Avery Magnetic Sheets The coolest thing we found this year for decorating lockers is magnetic sheets that we can print on. They cost about $1.00 each and we usually can get 4 decorations out of each one. That's only 25 cents each! Our Varisty team recently was invited to play in a big tournament. We played against some of the best schools in the state. One of our players was chosen to be one of six on the all-tournament team. Everybody was really proud of him, so we thought we should make a magnet for this. Several of our other players also played really well in the tournament. We made smaller magenets with the number of points they made and the date of the game. After designing the magnets, we set them up so that we could print several on only one page. (This is so that we wouldn't waste a lot of magnet sheets, because they can get expensive) Then we did a test print on plain paper, to make sure we liked how it looked. The magnets need a background, because they look too plain on just white. We made a nice pale green background to print them on. You need to print this first and then let it dry about 5 min. (Maybe a few more if your house is humid) Then you should print the image on the background. We tried a few different background colors (tested on plain paper) to see what would look best. After your final copy is printed, the ink will smear easily. You should let it dry around 5 min before cutting the separate magnets out. We always use our paper cutter so that we can have a nice clean edge. On the larger magnet we made an outline, but not for the smaller ones. This project didn't take us more than 20 min from start to finish, but it really let our guys know how proud we were of their playing. Next year, we are planning to do this for every game. For each boy on the soccer team, we wanted to make them magnetic soccer balls with their name. Once we decided on the design we wanted to use, we made 3 duplicates on the page. (Most graphic/photo programs can help you do this. Personally, I think Adobe is the easiest to work with.) Also, only put one sheet in the printer load tray at a time, because they can stick together. Once the magnet sheet is printed and has dried, you need to cut it into separate decorations. A paper cutter helps a lot and keeps the edges nice and straight. (Be careful if you use a paper cutter, these are very dangerous!) Even when the season is over, the athletes can still keep them in their lockers. This year, to announce who made cheerleading, we printed these out for all the squad members, from 7th grade to Varsity. We put these on everyone's locker to surprise them. For all the basketball players and the cheerleaders, we made magnetic game schedules. These are great to put on the fridge at home, so you always know when your next game is. We're also using this as a fundraiser. If you aren't on basketball, or if you'd like an extra, you can buy one for $1.00. These make great gifts for grandparents and relatives that like to come to your games. As soon as Coach Fox selected his Varsity basketball team for '02-'03 we printed little basketballs with each players name and number. When we tried to print 4 to a sheet the basketballs looked like tennis balls. We decided they looked better 3 to a page and it only cost $.33 for each. We used Avery magnet sheets because they go through the printer easily and they cut well. (make sure you only put one magnet sheet in the printer tray at a time, because they stick together) Once they are printed, all you have to do is cut them out. Make sure to cut off all the white paper, because it's really noticeable when you don't. We put a basketball and magentic schedule on each boy's locker. Two of our cheerleaders were on homecoming court, so we used our cheerdollz to make them a special magnet.