Halloween Stacked Books Upcycle

I fell in love with the faux stacked books look using wooden blocks, but I never really liked the words and phrases that always ended up being used. Today, I'm sharing a quick and easy tutorial for a Halloween stacked books upcycle!

For this project, you'll need:

• Astacked books block or 3 pieces of wood cut to book sizes
• Craft paint
• Stamps or vinyl letters cut out for the titles (you can freehand these, too)
• Optional:
  • Primer (great for creating a brighter base for your paint)
  • Top coat
  • Twine
  • Faux flowers

I found stacked books at my local Burlington store for $5, but you could probably find them cheaper at other stores. I recommend checking the clearance section first for last season designs. Or, if you have the wood and tools available, you can cut wood planks to the size of books. I'm saving the twine and flowers left over from the original piece, but I'll be wrapping it differently and added extra stem pieces from my stash.

To start, I'm using a white primer spray paint to do a light cover all over, then painting each of my "books" a different color using some matte acrylic paints (navy, black & emerald). I want to make sure the navy and emerald really show up, which is what the white primer is set to do. I highly recommend always having a white primer spray on-hand if you do a lot of paint projects.

This next step is totally optional, but because I wanted to do spell like books, I decided to take some of my acrylic paints to add flourishes and designs so that way they look like old books. I feel like they're so much more eye-catching this way!

Use stamps, cut vinyl, stencils, or a paint brush to add titles to the spines of the stacked books. I'm using the titles of books found inside the Harry Potter universe! The titles I used were from this list and inspired by the cover art featured on the page: The Dark Forces, A History of Magic, and Most Potent Potions.

Pro tip: when using letter stamps and paint, make sure you have a piece of paper to dab most of the paint off the stamp. You really don't need much and it's very hard to lightly tap paint without overloading the stamp. Don't be afraid to mess up! I messed up A History of Magic 3 times before I got it clean enough to be legible. Just make sure you keep those paints handy for touch-ups.

I used the original twine that was wrapped around the books to wrap them back up, and placed some faux plants on top (including the one it originally came with). I always love to add a touch of faux floral where I can, but you can always skip these steps!

Lastly, style and enjoy!

I hope you're able to customize your Halloween stacked books upcycle just the way you need them to match your decor style, whether it's creepy glam or rustic spooky. It was so much fun getting use out of my old scrapbook stamps for this project! If you try this project, let me know in the comments down below and be sure to tag me on Instagram (@withlovejoey)!