after I initially made my menu board. I hung up the first one with one of those strips and hooks & the whole board came crashing to the floor.  The glass broke & those wooden letters would not pry off of the glass.  I had to replace the glass and use new wooden letters for the board.

Are you ready to create your very own menu board??  Let me help you with that! 

I am going to be giving away a little something to get one of you started with your menu board.  One of you lucky readers will win six sheets of letter stickers, wooden M-E-N-U letters, some foodie wooden cut-outs for embellishing, and a dry erase marker.  

Just simply use the Rafflecopter form below!

*Please note that this giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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{Post Sponsored and Written by Carrie from 

Frugal Foodie Mama}

Then I Found $100 - A Funny Story

So if you read the bible at all, you've probably heard this story.

The Parable of the Lost Coin (Luke 15:8-10)

⁸ “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins^[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

As I am going through the New Testament with my discipleship girls, we came across this parable.  I actually made fun of it and said "Seriously... if i lost a 'coin' (AKA A LOT OF MONEY) I wouldn't call my friends and neighbors together.'  My girls actually questioned my line of thinking.  

The next weekend, as I was looking for something, I found this:

Now, before you start thinking I am rolling around in money, let me explain.  

About 3 ish years ago, my dad was in the habit of giving me emergency money. Yes, i am in my 30s and my dad still does that.  Its kinda his charm.  I must of hid it so that I wouldn't spend it... I am not sure what i was thinking really because I didn't know it was missing. Not only was it hidden, it was hidden in plain sight. It was in a Wire Mesh pen holder that sits in our living room.  Broad Daylight people. 

I love that I found it not only after reading that story, but also in the midst of low income days.  I only work part time.  In February-May, I received a hefty tax return and I was working odd temp jobs so the income was doing well.  Now, those have slowed down and my budget is getting tighter again.  The money is very much needed.  

So in honor of LUKE 15:8-10, I wanted to call my friends and neighbors together and say, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 

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{Post Sponsored by This Lovely}