When it comes to creating an Insta-worthy charcuterie spread, it's not as challenging as it may look. Charcuterie is a very popular summer appetizer, so we had our social media manager / expert charcuterie maker, Taylor, share a few tips on how you can DIY your own board for all your summer hosting. 

With Monica + Andy's brand new Charcuterie + Wine Night prints that debuted, it was the perfect time to understand how to turn that print into a reality. Taylor said, "There are four main rules I like to follow when creating a summer charcuterie board. Following these simple instructions can take your spread from drab to fab very easily."

1. Add a lot of color to your charcuterie

Cheese and crackers are all very... brown. And nothing says summer quite like a lot of bright, vibrant colors. Here are a few ways that I like to add color to my spread...

• Fresh Fruits + Veggies
• Colorful sweets (you have to add a little sweet to compliment all the savory)
• Lots of green herbs
• Jams + Jellies on top of your cheeses
• Compliment your spread with some fun, printed cocktail napkins or one of our printed picnic blankets!

2. Use organic shapes in both your food selections, and the placement of your food

Try to avoid squares and rectangles in your food selections. Pre cut cheeses, and square crackers make your board very stiff looking. Here are a few ways that I like to add dimension to my board...

• Choose a mix of crackers that are all different shapes. I love to use a combo of round crackers, bread sticks, crackers with lots of seeds in them, and even sliced bread sometimes!
• Use full wedges of cheese. Pre-sliced cheese is fine, but full wedges of cheese will really elevate the look of your board. Sometimes, you can even find yummy cheese in cute shapes which really gives it a fun feel.
• Always arrange your board with clusters of food rather than lines of food. Traditional charcuterie boards have a line of crackers, line of cheese, line of meats. By clustering your items in different areas of the board, it will create a lot of interesting layers.
• Use an interesting shape bread board. Square and rectangle boards will work just fine. But to even further add dimension, choose a circle or irregularly shaped board to serve. 

3. Use a wide variety of food selections

When you think charcuterie, you might go grab a single box of crackers, one type of cheese, and a pack of salami. By adding a lot of variety of each of these, your board will be layered with all sort of options for your guests. A few tips...

• Trader Joe's is a life saver. This is by far my favorite place to go charcuterie shopping. They have such an amazing selection of cheeses, crackers, meats, fruits, and veggies all for a great price. 
• I like to use a minimum of 3 types of crackers, 3 different cheeses (one hard, one soft, one bite size), 5-6 different fruits and veggies, and at least 2 fun toppings like honey and jam.

4. Layer, layer, layer

Just when you think your board is full.... add more. Fill every crevice and every corner with little bundles of extra items you have. A little cluster of tomatoes to fill a corner, a little cluster of raspberries etc, until every inch of the board is full.

Check out the full step by step tutorial: