These custom pencils take under 5 minutes to make and offer unlimited ways to make them your own. Back in elementary school, it was super hip to order custom pencils with your name on them, and they pretty much looked just like the DIY version I’m sharing today. I have no idea why I didn’t think of this project until the weekend after I rounded up my back to school series, but since I haven’t moved on to the next theme yet, I figured, what the heck. Plus, they’re just so cute!

Supplies

plain pencils

hammer

metal stamping letters

permanent marker

rubbing alcohol

tissue

Directions

Gather your letters/symbols for the phrase you’d like on your pencil. This is probably the hardest part of this project! The first pencil I made was for my husband and totally says twerk, but since the internet has had quite enough of twerking in the past month, I opted to keep it outta this post ;).

Align your stamp, checking to make sure it’s about centered on one of the pencil’s flat sides, and also that it’s right side up. Give the stamp a tap – hard enough to make an impression in the pencil, but not so hard as to dent the wood in weird ways. You’re using metal stamps on wood, so the force needed is a little different than when you’re working with metal.

[Check out my other metal stamping tutorials here, here and here.]

Color in your letters with permanent marker, filling in the stamps all the way so the yellow (or whatever color you’re working with) of the pencil doesn’t show through.

Wipe off excess ink with rubbing alcohol and some tissue, being careful not to use too much alcohol. The pencils are wood, so you don’t want them soaked, and if you use too much, you’ll remove all of the ink, including what you want to show up in the letters. Other than that, you’ll all done! These are super addictive – I grabbed a box of 24 pencils on back-to-school clearance and went nuts. I think my co-workers are going to have to get pencil gifts on a regular basis! Who would you make these for?

The metal stamps and hammer used in this project were provided by Impress Art.