Scrapbooking for the Athlete in Your Life

With the numerous information and advice available to get started scrapbooking, you need to decide what kind of scrapbook you want to make. One of the projects you can undertake is a book for the athlete in your life, whether it's for a child playing in a youth league or a gift for your favorite local professional athlete.

Like any other project, the first thing you need is an album. For this kind of book, though, you don't just want any old album. Many scrapbooking and crafts stores sell albums that are designed around specific sports. If you are making a book for a baseball player, you can buy an album that has a baseball pattern on the front. Some books even have a little space in the cover to put a picture of your athlete.

If you can't find a sports themed book, an album in a solid cover such as one of the team's colors will work as well. Of course, black is always a classic choice.

For paper, you can never go wrong with solids of a few alternating colors. However, if you can find patterned paper to go along with your player's sport, this will add to the creativity. How unique would it be to put a team photo of your child's Little League team on a paper that depicts a baseball field? If you are going to use patterns, use them sparingly instead of putting them on every page. This way you won't overwhelm the person to receive the book. In scrapbooking, less is more.

For mementos, cut out newspaper clippings that involves your athlete's team or the player themselves. Game programs are also a good idea if you have them on hand. You can tear off the cover of the program and use it to make something "pop" on the page. For all clippings and programs, make sure you put the date of the article and photo if available.

Your own photos will also be a nice compliment to media photos. When you are choosing personal pictures for use, make sure the pictures are clear and of good color quality. You want to make sure your athlete is clearly seen preparing for a game or in action instead of a blurry picture you didn't quite time right.

Stickers will add life to any scrapbook page. The scrapbook sticker company Word Fetti sells a series of stickers with sports words, such as those related to championships and achieving goals. Jolee's sells stickers and die cuts which have to do with specific sports, such as a goal net for hockey or field goal posts for football. These can be placed anywhere, such as around a picture or in the corners of the pages.

To further add your own touch, try journaling. When you journal, you make notes about something on journaling cards, plain index cards, or even on the page itself. Say something positive about the athlete's accomplishment or the reaction the fans had about something they did. It will add to the memories of their playing career.

Other touches you may want to have:

-Pens and markers in different colors

-Tools to help you make different layouts, such as a ruler to draw a line down the center of a page.

-Scissors with different cutting patterns, such as waves or zigzag lines.

-A scrapbooking bag to store all your supplies.

-Sheet protectors to protect the scrapbook from any possible damages.

Scrapbooking for an athlete is a way for them to remember their playing days, or the season that came and went so quickly. You can continue to do this kind of project every year to show an athlete's growth or a new step to each level of play. Sports are worthwhile and healthy activities for almost everyone, so if you know an athlete, give him or her something they will be able to look at forever.