Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed your Labor Day yesterday (by not laboring--the irony of which has never ceased to make me giggle!). Are you ready to roll up your sleeves, dig in, and get dirty? If you missed yesterday, you may want to pop back over there to read the backstory for our week. Go now, we will wait for you...
Did you have a moment to think about your upcoming scrapbooking goals and opportunities? I hope so! I also hope that some of your life will overlap with mine so that we can lean on each other for ideas and inspiration this week!
Today we are going to tackle sports. It is a prime candidate for preplanning as it comes with a schedule. Which is where we are going to begin.
THE SCHEDULE
As we plan to scrapbook a sports season, let's evaluate the season. I am going to chart out our football season. Would you like to take a minute and sketch out your season, too?
Here's mine:
Indoor training begins in February and runs through the last week of school. Then there are two weeks off. And then conditioning begins. Twice a week. Until mid-July. And then becomes daily. Mornings until school starts and then moves to afterschool. Once school begins, practice is four times a week after school. Games are weekly. For about 8 weeks. Then there is an end of season get-together. And then we breathe until February. (Well, actually just turn our sights to soccer...)
THE PHOTOS
Sports photos will follow the events. Let's take a minute and pair our expected photos to their events. Here is my list:
For indoor training, there won't be any photos. (It starts at 6:15 in the morning which is hours too early for me. (Besides, it takes place in the gymnasium at school and I have learned to allow my children some boundaries. (hahaha!))) There will be a couple of pics from conditioning. A handful from practice. And tons from the games. We will also order the official school team and individual photos. Oh, and a few from the closing night social.
THE PAGES
Now, let's anticipate the pages we will make based upon our knowledge of the photos we will take.
You know I don't love scrapbooking events. But that seems like a necessary evil if I am going to do something with all those pages. But I really don't like making event pages--there's just so little to say. So what if I made a minialbum or a photobook? You know I love those!! And I can build it on a template which seems like a terrific help in saving time and actually getting the photos and memories recorded. I am hoping the minialbum can also be the place where I record the indoor training, conditioning, and practice schedules. I think the official photo, and closing photos would work well here as well. I am going to consider the minialbum the keeper of all things pertaining to the season.
Behind the events, there are going to be pages. Touching ones about life lessons, overcoming obstacles, and having fun. For these, I can use training photos, or unrelated-to-football photos, or borrow from game day photos (knowing I will have so very many!). The scores can go in the photobook. The behind the scenes stories and memories can go on individual pages.
PREPPING FOR SUCCESS
MINIALBUM
Embracing my digi love, I am going to go with a photobook. But I really believe this could be reproduced with a paper mini.
Because I know the schedule, I can go ahead and build the whole book. Here is the format I think I can follow:
- cover
- official photo
- training schedule
- game schedule
- game pages
- closing party
Color will be easy as I will opt for school colors. Pages 2, 3, 4, and 6 will be individual but with consistency. Page 5 (a through g) will be for game days. They will need lots of photos and a few details.
Let's get started.
Cover
For the cover, I decided to re-cycle a subway art I made for Nigel for his season last year. I updated it a little and will tweak it if I need to before I send the book in for printing. I am hoping, too, that perhaps this could become an annual book with a repeating cover, complete with updates, of course.
Official Photo
I measured the photo from last year so I knew the dimensions. I used the same general format as the cover. And borrowed the gold color from the color of the boys' pants. Page two will be the team photo.
Schedules
I am going to have to find the schedules to add them in, but I did build the pages. I kept the same framework and colors. And am thinking I will add in a little extra stuff when I get the calendar done.
Game Pages
Because I know the schedule, I can go ahead and build the game pages. I knew I would want room for lots of photos and few details. So I came up with this basic design:
I already have all the teams and dates filled out on layered templates waiting for game day! Here is how week one looks all filled in:
(I changed a couple of the subheadings to better match the notes Nigel made for me.) I am so excited to have a way to document the details of the game, and to include lots of action shots. But my favorite part? Feeling like it is going to be successful due to the preplanning!! Woohoo!
So far, we have two weeks of games behind us and I have both weeks already documented and ready to go. Which means I am miles ahead of last year. Ooh, having a plan feels so good!
Remember my list of photos? We are all there, with the exception of the closing party. I think it will follow the structure of the game day pages for photos, so I am going to wait to make it.
Just a couple of random thoughts... Were my book not digital, I could make an envelope page for the schedule pages, in lieu of writing out the schedule. Further, I realized in the making of this book, that I really want some practice photos. I am going to take a long lens and hide behind some trees and to get some pictures to help make a better looking schedule section.
I really like the idea that the whole season of events is put in one place. From training to season end. And I really love that I already have two weeks done. But most of all, I love that in asking Nigel to write his thoughts on the games, I had a little extra time with him and had a chance to bond with him over something very important to him. And now he knows that it is important to me, too.
What do you think? Will a mini or a photobook would work for your sport?
EXTRAS
We encourage sports for our children as it builds both their bodies and their spirits. (And for a teenage boy, it provides a lot of conversation starters!!) The lessons, successes and silliness will all be recorded in the kids' regular albums. Here is one I made after his game last week.
Honestly, there's not a lot of preplanning that can go on with these pages, but when I take out the game day photos and madness, it makes the rest feel very doable.
I hope this gives you a couple of ideas for handling the stack of sports photos growing as fast as your little athletes!!
I also hope you will come back tomorrow for another way we can prepare to scrapbook those planned events for our new "year!" See you tomorrow!
