Exciting New Puppet Storage and Organization

Isn't it great? It fits right on the table top and works perfectly for our animal puppets. Can you guess what it is? This is like the one we got at Walmart but we only paid $21.74. I couldn't find a picture of the exact one with the price we got, but this is what it looks like.

YOU'RE RIGHT! IT'S A SHOE TREE!!!!!!

Here's a close up. It only needed a few modifications for some of the puppets. We cut up pool noodles and tie strapped them on the frame. 

This has been a wonderful find for puppet organization. Hope this gives you some inspiration for puppet storage.

Looking to further the Kingdom,

Tammy

Prop making Saturday morning

Today was a very productive morning. Everyone was scurrying around trying to get props made before practice tomorrow for our Trunk or Treat performance.

These cute little spiders will be used for "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and we're made from the little squishy critters from Dollar Tree. We took 4 pipe cleaners to twisted around their middles to make the legs.

One of the guys is being wrapped in white crepe paper to look like a mummy for our Carmen song, "No More Monsters." I'm not quite sure this costume will hold up due to his many dancing moves. We are going to look for the gauzy first aid wrap. I think that might be more durable. Tomorrow's practice will be the test.

These little guys for the Dollar Tree were attached to fishing line for our spout and other little spots they might need to pop up on.

Here's a picture of the making of the spout. I forgot to get one of the finished product. An overhead of the drain spout was made and traced onto orange poster board that is black light ready. Then it was glued to a white foam board and then reinforced with paint sticks.

Notice the hole drilled in the paint stick with a tie wrap through the hole. This makes for easy prop storage. Here's a picture of a rolling clothes rack with props being placed for easy performance retrieval.

We like to use shower hooks on the rods and several props can be hung on a single hook.

We also needed to spray paint more paint sticks for handles for words that were glued to black foam board to make  props we needed. Here's a picture of the words. They were made with transparencies and then cut out.

Extra props that cannot be hung are placed in plastic totes and organized by songs. 

And lastly, here are the little smiley faces from the dollar tree mounted to black foam board and Popsicle sticks were sprayed painted black and taped to make handles for "If You're Happy And You Know It" 

We can't wait for practice tomorrow to see how the kids choreograph the songs. I'll post some video and pictures tomorrow after practice.

Looking to further the Kingdom, 

Tammy

Tonight's Planning Session!!!

GLO Puppet Ministry will be performing in 15 minute intervals during Sunnyside Baptist Church Annual Trunk or Treat on October 31, 2013. We are really excited about this fun performance, and plan on performing everything in black light to add to the fun. We have been abundantly blessed with over 60 youth and adult leaders that feel lead to minister in this awesome ministry.

We have decided to make our 3 oldest boys team captains. They will pick their teams and be responsible for performing 2 songs and choreographing them as well. I'm really excited to see what they are going to do.

The adults met tonight and decided on the following list of songs they will be performing.  We also discussed dressing the puppets in costumes as well. Looks like we are going to have some mummies, cats, angels, spiders, and who knows what else our crazy minds can come up with.

Here's the list of songs we are performing:

"God is Bigger," "I'm Gonna Sing, I'm Gonna Shout," by Veggie Tales

"Shout" by Mark Bradford

"Funky Jesus Music" by Toby Mac

"Jesus Chant" The Katinas

"No Monsters" by Carmen

"Itsy Bitsy Spider"  and "If You're Happy and You Know It" by Go Fish

Angie made a shopping  trip to Dollar Tree and was very successful. Here's some pictures of her finds!

And look, even better, they all glow!!!

Here's a picture of the clip art we are planning on using for "Itsy Bitsy Spider" the big challenge now is trying to decide how we are going to do the "spout." So many ideas are spinning.

 The spiders from Dollar Tree are going to be awesome in this song.

The smiley faces and hands are stickers that we are planning on mounting to black foam board for additional props in "If You're Happy and You Know It". Quick and easy!!

I'll post more from practice on Sunday so you can see how it comes together. I can't wait to see what the puppeteers have in mind.

Looking to further the Kingdom,

Tammy

First practice of the new year=SUCCESS!!!!

GLO Puppet Ministry had its first organizational meeting of the year this afternoon at 4:00. We were blessed to have to over 40 new and old puppeteers along with some new moms join us. We were missing at least another 10 puppeteers due to other commitments. I thought you might like to see some pictures of the kids before the fun started.

Just look at how attentive everyone's being now....

