I can’t believe winter is upon us! I’ve got all my Christmas decorations down and I’m switching over to my winter decor now. I always find this to be a rough transition from the most wonderful time of the year!
To add some extra cozy farmhouse vibes to my winter decor this year, I decided to make some DIY stamped books for winter. I’ve made a few stamped book stacks before and I love to make my decor seasonal so I can give my house a mini-makeover with each new season. This is always helpful for me when I transition out of Christmas decorations because I still have more festive decorations to use for winter.
These DIY stamped books are the first ones I’ve made with hardcover books. I got the books from Dollar Tree and painted over them with chalk paint. I originally wanted to use soft cover books, but when I went to Dollar Tree they only had hardcover selections (ugh!). But I actually think it worked out for the best, because they’re pretty sturdy and they’re still cute and farmhouse-like.
I’m always looking for opportunities to use my alphabet stamps! I got them from Michael’s (on sale, of course!). Here’s the link to them if you’re in the market for some new stamps. They’re about an inch on all sides, so really any stamps that size will work!
Here’s the steps I followed for how to make DIY stamped books for winter!
How to make DIY stamped books for winter
Materials:
For this DIY stamped books project, you’ll need…
- 3 books that are approx. the same size (I got 3 of the same exact book from Dollar Tree!)
- White or cream chalk paint (I used FolkArt Chalk Paint in Sheepskin)
- Alphabet stamps that are about an inch
- Black stamp ink
- Twine or ribbon
Step 1: Paint your books
When you’re working on how to make DIY stamped books, you’ll want to start by taking off the book jacket (if you’re using hardcover) and painting with chalk paint over the covers and spines of the books. When I was choosing my books to use at the Dollar Tree, I tried to find books that had white covers so it would be easier to paint over them without the original color shining through.
You may need several coats of chalk paint for this. One thing I realized as I was creating these DIY stamped books is that when you use hardcover books, they kind of have engraving in the spines after you take the paper book jacket off. To make it less visible, I did about 3 coats of chalk paint and I made the coats of paint a little thicker on the spine.
I also had to paint a little bit of the inside covers because the inside of this particular book was purple, and it was kind of showing through on the sides a bit. The paint covered it up super easily!
Before you move on to the next step, you’ll need to make sure your books have time to dry COMPLETELY!
Step 2: Stamp your books
When your books are completely dry, they’re ready to be stamped with your letters! Make sure to start with the last letter of the word when you’re stamping your book’s spine. That way you’ll definitely have enough space for the whole word.
Some of my letters got a little messed up as I was stamping, but I personally don’t mind it at all. It reminds me of a real typewriter, which gives more of a rustic vibe (exactly what I was going for!).
I decided to go with the words flurries, flannel, and firewood for my DIY stamped books. Those words just make me feel cozy and winter-ish! Here’s some other ideas you could use for the words on your DIY stamped books:
- Warm Winter Wishes
- Let It Snow
- Let’s Get Cozy
- Snowmen, Snowballs, Snowflakes
- Snowy Winter Days
- Hello Winter
Step 3: Wrap books with twine or ribbon
The last step in how to make DIY stamped books is to wrap your books together using twine or ribbon. I used twine because I have a ridiculous amount and I just like the natural vibe twine gives. I feel like it would also be super cute tied with a black and white buffalo check ribbon!
Add your DIY stamped books to your Winter decor!
It’s as simple as those 3 steps! Now you have a cute farmhouse book stack to add to your Winter decor.
I put mine on my fireplace mantle and it looks so adorable! It’s such an easy and quick DIY project and it makes for a great accent to any winter decor.
To me, the best part is that it only cost me like $3 since I already had the stamps, the paint, and the twine! I love a good Dollar Tree DIY project (like my Dollar Tree Skull Vase and my Dollar Tree Christmas Signs and my Dollar Tree Christmas Ornaments…The list goes on!!! 🤣).
I hope you enjoyed this easy step-by-step how to make DIY stamped books tutorial!! How did yours turn out?
Let me know in the comments!
Stay festive (even when the festive season is technically over!) 🙂
