DIY Tinkerbell Styrofoam Puppet

I made this Tinkerbell puppet for a little tyke who likes puppets:

This cutout was my inspiration:

My tools:

Thin white styrofoam box, led pencil, markers, scissors, plastic stick for support.

Similarly to my other puppets...

I drew the fairy in the styrofoam, looking at the picture for guidance.  My drawing wasn't perfect.  I redrew as I went, trying to make it more and more like the picture.  You can only draw and redraw so many times, because the grooves made by the led pencil (no pencil marks, just grooves) start to become noticeable after too many times, so draw carefully!

It's a little hard to see, but I traced grooves with the led pencil, and over that, you draw over with black sharpie.  I prefer permanent black marker because otherwise the color rubs off.

You can then color in in marker in colors matching those of my inspiration picture:

Now, it's time to cut out the fairy, carefully, leaving the section between her hair bun and below her arm uncut:

Try to cut precisely.  I made larger cuts, then cut closer to the fairy.

I made a support stick cutting out a strip of plastic from a hard plastic that came in the packaging of a box that contained electronics.  I shaved off the edges using a scissors blade and tapered it down at the end to stick into the puppet.   You can use any sturdy plastic that comes from packaging or a similar hard plastic to shape the stick, or simply tape a popsicle stick to the back, leaving a section hanging down over the bottom.

I threaded the stick through Tinkerbell like so:

I made small slits in the styrofoam to accomodate the plastic and then pushed the stick, expanding the styrofoam with it and threading it through.  At the very top, the slit was made between the bun and wing, close to the top of her head.  I made a very small slit here.  I placed the stick behind the fairy before cutting, lining my cuts up with the styrofoam and then making the slit over where the plastic was placed.

... And, this is the final result!

The same puppet can be made based on any other image with a simple google search!  Better to start off with something simple if you're not comfortable with drawing.  Alternatively, rather than drawing grooves with pencil, non-permanent marker can be used (check to make sure you can rub it off with cloth on the styrofoam before proceeding) to first draw the image and this can be erased without making grooves (this way, you allow yourself more room for errors.

Enjoy !!  Let me know if you have any questions or comments :).

LJR, Kraft Queen