Handmade Home #2

The Daytona team needed 2 young boy puppets for a puppet skit that they wrote for their outreach in the Kekchi villages. My home church in Jax bought 10 beautiful puppets for us a couple years ago. I had picked out ones that I thought looked Guatemalan. Half were males, but what I didn't realize was that 3 had mustaches (plus one was a grandpa)... so they wouldn't pass as kids! I decided it would be easier to give one a haircut than a shave. So here is the girl puppet I started with:

It ended up being a little more complicated than just cutting hair, but I was very happy with the results. Just for the slim chance that anyone needs to know, these kind of puppets wear size 0-6M baby clothes. (Thank you to Jonah and Silas for sacrificing a pair of pants for this project!) Not sure what happened to his tan, but it's the same puppet, I promise:

We have been living in this house for 2 years without fixtures, just energy saver lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling. I didn't care. They were less offensive to me than the gaudy and pricy fixtures available around here.

Then... one day I had an idea. I had picked up 4 placemats in the States while thrift store shopping with my mom. I never planned on using them as placemats, I just liked the texture of the twigs. To make a light fixture I needed something to reinforce them. Knowing my dilemma, Jimmy came home one day with bicycle rims for me... he's so thoughtful!

So here they are. I had some leftover fabric from the curtains to cover the chain and wire.

Try to peel your eyes away from our neglected lovely ceiling... I know it's hard. I like the spokes!