Shelbyville: The Alphabet Swap Project

By this point in the Alphabet Swap it is April 2013, and I'm feeling so pleased that us lovely ladies are almost halfway through the alphabet! Two of us (Susan and I) are well into our second pregnancies, so it is more than a little lucky that we are still able to find the time and energy to keep making our letters at such a fast clip. We're continuing to make and swap the letters two-at-a-time, which initially sounded like a good idea in theory, but is actually proving to be extra challenging. Well, for me anyway.

Like it or not, the lack of time is compelling me to look for more efficient ways to design and create my letters. While definitely not the case with ALL my creations (letter M is a good case in point!), it's a good lesson to learn. Motherhood teaches us to be more productive with our "spare" time, and the Alpabet Swap has been teaching me (well, forcing me!) to be more productive with my spare "creative" time...

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LETTER L // letter crafted by me (Shelbyville)

Like most people, I love Lego, and Letter L gave me licence to construct a quick 3-D letter from the stuff.

Limiting myself to only using the blocks from a tub of secondhand Lego I purchased from a lady on Gumtree, I leisurely built my Letter L, from the iconic green Lego base, up to the lovely loopy yellow block on top. It only took me an hour or so - possibly one of the fastest letters I've produced in the Swap yet!

I briefly considered glueing the Lego to lock it together solidly as a permanent Letter L, but in the end I decided to leave it loose, and let the recipient decide if they'd like to later recycle it back into the Lego construction box or not.

I must remember to ask Maryanne (who took the it home from the Swap) if that Lego letter is still intact...

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LETTER L // letters crafted by other mums

Looking at the Ls created by the other ladies, it's sure an odd lot of inspiration: a lighthouse, a lollipop, Lego, ladybeetles and leaves, and a little bit of lacing too.

(Left to right): Maryanne's lighthouse L, Jodi's lollipop L, Susan's leafy felt L with ladybeetles, and my Lego L

There were a couple of later additions, including Shannon's laced L (and moth mask M):

And Sarah's layered ladybeetle & leaves Letter L:

Back and front pics of Jodi's lovely lollipop:

And this was Maryanne's Letter L that we were lucky to take home with us:

We loved how Mez even made it to light up! Inside the L was an LED torch, with a switch on the side of the letter to allow DJ to turn it on and off. You can guess how much he liked it!

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LETTER M // letter crafted by me (Shelbyville)

Moving on to the making of Letter M, I'm remembering how much fun I had incorporating as many M words as I could: matchbox, monster, man-doll, mattress, even down to all the different materials I used...map paper, music paper, play money, all finished with a metal M. So much fun, that I made multiples (one for the Swap and one for ME!)...

I drew my main inspiration from these Pinterest pins:

^ Mouse in a tin; cutest monster teeth; and the matchbox monster

I made my sleepy monster from a few select fabric scraps, including a soft suede for the body and a brown check material for his jammie suit, with teeth and horns created from wool felt.

Here's the work in progress shots: