Making an Upholstered Photo Board For Teen Girls

By: Jessica Ackerman

Teen girls love to take photographs, and a great project that the two of you can do together is to make an upholstered photo board to display her latest shots. A photo board can add a lot of personality to the teen bedroom, and making your own photo board can be less expensive than purchasing one - and is much more customizable to the room's current decor theme. Although you'll need some basic know how when it comes to crafts, you'll be surprised at how simple this fun project can be. As an added bonus, if you already have an old cork board that you can repurpose for a photo board, that's even better.

Supplies You'll Need

You can find plain cork boards at any big box retailer or home center in various sizes and shapes, or you can trim a larger cork board down to the size that you would like or even create shapes like hearts, diamonds, or stars. Once you have determined the dimensions of the cork board, you can gather the other supplies that you will need, which are:

- Fabric. To determine the amount of fabric that you will need for your photo board, measure the cork board and then add four inches to the height and four inches to the width. For odd shaped boards, like hearts, measure the height and width from the biggest or tallest part of the board.

- Ribbon. To determine the amount of ribbon that you will need, multiply the width by the height. Most ribbon is sold in yards, so take the number of inches and divide by thirty-six to determine the number of yards of ribbon you will need.

- Upholstery tacks.

- Spray adhesive.

- Newspapers.

- Scissors.

- Masking tape.

- Regular staple gun and staples. You can use a desk stapler.

- Tape measure.

- Pencil.

Getting Started

You're going to be working with spray adhesive that can harm the surface of your table or countertop, so be sure to cover your entire work surface by spreading out old newspapers. Use masking tape to protect the frame of your cork board, if it has a frame.

Spray a generous amount of adhesive onto the cork board's surface. Be sure to shake the spray adhesive before spraying in order to mix up the contents.

Center the fabric that you have chosen on the cork board. Smooth the fabric into place by working from the center to the outer edges. Pull the fabric taught and press it firmly into place. Turn the edges of the fabric under, approximately two inches around the entire area. Use upholstery tacks to hold the fabric into place - put on in each corner and one midway up the height of each side, or in other strategic areas.

Using your staple gun in an unfolded position, stable the fabric edges approximately an eighth of an inch from the inside of the cork board's frame. Continue stapling until the fabric is securely in place and then remove the upholstery tacks that were holding it there originally.

To place the ribbon on your photo board, divide the board into thirds or fourths, depending on the number of times that you want to crisscross it on the photo board, and mark the point on the board where the ribbon should start and stop with a pencil. Staple the ribbon at the top center of the board, and then pull it diagonally across the board, stapling it into place. Cut ribbon as closely as possible to the staple. Continue to crisscross and staple the ribbon until the board is completely finished. Outline the inside frame of the corkboard with ribbon to hide the staples, and secure the ribbons with the upholstery tacks where each ribbon intersects. Place tacks at each intersections, and remove the masking tape that you had initially placed on the cork board to protect it.