DIY Upcycled Stamped Book Stack
One of the things I always see at Goodwill and other thrift stores are shelves and shelves of books. These used books make a DIY Upcycled Stamped Book Stack. It’s such a great book craft! While many of the novels on the shelves are still great reads, there are quite a few others that will live a much better life as a piece of home decor, such as these repurposed encyclopedias. This fun and pretty project is a great way to add a personal message, give as a house warming gift, or just add a nice touch to your home decorating and most books can be purchased for a few dollars each.
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To make this project, you’ll need: Old books, acrylic paint (cream or white), brown paint to add some aging, letter stamps to fit on the binding area (approx. .5 inch-1 inch tall), a paint brush, white craft glue, burlap, and hot glue and a key charm. If you can’t find a vintage key charm, these silver keys
When making your upcycled book stack, choose books that vary in height for interest, but are approximately the same width. Once you have your books, you will need to de-cover and de-spine them. This for me is the hardest part. I still feel a little bit of guilt about tearing a part a perfectly good book (I am sure there is some childhood library flashback experience in there somewhere.).
Once you have the outer part removed, make sure to also remove any really loose strings from the binding on the spine.
Paint the sides and top of the books with white or cream acrylic craft paint. Painting the edge of the page sides will help the pages stick together and form more of a block.
While the paint is still dampish, apply white craft glue between the books, and place on top of each other.
Once glued, apply more paint so they are evenly covered and let dry completely. If it seems like the pages are curling, place a piece of wax paper on top and a few other books or something flat with a bot of weight to hold them flat while they dry.
Once your set is dry, use your letter stamps to spell out words with a black ink stamp like StazOn 
Once your stamped book stack is dry, you can embellish it! I chose to wrap it in burlap. Don’t worry if your stack doesn’t completely hold together (like mine didn’t here). Just add a little more glue and stick it back together. If you want to add a little age to the books, rub some of the brown paint on the edges and corners with a paper towel.
I completed my stack by adding a bit of twine, and then even adding a little vintage key. I thought it was so cute, and a nice little touch. Sometimes it’s hard to know what you want to put on the stack so I put together this short word quote printable that you can grab, or pin for a future project.
Or, just right mouse click to save and print.
