Scrabble Score Book

This Christmas, I've been searching for a present for my father. Somehow he is always the most difficult person to find a gift for. Initially I planned to get him a new wallet -- but my mother bought one for him a few years ago that he still hasn't taken out of the box. I also found a gadget for canning that I thought he'd like, but then wasn't sure one would be enough considering how large his batches of jam are (it separated the lids while they are are being prepared in water -- but it only held 12 at a time). My mother suggested socks and t-shirts, but I've given him those gifts so many times that I just couldn't do it again. Eventually, I decided on a custom t-shirt (fingers crossed that it'll turn out).

Despite ordering a custom t-shirt, I still wanted to find something special. I thought about a new Scrabble board, since we usually play that together at our cottage in the summer when I'm home. But there's also nothing really wrong with the board we have (although I do sometimes suspect that there are tiles missing...). Then I hit on an idea -- a Scrabble score pad, since we usually find ourselves searching for a scrap of paper to write on. Well, I found them online at a popular retailer, but they were insanely overpriced. When I found them for a reasonable price at another site, the shipping was three times the cost of the pad of 80 sheets!

So next I started googling to see whether score sheets were available online. I found several options made by individuals, some offered for free, others for a small fee. And then I clicked on a link and discovered that Hasbro provides a PDF score sheet online! Awesome! If they're providing it free of charge, then they surely can't be concerned about me printing a few, right? (Obviously, there is no re-selling going to occur).

I printed several copies using a booklet approach. I must admit, I was wishing I had a colour printer for this -- and there may be one in my future depending on how the sales go after Christmas. Then I trimmed the paper and prepared the booklet for saddle stitch binding. Next, I used some card stock to make a cover. With my Silhouette Cameo, I cut a letter and number to mimic a Scrabble tile (I found font suggestions here -- and I may have to make one of these giant tiles in the future!). When I was finished, I popped the booklet into my book press (made by my dad!) for 16 hours. And... Voila!

I'm very happy with how it turned out. It'll make a great addition to the custom t-shirt I ordered and it will be fun in the future to have a record of our Scrabble games.