Alphabet Lacing Cards

The son of one of my friends is turning two and for his present I decided to make him some alphabet lacing cards. They are a great way to work on fine motor skills and I figured the alphabet shapes could come in handy too. It has taken me a little over a week to finish them but now they are done!

I got this art board at Hobby Lobby in sheets of 15" x 20". It is slightly thinner than the chipboard you can get in the scrap booking section. Since I don't have one of those fancy cutting machines I felt this might be easier to cut with an X-acto knife. Yet sturdier than laminated paper.

First I cut the board down into 4" x 5" rectangles. 

Then I freehanded the letters using as much of the rectangle as possible and cut them out.

Next, I sanded the edges first with a heavy grit sandpaper to get the corners rounded, as well as, the round part of different letters, like the B. Then I used a fine grit sandpaper to make sure the edges were smooth.

Next, I used a mini punch that I got in the leather working section of Michael's to punch holes in the letters over a piece of scrap wood from the garage. Then, another round with the fine grit sandpaper to smooth the hole edges. (In hindsight I think I should have saved this step for last. Had I used a larger piece of wood I would not have had to sand any of the holes. The rough edges only form when you try to punch a new hole in the divot of a previous hole and the next steps drip thorough the holes.)

Next, I painted the letters. I painted the backs white and let them dry overnight. Then, I painted the fronts with the colors of the rainbow and let them dry overnight. (I only painted one side with color so that my friend's son would know which is the correct direction of the letters.) The final step was to cover the backs with a coat of Mod-Podge and let dry overnight and then repeat with the fronts. As you can see on the B the Mod-Podge, more than the paint, seeped through the holes so some of them have "spots".

I decided he needed to have something to carry all those letters around in. So I cut these pieces to make a carrying case out of felt and used 3D fabric paint to print "My Alphabet" on the front piece and let it dry before sewing.

After sewing it together I added some Velcro to keep the flap closed. Don't want to lose any of those letters!

At the last minute I decided to add a handle. I know it looks a little like a purse but I had to make the strap long enough to make it easy to get the letters in and out when the flap is open.

Last but not least the strings. I got some heat fusible nylon craft cord and cut it into the correct length. I tried several different methods for sealing the ends but in the end decided to fuse them. There might be an easier way but I used a lighter and just brushed the ends with the flame (I would suggest a push button lighter instead of the wheel one, it got very hot!)