Weekend Album Project

For many of us this weekend marks the end of activities and the start of another. For our family we have just finished hockey and volleyball seasons and are about to start: football, softball, rugby and dragon boat seasons.

This week I worked on a project for one of the players/coaches on Cole's hockey team as they are moving away. The dad was one of the coaches and a his son, a fellow defenceman who enjoyed just this one season with the team. We are unable to attend the big "going away" bash for them tonight. What were we to do? A gift was in order, but a bottle of wine didn't seem enough for all of the hours and hours of together over the course of the last 10 months! So, I did what I know how to do:

I made an album!

Lucky for me, as team photographer, I had oodles of shots from which to choose, but because I don't have permission to post their photos, I'll just outline what I put together.

The perfect simple, quick and inexpensive project.

This is how it came together:

Cover Page: Photo of Subject, in this case, pee wee hockey player :)
Page 1-2: Team Photo (top) Team Roster (bottom)
Page 3-4: Off Ice Conditioning Photos
Page 5-6: Social Events (in this case summer party and garage sale)
Page 7-8: Season in Review (tournaments, regular season and playdowns with all stats)
Page 9-10: Team Photos with trophies
Page 11-12: Team Photos with trophies
Page 13-14: Lined Card (top): My memories of this season with the Oakville Rangers for player with a photo of player bottom
Page 15-16: Lined Card (bottom): My memories of this season ... for coach with a photo of coach on top
Page 17-18: Lined Card (top): My memories ... for mum with a photo of mum below
Page 19-20: Photos of player
Page 21-22: Photo of player (top) Game, loop and rule details (bottom)
Back Page: Quick personal note to the family from us!

A few notes on the project:

In the case of this album I used a Creative Memories PicFolio. The sleeves are a big bigger than your 4x6 photos, so each had to be mounted on a 4.5x6.5 piece of cardstock. All stats and information was typed onto 4x6 Bazzill white cardstock and also mounted to create consistency.

The colours used were Red, White and Blue which were the colours in the Ranger uniforms. The font used was American Typewriter because it's my current favourite :)

Total supplies used:

• 1 album (you can reduce the cost significantly by using a simple slip-in album you can pick up at the drug store, I just happen to have OODLES of Creative Memories supplies to use up!)
• 1 sheet Bazzill white cardstock
• 8 sheets Bazzill red cardstock (4.5x6.5 is a brutal size!)
• Thickers for title
• 24 Photos (all extras tucked behind mounted photos)

The beauty of this kind of album is that, due to it's construct, there is not enough space for a lot of embellishments. I really prefer a streamlined and clean album and this kind just forces you not to stray too far from that idea. Plus, it adds to the quick part!

As for the time it took: From choosing the photos (from the over 2500 I took this season!), to getting all of the statistical data on the internet, to printing the photos, defining the sequence, typing, cutting and pasting this project took a total of four hours to complete, start to finish.

What a sense of accomplishment when it was finally done. Not only that, but when I delivered it on Thursday, the look on Marilyn's face - and the tears in her eyes, let me know that it was the perfect gift.
So much better than a bottle of wine!

If for no one else, I encourage you to put this kind of album together for your little athlete! Time goes by so very quickly!