These days we can basically carry all our favorite pictures in our pocket at all times thanks to smartphones and cloud storage but it’s just not the same as hanging a physical picture on a wall or putting it in a frame. If you’d like to try something a bit old-school and perhaps also make something pretty to offer as a gift to someone, try this lovely cutting board picture frame technique. It’s easy and fun to make and it’s a great DIY project even for a beginner.

Materials you’ll need for this cutting wood picture frame

Cutting boardgreen and creme acrylic paintpaint brushwood gluehot gluescissorspaint brushcliplace paper doilylace ribbonhemp twinewood heart decorbead

How to make the picture frame

Step 1: Get everything ready

You’ve seen the list of supplies needed for this project so go ahead and gather them all in one. Some you’ll probably already have and some you’ll need to buy. When you’re ready to start the project, get everything ready and make sure nothing is missing.

Step 2: Paint the cutting board

Before anything else, go ahead and paint the little cutting board. Use the light green acrylic paint for this and apply it to the front and along the edges so all the surfaces you’re going to see are covered, including the little hole at the top. Of course, you can use different colors if you’re not a fan of the green and creme combo. Just make sure they go well together and they fit the theme based on the picture you want to display.

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Step 3: Use the doily as a stencil to add decorations

The paper doily we mentioned, in the beginning, will only be used as a stencil for this project. You’ll need it to apply the cute lace patterns in the bottom right corner and the top left using creme-colored acrylic paint. In fact, you’re going to need two of them. First, go ahead and position one of the doilies in the bottom right area, then dip the little sponge in some paint and use it to apply the lace pattern.

Once you’re done with that corner, take another doily and to the same thing for the top left area. Be gentle but make sure you use enough paint so it goes through all the little holes and the pattern comes out nicely. You can also continue the pattern on the edge of the cutting board.

Step 4: Add the little heart decoration

Now that the cutting is all painted you can start adding the little decorations and accessories. The first one is the little wooden heart ornament which you’ll first need to paint so it matches the doily patterns you’ve added earlier.

Paint the little heart and let the paint dry, then apply some wood glue on the back side and position it over the hole at the top of the cutting board’s handle. It should be a bit bigger than the hole so you can still hang the board when you’re done transforming it and it should frame the little hole nicely.

Step 5: Add the metal clip

This clip is what will later allow you to actually use this as a picture frame. Position it somewhere around the top of the cutting board and center it, making sure the picture will be framed nicely once it’s added. Once you found the right spot for it, apply a bit of hot glue on the back side and press it gently in place until it sticks.

Step 6: Decorate the clip with a lace bow

Since the metal clip is not exactly great-looking, you’ll want to decorate it a little bit. A little bow made out of lace ribbon would be perfect for that and it would also fit the overall theme of this project. If you’re going with a different color scheme or a different theme altogether then perhaps a different type of bow or a different decoration would be better.

Use a bit of hot glue to shape the lace ribbon into a bow and then cut the excess.

Add a bit of glue to the middle of the bow at the front and then add a little bead on top of that.

Finally, put a bit more glue on the back and stick the bow onto the metal clip, at the very top.

Step 7: Make a twine loop so you can hang the frame

At this point your new cutting board picture frame is basically done. All that’s left to do is cut a piece of twine and run it through the little hole at the top, make a loop and tie it into a knot. This way you’ll be able to hang this lovely picture frame up on a wall if you want to.

The picture frame is now officially complete. You can go ahead and actually add a picture and display it somewhere in your home or, if you made it as a gift for someone, wrap it and add a cute tag. Handmade gifts are wonderful and they’ll surely appreciate this one.