'Puppet factory' booming in couple's Manitoba home

Not everyone knows what it feels like to be doing the thing they are meant to do, the thing that brings them complete and total joy.

But Kara Nordstrom does and it involves making puppets.

Not sock puppets, or those brown paper bag puppets, I'm talking full-blown, arm-length, colourful puppets, the kind Muppets creator Jim Henson would be proud of.

And she makes them all in the master bedroom/ensuite of her home in Steinbach, Man.

"We have four shelves of puppets now, about 35-40 of them built. And then we have the entire closet full of clothing. We have ties, hats, and all the hair. And it all has to stay super organized because it's a small room-ish … I mean it's a big room but it's small for a puppet factory!"

Not an easy start

Nordstrom started building puppets just over two years ago. She was a puppeteer for years but had never attempted to make one. When she finally did, it didn't go as planned.

"Theodore was the first puppet I ever tried to make, and everyone kinda laughed at him," Kara said while showing off her first creation. "I didn't know how to cut fur or anything at the time, so there's one long eyebrow and one chunky eyebrow. Everything is a bit of a mess. You can't actually put your thumb under his mouth, which means he doesn't actually work as a puppet."

But then Nordstrom met her future husband, Curtis Nordstrom. Curtis was a cartoonist and encouraged her to keep trying and not give up. He asked her to create a puppet of one of his drawings, The Masked Avenger, and when she did, he proudly showed it off on his Facebook page.

That kind of support was just what she needed to keep going and it's a good thing she did, because it turns out she's a great puppet maker.

Look-a-likes

In the less than two years her hobby has turned into a business (North Stream Creations), shipping hundreds of her original puppets to people across Canada, the United States and as far away as Australia. 

And to make things even better, she started creating look-a-like puppets, which means if you so desire, you can get a puppet version of yourself.

"We always thought our market would be kids, but our market isn't really kids. Our market is adults. Because adults love puppets, especially the look-a-like ones. We had one gentleman buy a look-a-like for himself just so he could run around his house and annoy his wife," she said with a hard laugh. 

It's a dream come true for Nordstrom, who now gets to work hand-in-hand with her husband while doing something that not only brings her joy but to so many other people as well. 

"Everyone at my work thinks we're just nuts over here — that we make cartoons and we make puppets and we're just weird," Nordstrom laughed, "but it's fantastic, it's fun. You just feel like you're a light in the world. It's an amazing feeling that you get everyday."