How To Make Farmhouse Stamped Books Without Stamps!

Last year, I absolutely fell in love with these adorable Farmhouse Stamped Books that were popping up everywhere! Pretty soon, the wheels started turning and my little DIY-obsessed heart began to get really excited for a new project! So, after looking up some tutorials on Pinterest, I jumped right in. Getting started was pretty easy, but when I couldn’t fix an imperfectly stamped book, it would drive me absolutely crazy! (If the perfectionist in you is feeling seen right now, see my blog post Ditch the Hamster Wheel of Perfection & Step Into Your Best Life With Jesus. I’m still very much a work-in-progress.) But, back to stamped books…there had to be a better way, right? Bless those people that can stamp away and make them so beautiful (I envy your artistic abilities), but when my stamping would go wrong, I would feel so frustrated. So, I set out to find a new way of making them that gave me a bit more control of the final product while still maintaining the same cute look! And that is where this blog post was born… we hope you enjoy it!

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Materials:

Old books, preferably paperback
Sharpie Markers
Stencils (I ordered these on Amazon for $6.99: click here)
Optional: White Chalk Paint & Foam Paintbrush, Sandpaper (Highly Recommend)

I’m so excited to jump right into this tutorial with you because it’s super beginner-friendly! They make adorable personalized gifts and the cherry on top is that they are so inexpensive to create! It’s just a win-win for us newbie crafters that love a good project! It packs so much bang for the buck that you just can’t pass this up! So, let’s jump right in!

Step One: Remove the covers from your books!

When I started this project, I hit the jackpot by finding a local thrift shop that sells their paperback books for only .10 each! If your thrift store seems overpriced on books, don’t forget to check out yard sales or marketplace, where you can usually find paperbacks very cheap or even free!

Removing the cover from paperbacks is fairly simple and straightforward. They usually come right off by simply grabbing one or both covers and pulling gently away from the binding. I found a few here and there that didn’t remove easily, but for the most part, it’s easy-peasy. I would not recommend using hardback books. I found those to be much more difficult to remove.

In the photo below, you can see why I prefer paperback vs hardback books for this project. First, it’s much easier to remove the cover on the paperback books. But, equally important, the soft cover typically leaves a much cleaner look because there isn’t as much glue and other debris left behind.

Step Two: Sand the Binding (Optional)

So, this is just a personal preference, but I like to clean up the look of the binding. To achieve this look, I grabbed a scrap piece of sandpaper and ran it along the binding and along the edges until most of the the little paper hairs had been sanded off.

Step Three: Paint the Binding White (Optional, But Highly Recommended)

Again, this is just a personal preference, but I’ll share why. I find that the ink takes better when applied on the paint than it does when applied directly to the binding. Sometimes the leftover glue doesn’t allow the ink to adhere quite as well. Also, and even more significant, the ink has a tendency to bleed when applied directly to the book instead of the paint. Because I like a predictable look, I prefer to apply a small amount of white chalk paint to the binding before I apply the words. You may be asking if I paint a paperback book binding since it’s so clean to begin with… I do. I always paint the binding, regardless of paperback or hardback, because the ink from the Sharpie just adheres better and looks sharper when I take this extra step. Make sure that your chalk paint fully dries before moving on. Even slightly wet chalk paint can result in a bleeding affect when the ink is applied on the next step. Also, take extra care to only paint the binding. Paint on the book pages will result in curling.

In the photo above, I’m mostly showing you the hardback look when painting the binding because it’s such a dramatic difference and easier to photograph. That said, in all the photos below, I have also painted each softcover book binding before adding letters.

This may be a dramatic example, but the photo above can be the difference between painting the binding before applying the letters (bottom) and skipping the painting step (top book). The marker bled a lot more when applying the letters directly to the binding.

Step Four: Using the Stencil & Sharpie Marker, Add Your Letters

If you decided to order the stencils that I recommended above (click here for link) you’ll get 12 sets of stencils with letters in all different styles, shapes, and sizes. I tend to lean towards using the letters on stencil card #1. For those of you that may not order this specific set of stencils, I did some measurements and the letters are 9/16 inch. So, if you plan to purchase other stencils, this will give you an idea of the size that I find the most useful. To make the stencil cards easier to use on the books, I cut them in strips to run down the binding.

Another note: If you own a Cricut or other vinyl cutting machine, you can also cut stencils with your machine. Although they are one-time-use stencils, they work just as well! I have used this method with great success in the past.

Once you have your stencils, you just start filling in with the Sharpie marker. You can choose to go light for a distressed look or go heavy for a more printing press look. If you decided to skip the chalk paint on the binding, you may find that you have to work a little more on the areas with more glue, but either way, the Sharpie should apply pretty easily to the book binding. And the best part is that after you raise your stencil, you can still work on the letters to get the exact look that you want.

I used the same set of stencils on all of the books in the image below, however, you’ll see that some are left in traditional stencil font with gaps between lines and some are filled in. In other words, if you look at “GRACE & HUSTLE,” I did not fill in where the stencil had gaps. This created a more stencil font look. Alternately, if you look at “COFFEE. PRAY. HUSTLE. REPEAT.” I used the Sharpie marker and, after the stencil was removed, I filled in the stencil gaps to make a more bold, but gapless, font look. It’s all a matter of personal preference, but I wanted to give you a glimpse at both.

Step Five: Embellish

Time for the fun stuff! What do you use to embellish your books with? I’d love to hear in the comments below! Personally, I like to pick up some jute cord and faux lamb’s ear, flowers (like lavender or peonies), leaves, etc. for a simple farmhouse look! I recently found some wired jute cord at Hobby Lobby and I’m loving it! Here are some of my books: