FOR THE KIDS—Simi Valley resident Deborah Allen performs her unique act during the SIDS Foundation Run/Walk in Camarillo on March 11, 2010. MICHAEL GUTTMAN/Special to the Acorn Not many folks have an oven mitt for a friend.

Deborah Ellen does.

Ellen and her puppet pal are part of an interactive show the youthful 41-year-old created two years ago.

The idea for her act came to her while in the kitchen of her Simi Valley home with husband, Michael Guttman, and daughter Morgan, now 5.

“We were cooking with a blue pot holder and my daughter asked ‘Who’s that?’ I told her it was Mr. Blue Oven Mitt and we started using it as a puppet.”

With that, a star was born. The mother of two began writing children’s songs for an album based upon the life of the oven mitt.

“It was just a fun little character that the kids loved,” she said.

Before long, Ellen and her friendly oven mitt were doing shows for children at after-school clubs, hospitals and schools.

The pair entertained at the Simi Valley home of Angela Baker for her 4-year-old daughter’s birthday party last October.

“The kids loved the puppet and the songs are playful and catchy,” Baker said. “There’s a song, ‘No, No, No’ about 2-yearolds saying ‘no’ to everything mommy asks them to do. Parents can relate to that.”

Ellen, a native of San Diego, has been involved with music since childhood. Her community theatrical debut was in “The Fairy Who Didn’t Believe in Children.”

“I was a pink poodle and did gymnastics,” she said. “That started everything for me. I performed in many community the- ater shows as I was growing up.”

Ellen graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 1991 and then moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music.

“I started out wanting to be a pop singer, but I was never really cut out for that,” she said. “I ended up having serious vocal problems from bad training.”

Ellen said she sought out different vocal techniques and studied speech level singing.

“It’s an amazing technique that saved my voice,” she said. “After studying for five years, I became a vocal coach in that method.”

She now teaches the method to students of all ages at her home studio.

Ellen and her husband moved to Simi Valley two years ago to raise their family, which includes 1-yearold daughter Bree.

In addition to coaching and performing, Ellen writes music for television and film with writing partner, Rachael Lawrence. Their songs are featured in the films “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and “High School Musical.”

The next performance of the Mr. Blue Oven Mitt Show was scheduled for Sat., Sept. 25 at 1 p.m. at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center but it had to be postponed after Ellen became ill. It has yet to be rescheduled.

“I’ve done a number of concerts for charity in the past, but I wanted to do something on an ongoing basis,” Ellen said. “Each of (my next) three shows will benefit a different charity.”

Subsequent shows at the center are Nov. 6, benefiting the Apollo High School Minor Parent Program, and Jan. 22, benefiting The Pajama Program, a nonprofit organization providing new pajamas and books to needy children in the U.S. and worldwide.

Tickets are $10; $5 from each ticket purchased will be donated to that performance’s designated organization.