I’ve seen those Stamped Book Stacks all over social media platforms; I loved the way they looked and how they add a nice farmhouse personal decorative touch to any room. So why not have them? I decided to make them myself and was blown away by the results. So, I’ve made them as a birthday gift to my best friend and a Christmas gift to my daughter’s teacher. They loved it! I’m gonna take you through an easy step-by-step tutorial, since simplicity is my key skill for every idea. These Farmhouse books can be a great house-warming gift too. You will be making them over and over again. They can also fit any season/holiday decoration.
Stamped Book Stacks Supplies:
Books
You need to find a stack number of books with the same trend and size to fit one name or word on each book. Nowadays, I’m paying more attention to find you the perfect place to find cheap and lots of books size options, for this one, the Dollar Store is your go to!
Don’t pay attention to the title or content of the book; no one will read it as they’ll be only used for decoration, so focus on the visuals! Not if you want to read it.
Sanding paper or block
No preference.
Chalk Paint
The go for color is any shade of white or cream.
Craft paint brush
No preference
Stamps
Will need to use Alphabet Stamps both lowercase or uppercase up to your desired look. You can find them at amazon or any craft store.
There are different sizes of stamps so make sure to pick the stamp size that would fit with your choice of books, I linked the ones I’ve used and re-used above!
Ink pad
black ink pad will be the perfect choice.
Twine
Natural twine is the go for rustic farmhouse look we want to have.
Green Stem
You can pick any stem you like and there are lots of options to choose from at the Dollar store or the craft stores in your area.
How to make Stamped Book Stacks
For this post I chose to make a stack of books with the phrase “home sweet home” and I advise to adopt the idea for every household!
Start by peeling off the book cover from all the books; front, back and spine.
Using the sanding paper, scrub the edges and the side of the books to take off any residue paper that is stuck in the glued side and also to smooth the area away. Note that this will create lots of dust and a mess so nothing wrong in making sure to clean up before you move to the next step.
Take the extra mile with painting! We will need to paint one side facing up (first page of one book), one side facing down (last page of another book) and all the sides of the three books. When painting the pages, try to do it smoothly and slowly as the papers are very thin, and we don’t want to rip it off the book. If accidently, a small part of the page got riped off, don’t worry you can paint underneath it and stick it back in, or you can start over from the next page. You will need to reflect on layering, at least two or three coats of paints, or until you can’t see the writing underneath.
To get a vintage look, yet full of life, when you paint the last coat, you can aesthetically make the paint uneven by using the paint brush to randomly add more paint on some areas. Pretty, pretty!
Note:
To avoid having the painted page crumbled, make sure to put the painted side after it dries up on a flat surface like a table or a countertop and add pressure by putting another book on top of it; this will help flatten the page.
Stamping
There are different kind of stamps available on the market; some clip together to create a word, while others are single letters stamps. Try to avoid the mediocre! I’ve used the clip together stamps that will make the letters all on one line when you stamp them. It will get tricky to stamp the word on one line using the single stamps, however, you still can make it work as a clip together stamps by taping the alphabets down together after choosing the word you want. This is one of the many ways you can think and apply out-of-the-box!
Gather the letters for the word “home” and make sure to dip it well in the ink pad then stamp it at the end of the right side of the book. If you made a mistake or got it all messed up with ink, don’t worry we can fix it. Wait until you make sure the ink is dry; you can dry it with a hair dryer. With the sanding paper start scrubbing the messed up part – again be gentle, then repaint that area and leave it to dry, and try again. Repeat this step with the rest of the books to complete the words “sweet” and “home”. So how does that sound so far? “It’s beautiful!”
Tips, tips and more tips: Make sure that the word “sweet” will be on the middle book, which is the book that is only painted from the sides. For both books with the word “home”, one will have the first page painted and the other will have the last page painted along with both books sides.
Wrapping the stamped book stacks together
Stack the books by having the first page painted book with word “home” on top then the book with word “sweet” next and then the last page painted book with the word “home” at the end, then start wrapping the twine around the books from the far end of the unstamped part. Make sure to leave at least 10 inches of the twine before you start wrapping for 5 to 8 rounds. Do not wrap the twine too tight and keep it a little loose or relaxed, then make a knot to secure them together. So how does that look so far? “It’s pretty!”
Adding the green stem
At this step grab the green stem of your choice and put it in the middle of the knot and make another knot to secure it, then tie the twine as a bow. You should have a long strip of twine coming out from both sides to give the books the rustic look we want.
I added a small stamp of flowers at the top side of the first book and it looked cute.
Enjoy creating your own statement! It will be catchy, we’re so sure!
XOXO
Dima
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