Basketball STATE Tournament Crafty Projects!

What a basketball season! Us 8th grade moms thought for sure it was going to be a "learning year" this season due to so many phenomenal players graduating last year. Our team was really young, but believe it or not, we got into the State Tournament earlier this month! That means out of 245 Lutheran grade schools in our state, our school was one of the 16 to be there!! It was quite the accomplishment.

Since it was such a big deal, I had to arm the families with Superfan kits at State! These included basketball-shaped paddles, felt flower mom pins, clapper noise-makers with players' #s, inflatable fingers, pom-poms, and tattoos (the last 3 ordered through Oriental Trading)!

We were definitely SUPERFANS!!

Basketball Tournament Decorations

This weekend was my daughter's basketball tournament at her school! The parents provide the decorations, so my Cricut and I helped out by making a banner, basketballs, and locker decorations!

"March Madness" Part II - The Scrapbooks!

Thought I'd better get my March madness posts in before it's not March anymore! Yikes, time is flying by!

Now don't fall over, but here is a scrapbooking related post! I do scrapbooking, but usually it is for other people. Here is an example of me scrapbooking for other people!

I made scrapbooks for all 10 girls on my oldest daughter's basketball team. What I mean by making them is that I literally assembled them using my untouched YourStory binding machine. I got the binding machine using my Cricut rewards points some time ago. It worked out well.

Originally I was going to have the 7th graders make the 8th grader books in addition to their own at the scrapbooking party I hosted, but the girls were having too much fun with their own books so time ran away. I made the 8th grader books and the 7th graders presented them to the girls at their special luncheon that was held at school the day before the State tournament.

Here they are (excuse the girly bedspread background!):

 The 7th grade scrapbooking party!

Supplies:

• YourStory binding machine
• YourStory 11x8.5 white "linen-like" book covers ($5 each from cricutmachine.com)
• Cricut Birthday Bash cartridge for letters
• Cricut Sports Mania for basketballs
• Georgia-Pacific white cardstock from Wal-mart for pages
• Blue glitter cardstock from Michaels' sold by the sheet
• Basketball material sheets sold by the sheet at either JoAnn or Michael's
• Recollections black cardstock for basketball shadows
• Gold and blue gems from Michael's dollar section

Using the same materials, I made all of the covers a little bit different. I placed photos inside the pages, but did nothing else so that the girls could personalize them starting the weekend of the big State tournament. I gave them each blue sparkle pens so that they could journal and sign each other's books. The 8th graders wrote "advice" for handling the coach the next basketball season - LOL!

I did have issues with pages from a couple of the books coming out, so I added some more hot glue to the inside spine and rebound them. I think the books are holding up okay. If not, people know where to find me and my binding machine! I think I might have had too many pages in them (15 total), and the weight of the paper (110 lb) has a lot to do with it. Trial and error!

 

All in all, these books were a huge hit! I even made books for the coaches and gave them at the Winter Sports Banquet the week after State. This was definitely an awesome bball season worthy of celebrating and documenting!

 

Thanks for stopping by! Happy crafting!

March Madness (Part 1)!!

IT'S MARCH MADNESS TIME, BABY!!!

Yeah, I'm not usually that excited about basketball. But THIS year, my daughter's 7th/8th grade team made it to March by being selected to participate in the State tournament!! It was AWESOME!!! So as promised, here is the first project I'd like to share from it.

Of course I made stuff for the girls, but this was the ultimate time for us MOMS to show off our daughters! So, I made each of the moms a pin to wear!!

Here they are:

The moms of all 10 players got a pin!

Here are the 8th grader pins

complete with name, number, and photo!

And here are the 7th grader pins!

I have quite a fondness for # 35 . . . :)

A little side close-up view of them! Rosettes are all the rage

now, so I thought they would be perfect for the mom pins!

