Magnetic Menu Board: My Do’s & Don’t’s (and a little secret at the end)!

I knew you guys were going to love this morning’s magnetic menu board feature. That’s why I waited to feature it until I was done making mine. I wanted to make sure I had tested the tutorial. Well, a month later, mine’s DONE, and I am using it and loving it! I wanted to share with you some tips and things I learned along the way, though.

I was able to find two different 12X12 frames. The little black ones seemed to be everywhere. I could only find one of the wider, unfinished wooden ones:

…both finishes painted up fine after application of the primer.

Along with your clear acrylic blank calendar, I’m going to strongly suggest that you purchase a 12X12” piece of sheet metal. This makes this project a real slam-dunk, and will cut out a lot of the frustration you might otherwise have if you try to do the project without it. Trust me. I tried.

I prefer spray paint to paint of other applications. It goes on so fast and easy, dries quickly, and is pretty forgiving. I also wanted to try the spray-on magnetic paint because they sold it at my local craft store, and I could use a coupon to knock the price down by half. But sometimes you get what you pay for.

DO NOT USE THE SPRAY-ON MAGNETIC PAINT!!!!!!! It did not magnetize anything even remotely. I used the entire can painting just three frames, and it wasn’t even a little bit magnetic. Not to mention it kept spitting out these annoying little bloops of paint all over the place.

The spray-on magnetic paint failed so miserably that I was then actually happy to plunk down the $21 at the hardware store for this hefty little can of magnetic primer magic:

Yep. That’s a disposable plate instead of a paint tray. This magnetic primer doesn’t clean off very well, so wear crappy clothes and use tools you can trash. I used the plastic spoon to get the paint from the can onto the plate.

The paint is quite thick and viscous. It’s kind of gritty, but it goes on easily with a small roller (though I wish I’d had a smooth finish roller on hand.)

You don’t need very much paint at all, which is why you should invite a friend – or twenty - along to make the menu boards with you (and share the cost of that $21 can of paint)!

I painted just the front-facing portion of the frame. I tried using the primer to magnetize the cardboard part of the frame that will be where your menu items stick to your calendar, and I just couldn’t make it work. I couldn’t get enough coats on there to magnetize through the cardstock and acrylic calendar sheet. Don’t worry – we’re going to use a 12X12 piece of sheet metal as the perfect solution!

The instructions on the can call for three light coats of paint. I used a Ziploc baggie to keep my roller from drying out between coats.

I applied three light coats (letting it dry in between – this doesn’t take long at all), let it dry for several hours, then came back & sanded the corners & edges to clean up any paint that ran beyond the front-facing portion of the frame and because I was planning on distressing the frame after I painted it.

I did a single coat of my base color on all the frame surfaces (I used Krylon “burgundy”), followed by a double coat of my top color (I used Krylon “sweet cream”). I let it dry several hours, and then sanded the edges to distress it.

I also experimented with a couple other different color combinations, just for fun. Some turned out more “fun” than others.

I printed my menu items off on a cute polka-dot patterned paper, mounted them on three different coordinating patterned cardstocks, and trimmed them before laminating. After laminating, I trimmed them again and went around all the borders with an embossing tool to make sure the lamination was tightly sealed.

…can you see the different coordinating cardstock patterns?

…and mounted a self-adhesive magnet on the back of each menu item.

I used my Cricut to cut out the coordinating “menu” title. I am still deciding if I want to cut out, laminate, and magnetize the months to stick on there or not.

Once my base sheet was dressed up the way I wanted it, I mounted it in between the acrylic calendar on front and the 12X12 piece of sheet metal on the back, inserted it into the frame, and secured it. A real bonus to using the 12X12 sheet is that I can just put my extra menu items that don’t make it into the line-up for the month right there on the back of the board for safe keeping! Right now, I’m wishing I would’ve painted the back of my frame and made it pretty for you all.

Well, there you have it. My take on what was already a really great tutorial. Admit it – you’re inspired to run out and buy all the supplies you need to make one of these babies right this minute!

{Pssst. Hold on! Can you keep a secret? It might pay to procrastinate this time. Don’t go buy your supplies just yet…I might have a giveaway up my sleeve. Just sayin’!}

Stay tuned! You know, it might help to follow Ucreate Foods or “like” Ucreate Foods on Facebook. Because you wouldn’t want to miss that giveaway announcement, would you?