"Get a Clue with Nancy Drew"

The new Nancy Drew film, starring Emma Roberts, has a great tagline! "Get a Clue"! Which happens to be the theme for this summer's Library Reading Program. Swazzle, as you know by now, performs all over California with shows designed to compliment that program theme.

Many of you past readers might recall my posting of pictures taken for a Video Shoot to promote this year's theme for the California Library Association convention.

Well, the makers of the new "Nancy Drew" film worked with California's SRP to promote reading this summer! And California's SRP generously linked to our "Rex and Boots" promo video and you can watch it NOW!

Many thanks to Stephanie Stokes and the CLA.

Finding Nemo: The Musical

My good friend Brian sent me a link to BroadwayWorld.com for some behind the scenes video of "Finding Nemo: The Musical". It has clips of the puppets; built by Michael Curry and his talented team, and interviews including one with co-creators Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Tony Award winner Bobby Lopez (who was also a co-creator/composer/lyricist for Avenue Q!)

It looks fantastic! I'm thinking...I'll have to look into a trip to Disney's Animal Kingdom to check this baby out! For more information on Disney's Animal Kingdom and Finding Nemo: The Musical check out Disney Resorts website.

On a Froggy Day.

This little frog here is the most successful of the Martha Stewart Craft puppets so far. The little glue bits are sticking very well, and nothing has fallen off. YAY! I think this is due to the fact that most of the puppet uses stickers for details and not heavy felt pieces. I really like this guy. Lots of customization allowed!

Enjoy

Muppet Fun in SF!

The Muppet Newsflash Blog recently posted about the "Muppets, Music, and Magic" tour that the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is hosting! I've been waiting to mention it until I saw it up on their Calendar...where it is now! Get your tickets while you can!

See you there!

Woof!

Here's the little puppy from the kit. Same problems--ears keep falling off. Paws fall off! Not really living up to the hype! Once I attaked it with a glue stick, it worked fine.

Still, very cute! Not easy though (would be frustrating for wee ones to try to make or play with w/o the generous use of glue).


Figaro inspects the new toy! Super cute!

Wee-wee-wee! All the way home!

The little guy even comes with a cute tail! AWWWW! You stick the tail through a pre-cut hole in the back of the bag (clever!) and secure it with a clear sticky circle. Again, the tape on this guy is not holding up well! Pieces keep falling off the moment I move it.


Here is the little pig all finished!


And one from the side!

On to the next one!

They really are cute but, it's looking like I need to use glue to make it work! Maybe this one was the exception?? We'll see!!

Enjoy!

This little piggy....

Now I add the little pink ears! So CUTE! I am, however, discovering a little problem with this craft kit. The tape isn't very strong and every time I move the bag to put the ears on it, one of the arms falls off. Not fun. Still trying to keep with it and not get frustrated. If this keeps up, I'm going to HAVE to use glue--even though the package says "no glue needed". HA!



The little eyes stick on just fine.



Look at his widdle nose!! So cute! One of his ears kept falling off as I put on the nose...his arms take turns plopping off. Not good.

Still cute!

Pig, Pig, Pig, Pig...having fun!

Here are the bits and pieces from one of the paper bag puppets from Martha Stewart Crafts! This one is for a little piggy! The little kits include everything you need to make the puppet! All the pieces are stuck together with adhesive...which is a little worrying...we'll see how it goes when they're finished.



I do love that the little bags are colored to match the animals...although these bags are TINY! Def for little hands.

PUPPET CRAFTS! Oh Boy!

So, during the weekend, I went out to pick up some craft supplies for my front curtains (I'm making curtains for the front of our new stages that coincide with the appropriate show) and while at Michael's I found these cute Martha Stewart Crafts puppet kit. They are available individually or, as above, in a set! How cute! I had to get them!


Look at all the stuff that came with it! Six paper bag puppets (all the materials to MAKE the puppets are in the box) and little adhesive outfits to stick to them! AWESOME!

I'm gonna' make 'em all and post pics of them!

Woo-hoo!

Scooped again!

Andrew over at Puppetvision just posted about the awesome Diet Mountain Dew commercial--the one with the puppets! As soon as I saw that ad, I said to myself "Quick! Post it! It's hilarious!" Alas, I couldn't find vid of it! But luckily the gang @ the Muppetcenral forum got it to Mr. Andrew! So check it out @ Puppetvision--and whilst visiting, watch the Lamasil sock puppet ad too!

For me, here's a pick from Puppets on the Pier. Puppets as far as the eye can see!

Clam bake!

On the wackiest puppets ever thought up! The Clam puppet by Folkmanis. I've always found this puppet humorous! You put your thumb in the bottom of the clam, your index and fing fingers in the eyes and your second finger in the top of the clam. That way you can open and close the shell while wiggling the eyes. Creepy fun!

I've long admired Folkmanis puppets (and even had the pleasure of hosting Judy Folkmanis at a SFBAPG guild meeting when I was an officer of the Guild). Here's a bit of history of the company.

Enjoy!

Muppets and Men

I know I already posted today! But, my dear pal Brian Stokes sent me a link to a YouTube video "Of Muppets and Men", and I HAD to share it with you RIGHT away! This was an AWESOME video made to coincide with the informative (and hard to find) book "Of Muppets and Men". I saw this special WAAAAAY back in the day at the Museum of TV and Radio, in NYC. I don't believe this has aired in the USA (I could be confusing it with the Labyrinth special that aired in the U.K).

Watch it while you can!

p.s. Keep your eye out for a red turtleneck wearing Karen Prell in ep. 4 during the "In the Navy" sketch. She's just behind Kathy Mullen practicing her lip-synch!

Spring Lambchop

Here's another Lambchop finger puppet from Puppets on the pier! This one is just in time for spring! Look at her cute sun hat! Adorable!!