Supplies:

• Cricut Imagine Bubblegum Stripes cartridge to print paper for Rosettes
• Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge for the white scallop backing the photos
• Cricut Sports Mania cartridge for mini basketballs
• Cricut Birthday Bash cartridge for letters and numbers
• Photos of each girl then punched out with a 1 1/2 inch circle punch
• Textured basketball paper for mini basketballs (purchased at JoAnn by the sheet)
• Recollections Black cardstock for basketball shadow
• Recollections blue paper to mat a couple of the girls that had white backgrounds
• White Georgia-Pacific cardstock for scallops
• Blue Darice self-stick holographic paper for letters and numbers (purchased at JoAnn by the sheet)
• White satin ribbon
• Blue glitter ribbon purchased from Michael's
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks to adhere the rosette
• Glue dots for basketball
• Foam dots for behind the photos for added dimension
• Adhesive-backed pins purchased from Michael's Jewelry section

Don't they remind you of blue ribbons you would win at the fair? They did for me, but I didn't see a way around it given that the school colors are blue and white. I got rave reviews from the moms and many others, so that made me happy.

 

I did learn a lot from making these pins. It's quite different to make a paper craft that will be worn for a few days at a time. By day 2, I packed an "emergency repair kit" that included glue dots, scissors, extra pins, extra letters and numbers. Unfortunately moms were starting to lose letters or numbers, the white satin ribbon was fraying on the sides, a pin's clasp broke, etc.- Yikes!! Repairing kept me busy while waiting for our pizza after game 3's win. It takes a while when a whole team with parents and siblings order yummy deep dish!

 

One last thing: I decorated my frame in my office for the big State event, which also holds my pin for now:

 

 

I put chalkboard vinyl from Expressions Vinyl on the frame's backing and used a white Pentel Wet Erase chalk marker to write. The die cut eagle was on the wall at our school's bball tournament back in January, which I took several of when we cleaned up! I couldn't let all of those eagles just go in the trash! The younger grades had decorated them so beautifully after all! :)

 

I will be back with another State project soon. I also have a very big Scrappy Moms weekend coming up- WOOHOO!! Have a great remainder to your week!!

I'm an Eagle Superfan!

I've been wanting to do this for a while but finally got the motivation this week given our overflowing bball schedule to make some vinyl showing my Eagle spirit! I added my girls' basketball numbers for my own car personalization which will "pimp my ride!" Ok, I know. I can't pull that off . . . especially driving a minivan - LOL!

Supplies:

• Cricut Birthday Bash cartridge for lettering designed on my Gypsy
• Cricut Sports Mania cartridge for the basketball
• Gentian and white outdoor vinyl purchased at expressionsvinyl.com for lettering
• Orange indoor vinyl for basketball purchased at expressionsvinyl.com (only because I didn't have orange in the outdoor vinyl- We'll see how long my bball stays on!)
• Cricut transfer tape

I think I still have a bit to learn about layering letters with a shadow on my Gypsy because I'm not really happy with the EAGLES letters, but it will serve its purpose. Hopefully it will last the next 2 months, which will get me through basketball season. :)

Have a good Tuesday my fellow crafters!

Volleyball Coach Tumbler Gifts

Look out Vinyl Goddess Nicole! Jen has entered your tumbler-decorating realm and LOVES it - LOL!

Seriously, I've been loving the tumblers that Nicole has been decorating with vinyl on her blog, so I thought I would give it a try. I ordered my tumblers on Etsy from Saveacup. I ordered 12 tumblers (6 royal blue and 6 clear) and received free shipping. Their service was amazing! They answered my emailed question promptly, I was able to choose the colors, and they shipped the tumblers out right after I ordered them! They arrived well-packed, too. I would definitely order from them again.

So here are my decorated tumblers for my girls' volleyball coaches:

Supplies:

• Tumblers from Saveacup on Etsy
• White Cricut vinyl
• Cricut Alphalicious font cartridge for lettering (welded on my Gypsy)
• Cricut Sports Mania cartridge for volleyballs (duplicated many times on my Gypsy!!)
• Michael's Whimsy Cottage and Fit To Be Tied ribbon (purchased last Winter)
• Blue metallic shred for inside of tumblers

I am entering these tumblers into Paper Playtime's and Whimsical Wednesday's "Anything Goes" Challenges. Thanks for popping by and checking these out!

Happy November everyone! Have a good crafty remainder to your week!