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$5 Friday…A Fun Father’s Day Idea…Cereal Specimen Chart Tutorial

A Fun Father’s Day Idea:  A Cereal Specimen Chart

If there is one thing in this world my husband loves (besides me and the kids of course) it’s cereal.

The man REALLY loves his cereal. In fact, he would be happy eating cereal for all 3 meals everyday for the rest of his life. Seriously. So awhile ago when I saw a menu with actual pieces of cereal glued onto it I started thinking how I could adapt that into something funny for my husband.

This is what I came up with:

“The Cereal Specimen Chart”.

Here I displayed 15 of Jon’s favorite cereals with their “common” and “scientific” names.

It was super easy to make. Here’s how I did it:

Step #1. Find a frame (I used an old one from a pile in the basement) and take out the glass and backing.

Step #2. Cut a piece of cork board to fit the area where the glass and backing had previously fit into the frame.

Step #3. Hot glue the cork board into the frame so it doesn’t slide around or pop out.

Step #4. Find tags (I bought mine at Wal-Mart for just under $2.00 for a pack of 80) or cut up pieces of card stock to your desired size.

Step #5. Color around the edges of your tags to add a little interest. (This step is optional.)

Step #6. Type up and print out the common and scientific names for your pieces. (I printed mine onto white card stock, cut them out, and then colored around the edges of them as well.) *Note: I already have had someone ask me where I found the scientific names for my cereal…I didn’t, there is no such thing. I just made them up.
Step #7. Lay out all your tags, cereal pieces, and name tags the way that you want. (I rearranged things several times before I was happy.) Then when you get them how you like, hot glue everything together.
Step #8. Insert straight pins to the top of the tags. When I was looking up insect specimen boards I saw that (aside from including both common and scientific names) almost all the specimens were attached with straight pins. However, I didn’t have the patience to skewer all the cereal pieces without shattering them so I pushed them into the tags. They serve no real purpose they just look cute.
Easy Peasy.

And he loves it…How do I know? Because I already gave it to him…I couldn’t wait…and it’s already hanging up in his office. (But what he doesn’t know is that Sunday morning he’ll have a cereal buffet waiting for him—made from all the cereal I didn’t use for this project. And he’ll love that to.)

So, what if you still need a Father’s Day gift idea but the father in your life isn’t a connoisseur of cereal?
Then check back in tomorrow where we will show you this same project done several different ways (with other foods….and objects…and well, just check back in tomorrow and we’ll help you out.)
liZ
PS—For all you Harry Potter nerds out there (like myself) I fixed my lame scientific Harry Potter play on words name on the Frosted Mini Wheats before I glued it on…it now says “Wingardian Miniosa” not “Wingardian Minioso”.
PS—Dear cereal menu girl. I love you, but I don’t remember where you are. I found you on a link party and either left you a comment or sent you an email. I’ve googled you, I’ve read through old emails, but I can’t find you again! I really want to give you credit for sparking my imagination (your menu was darling)….so, if by some miracle you read this please leave a comment so I can link others to your cuteness. Cereal girl has been found!!!! And she is HERE and she is awesome and cute and I’m so happy to have found her again!
PS—There are more examples of specimen charts and a list of new ideas for them up on tomorrow’s post (Sat. June 18th)…I’m just saying…if you’re interested…you don’t have to go up to that post…you can stay here and dream about Tony the Tiger…I hear he’s grrrrreat!
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Comments

  5. elizabeth says

    Jon is going to LOVE the cereal smorgasbord that will await him on Sunday…..

    And I LOVE the specimen board. It is totally the perfect gift for him. If only I were so clever with our gift giving. Around here all we came up with is a gift card…

  15. Jen @ Domesticated Nomad says

    This is so clever. I would love to make one for my kitchen. I already have vintage cereal ads on the walls. The scientific names you used that I can see are hilarious. Any chance you share all of them?

  16. Sarah @ Scissors and a Whisk says

    This *IS* my ALL TIME favorite Father’s Day project! I’ve seen countless ties/golf/tool-related Father’s Day gifts, but this… this is priceless.

    I think I also love it so much because when I was a freshman in hgih school we had to do this but with BUGS!!! BUGS! We had to get 50 to make 100.

    Cereal is way cooler.

  17. liZ evans says

    Sarah,
    I met my husband in high school. We were in AP Biology together and had to make something like this with leaves…we worked on ours together…my husband just made up crap for all the scientific names.

    That’s just one more reason I knew he’d love this random thing.

    ps–I’m glad we just had to do leaves and not bugs…

  21. jennifer says

    This is absolutely hysterical – esp the Harry potter one. I can’t wait to jump over to the inspiration idea. I am so glad you found each other.