DIY Stamped Book Stack

Happy Tuesday guys! Are you ready for a quick and easy DIY project? Of course you are!
This simple project is part of the wedding decorations I'm making for Maddi and Michael's wedding. I can't share the one I made for the reception just yet (wedding prep is so hush hush you guys!) but I can share one of my practice ones -  the wedding is only 262 days away now, exciting!
The DIY Stamped Book Stack is a fun project to make for any special occasion but you can also make one for that favorite corner of your home. So here we go:

These stacks are very popular on Instagram and while I could have ordered a set from an US Etsy shop, the postage to Australia was just way too high - plan B, make my own! I couldn't find a tutorial to help me so I played around and made a few practices ones before I made the wedding set.
Just a quick update on the wedding - two weeks before Christmas the wedding venue we had booked apologetically cancelled all events. We had one very distraught bride and limited time to find a new venue that could cater to our needs, but we did...Clarendon House :) The ceremony will be in one of their gorgeous gardens and the reception will be in their stone barn - you guys, this barn has history and its simple, rustic and unbelievably stunning!

Our decoration plans have changed considerably as we don't want the barn to look gaudy. It has a rustic charm that we want to preserve and we're sticking with the less is more theory. I'm excited about the projects we've decided on and I'll share as much as I can as I go.
My first decision for the DIY Stamped Book Stack was obviously the books. I didn't want to vandalise any of our treasured books so luckily we have discount stores that sell paperbacks for $2 or less, and we did have a few in a box destined for the second hand shop. Taking the covers off was the first challenge but here's the trick...your hairdryer:

• STEP 1: Open the book and fold back the cover to reveal the glue on the spine. Set the hairdryer to hot but keep the air flow on a low setting and run it back and forth along the spine to heat the glue.
• STEP 2: Carefully peel off the front cover over the spine, re-heating the glue if required (it usually comes off quite easily).
• STEP 3: Flip the book cover and repeat for the back to remove the cover completely.

And that's the hard part done really. It was the bit I was most worried about but with a little heat and some gentle persuasion they come off quite easily. You can neaten up the naked spines if your want but I left them rustic looking. If your using hard cover books there is a great tutorial HERE.

The next decision is how to bind the books together and I tried two options that worked perfectly:

• First option: with a hot glue gun, glue the books together along the spines and tie them together with garden twine as I have done with the stack in the photos - I used a double length of twine to bulk it up.
• Second option: using a double length of garden twine, parcel wrap the books together as show in this tutorial.

Both methods worked perfectly and for this stack I tied the three smaller books and sat them on top of the larger book, but you could tie all four together.

The next step is the fun part - the stamping. I brought a set of lower case Clear Cling stamps which have a typewriter like font - the letters peel off the sheet and adhere to the clear plastic stamper. You can attach and reattach them as many times as you want, and they wipe clean with a wet wipe or damp cloth.
You can line the letters up perfectly if you want but I gave them inconsistencies to make them look old and antiquey, and I used fade resistant ink to preserve the stamping. I did use black ink for this stack but play around with different colours because grey looks gorgeous and its a little more subtle :)

Once you've decided what you want to stamp on your book stack, you can stamp away. My only advice is to practice each stamp a few times first just to make sure your happy with how the letters are spaced and make any adjustments. I also noticed that my "e" stamp is just a little lower than the others so I had to make sure I pressed harder to make it stamp.
When you're choosing what to stamp on your book stacks think favorite quotes, bible verses, names, dates or farmhouse style signage like the one in my photos.

And that's it! A fun little project to make any special occasion just that little bit more special. You can personalise these stacks however you want and they will be a lovely keepsake to keep after the event.
The wedding book stack I made will sit on an old wooden wine barrel inside the barn door and its should look pretty surrounded with flowers and candles etc..
I hope you enjoyed this little DIY project - they become a little addictive actually and hubby has already warned me to stay away from the bookcases ;) I better hit the discount store again or the second hand market stalls for some cheapies.

Happy crafting :)