When developing products it's so easy to default to your own likes and needs for something. Our rule for us, we only make it if we like it. Sounds easy enough right? Liking things is easy when it comes to something in your taste and style. But how about functionality? Personally, I tend to gravitate to things that serve a specific function(s). One of the most functional and necessary things we have in our home is our family menu chalkboard. Years ago I bought a blank piece of 12" x 12" chalkboard, some super strong magnets and a chalkboard pen from my favorite local craft store and created my own weekly menu board. My children are like robots when they come home after school and they automatically ask "What's for dinner?". Which would be fine to respond to if I only had one child or if I didn't work out of my home where my kids just burst into my workspaces (no matter what I am doing - usually on the phone or in the middle of a reply for custom work. I've actually typed in the word "chicken fried rice" to a custom order reply because my train of though got derailed.

I remedied that problem with my homemade menu board. My kids know to just go look at the board and see what's for dinner that night and the nights to follow for that matter. You know, in case they want to invite 20 of their friends over for dinner. There are a few flaws about my homemade menu board. First off, the days of the week are never evenly spaced because I'm not a robot. I often have to squish things in with tiny handwriting. This is not good for my OCD. Secondly, this is a petty one, I have to rewrite the days of the week. I would like to just clean off the board and have a blank template for the next week. Rather than recreating the whole thing over and over again. It's bad enough that I have to create weekly meal ideas, give me less tedious things to deal with! So we did. With the magic of a laser!

Look at that beautiful ready to go template!!! These are just work in progress samples. We're testing colors and font styles. One sample not pictured we did in a "gothic" font that says "Addams Family Menu". A very good friend of mine actually requested one too and we made one for them with their family name across the top. We will be adding that customization as an option once we list this item for sale.

Close up view of the engraving on the family menu chalkboard.

So here's where we need your input dear friends. For something like this would you want to hang it up in your kitchen up on a wall or cabinet? Or would you want to have magnets on the back so you can attach it to your refrigerator? The trouble with magnets is that many people have stainless steel refrigerators that magnets won't stick to. Also many of us already reserve the front of the fridge for other reminders and pizza coupons. So let us know what your preference is!

Lasers and love - Thea