Score Big With Team Photo Pennants

Tuesday, March 1, 2005

Score Big With Team Photo Pennants by Eleanor Levie (NAPSA)—When your child’s sports season wraps up, it’s time for a celebration! No matter how your player and the team fared, personal pennants make everyone feel like winners. And puttingpictures on them helps capture the special moments of the season. Photo pennants also kick up the excitement at any end-of-season bash, score points as party favors and, as a thank-you gift, will surely knock the (athletic) socks off the coach. Here’s the game plan: First, choose and print your best team photos—these are 4”x6”, printed onto Fujifilm Premium Plus photo paper or processed at your favorite photo retailer. At the craft store, purchase 12”x18” sheets of stiffened felt, 9”x12” felt squares and wide grosgrain ribbon. Select team colors or whatever hues will best set off your pictures. Cut each sheet of stiffened felt diagonally in half to make two pennants; trim so each long side measures 18”. Round the corners of your photo—alittle or a lot, and cut out your message. Use rubber cement to adhere photo paper to felt. (You can glue directly to the pennant, or to a contrast-color felt square, cutting to leave a narrow border all around. Try scissors that give you a zigzag or decorative edge.) Then glue the feltbacked photo and message to the pennant. Wide ribbon provides a channel for the dowel; use a line of tacky glue, hot glue or machine stitching along each edge of the ribbon to secure it to your pennant. Slip a 3/8” wood dowel through the channel andtop it off with a large ball =< Photo pennants can bea terrific way to mark the end of a sports season. bead or curtain finial. Other Fun Ideas That end-of-season party can include other fun ways to capture the memories. Shape a poster into a sports jersey or a giant piece of sports equipment and stud it with snapshots. Let everyone sign it and present it to the coach as an award or token of appreciation. Alternatively, ask parents to submit their great digital images from the season, print them out in multiple, and lay them out on a table, along with inexpensive, 4”x6” photo albums, plus markers, stickers and rubber stamps. Let all the players assemble their own memory books, adding embellish- ments and autographs at whim. Clever parents will bring similar ideas into play for their kids’ cast parties, final choir and band concerts, and any other extracur- ricular activities that are coming to an end. Whatever the reason or season, the goal is to have fun and reward every good sport with a memoryto treasure. To find out more about printing your own digital photos and ideas for photo-crafting, check out www.Fujifilm.com/pictures.