 After discussing the general info, the puppeteers decided they would like to perform for our Sunnyside   Baptist Church annual Trunk or Treat on October 31. This is an alternative to trick or treating and is a wonderful outreach to our community children. So the next 3 practices are being devoted to work for this performance. 

After this discussion, the fun began...the youth were handed a puppet and we kind of had a "musical puppet swap" as we played bits of songs and everyone would sing and pass the puppet when the song stopped. This let our new puppeteers have a feel for what puppetry is all about.

Lots of concentration is going on here!!

Then after several swaps, they were asked to stand and give their puppets some personality. This is when it really got fun!!

Here's some goofy "live action." The kids were definitely giving their puppets personality!! Enjoy!

What an awesome group of kids and we are so excited to see what God has in store for us this year. We are truly blessed to be working with such an amazing group of kids that are willing to be used by Him! 

Looking to further the Kingdom, 

Tammy

Puppeteer's favorite time of the year to shop

Ok, by my title, this really is a puppeteers favorite time of the year to shop. But...as a woman, who doesn't love to shop anytime? We really don't need an excuse to hit the stores. However, this time of the year is perfect for us!

I was busily working away this morning, when my phone started going crazy with texts. Angie was out shopping and was having a blast!!

"Wal-Mart has their Halloween items out! Look, I'm finding tons!"

Of course, in my last blog, I told you we are planning a rainforest performance for the spring, so she was on a mission to find anything that could possibly be used.

First, she came upon butterfly wings. We can add a stuffed sock and have an easy butterfly

These were just too cute to pass up. Not sure what we are going to do yet, but you'll see when the inspiration hits. Looks like a job for Beth (hint).

Glow in the dark spider webbing. How perfect for the spiders she found 2 for a dollar at Dollar Tree. And, the best part about this stuff, it already glows. Nothing extra will have to be done to it. Our rainforest will have to have spider webs. This should be good fillers for the stage.

I saved the best find she had of the day for last. Drum roll please..... the black light LED battery operated. It was only $17. We can't wait to see how well it does!  This will be perfect to add wherever we need an extra light! 

Angie was a little disappointed that the hoods had not been put out yet. That will just give her another excuse to shop some more.

I hope you will be able to find inspiration as well in this section and...don't forget the Christmas sections as well. Hobby Lobby already has theirs out. It's full of treasures that can be used with some imagination! Happy hunting!

Looking to further the Kingdom,

Tammy

Busy, Busy, Busy! Organization, Organization, Organization!

The start of a new year means making plans, cleaning, and organization. Pinterest has been a huge help. So many ideas, actually, too many ideas sometimes. I think we are spending too much time on Pinterest, but, we just can't help ourselves. We had a conversation last night during our planning session about how much fun we are having with this ministry, but, there have been times when burnout sets in and ideas come to a stand still. God is so good, he seems to step right in and remind us of why we are doing this ministry and remind us that we need to keep Him the focus and He provides. He is truly blessing us in so many ways. Our ministry keeps growing, kids keep coming, and that is awesome!!!! I thought I would share with you some pictures of our practice room before our first session on Sunday. Everything is so clean and organized, thanks to Angie and Brent!!

This is one of our new rolling storage units that Brent made us. He used some old puppet storage units from years ago and revamped them. Pegboard is on each side and Dollar Tree baskets are tie wrapped to hold small props, and cups are screwed across the top to hold markers and sharpies. We love these so much, he was able to make us two!!!

Here's the side view for you to see.

Look at how nice our markers look.

Close up views of the tie wraps!

Dollar tree is our puppet ministry's best friend.

More Dollar Tree baskets on shelving to hold our paints, brushes, glue guns, and other supplies.

Here's a picture of our second storage unit. This one holds duct tape, another puppet ministry best friend, spray paints, twine, fishing line, scissors, and other supplies.

This is a picture of the other end with some puppet storage. Brent made a "puppet wagon" on wheels and was a life saver on our mission trip this summer.  It even has a wagon handle to pull it. I'll post later about our puppet storage. You can see our clothes rack with large plastic zip bags from Dollar Tree to hold some of our smaller puppets. These are hung with shower hooks.

Our puppet tree that Brent made, too! More on that later.

Angie found some magnetic boards on clearance (yay!!) at Target. Our door now has color. 

I'll post after Sunday's practice and give updates of our organizational meeting. I just wanted to document how nice the room looks even if it's for a short time.

Looking to further the Kingdom!

Tammy