These were the first graduates of Professor Sebastian’s Halloween 101 class.
These little bears are all ready with their masks in place to head out into the neighborhoods with their diplomas.
I hope they have lots of good fun and collect some delicious treats on their tour.
And if they are generous, maybe they’ll share a chocolate or two with me and Sebastian!
This is my current creative schedule. Halloween first – nearly done, and then bears, display and so forth for the Hunt Valley Christmas Show. I began creating the show bears and then took a break because I had this idea for a couple of things in celebration of Halloween. But I’ve been so busy, I forgot about education - the education of three new bears. I turned to Sebastian and asked if he could lend a hand. Now that he has had a Halloween or two under his belt, I thought he could pass along his knowledge. Needless to say, but I’ll say it anyway; he took to the teacher roll immediately.
I am here to tell you all about Halloween. It is the time of year when regular ol’ pumpkins, like this one here,
turn into jack o’ lanterns. Carving them is messy but fun.
In the evening, all kinds of monsters, ghosts and skeletons come out to play. Don’t worry though. They’re friendly.
Now this is where it gets serious. This is the most important part so listen carefully. First you put on your Halloween costume and get a big sack or bucket like this one. Then you go ‘round knocking on the neighbors’ doors saying “Trick or Treat!”
When you do, they give you candy! Lots and lots of candy. Yummy! And remember to say “Thank you!” and come back home and share it with me!
Since you have been such good students, I am going to award you your diplomas. These diplomas can’t be earned just anywhere. You have to pass Professor Sebastian’s Halloween 101 Class.
Congratulations! Now take your diplomas and go get us some candy on Halloween!
Each of my bears has a jingle bell on him somewhere. Most likely my affection for them began when I was in college in an art class. Over the years, I have collected them here and there – for fun when I would see something out of the ordinary. I’m not very serious about it, but since they don’t require a lot of space new ones take up residence in my jingle bell jar from time to time.
As I was looking through them for some Halloween ones, I came across these bear head jingle bells
and these carrot ones – for bunnies, maybe.
Some Christmas ones, but it’s not quite time for these although it’s getting close.
Ah, here are the Halloween ones. The witchy one is kind of unique and I do think the skull is kind of cute – if skulls can be cute.
I began this whole thing when I got on the Internet to do a search
for these.
Even though I probably have enough of them for a while – a long while – I like to discover new colors.
In my searching,
I accidentally came across these.
Can you see how I found them hard to resist?
The last few days I have been working on some Halloween pieces which I hope to make available before too much longer. The best laid plans and all that. We’ll see.
Speaking of Halloween, we had the good fortune to be able to attend Disney’s first Halloween Party of the year.
We had a great time and took loads and loads of photos. But – rather than bog down the blog by posting them all now, I am going to wait until at least October and then have an intermittent celebration of Halloween here and there throughout the month with various snaps from our trip – stuff that is exclusive to the Halloween party.
In case you are curious – Sebastian went as well. I don’t think we would have been able to live with him had we not let him tag along. He had his own very – um – let’s say – unique, yes, that’s the word – unique costume. Again, it was entirely his creation.
By the way, does his suitcase remind you of Mary Poppin’s bottomless carpetbag?
He managed to keep pulling surprises from it the whole entire trip. Luckily they were small things – no lamps, mirrors, coat racks or rubber plants.
I think I’m going to have to talk to him about how he managed that. It’d be pretty cool to be able to take all kinds of stuff in a small bag. Can you imagine how it would simplify the carry-on situation when you fly?
First, the disclaimer.
Even though I made Sebastian, please bear in mind that he is a bear of his own mind. He, and he alone, is responsible for the crazy situations, and sometimes zany pictures you see here on this blog. That being said, I must say, we do love the little guy. Just don’t tell him how much, please.
Now for the duck.
Sebastian packed all kinds of things in his suitcase. He begged me to share these photos with you. Apparently it all started when he heard that in addition to meeting princesses, fairies and famous mice at Disney World, it was entirely possible to meet Donald – Donald - as in Donald Duck.
Can’t you just see the little gears turning in his little bear brain? “What to wear?! What to wear?! What does one wear to meet THE Duck?!” I won’t tell you what this studio looked like after he finished making his outfit. Let’s just say there were bits of felt all over the place.
Here’s what he came up with:
I think Donald was a bit surprised to have such a small and ardent fan but he took him under his wing and showed him lots of love. Sebastian was thrilled to be able to hold such a lofty position – literally.
Donald Duck is a real sweet quacker and we had the best time meeting him in person – or rather feather to fur – in Sebastian’s case. We can’t wait to go back and say hello again. It was one of the best parts of our trip.
Hey Donald! We love you!
Hello There. Sebastian here. I decided to write this post myself due to the fact that no one would be able to tell my version of events. I had a unique perspective throughout.
It all began when the five of us – you-know-who, her husband, son, the son’s lovely wife and me - were in the Magic Kingdom. We were strolling leisurely through Fantasy Land when we met the White Rabbit. Notice I said THE. As in THE White Rabbit. You know, Alice’s White Rabbit. What a hoot! I instantly took a liking to him.
Seeing as we had all become instant friends, he invited us to a tea party. ‘Isn’t that nice?’ I thought. A tea party. It was when he suggested we all pile into a teacup that I became just a wee bit concerned. Yes, you heard me right. The five of us. In. A. Teacup. Granted it was bigger than your usual teacup but still. It was a tight squeeze. Apparently this was not just any tea party. It was a Mad Tea Party. Lucky for me, I didn’t have to sit in the seat like a regular person. After all, I’m not a regular person, am I?
It was a ride unlike any of us had ever been on before – except maybe the White Rabbit. I sort of got the impression that he might have done this a time or two.
I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.
All I can say is tea parties will never be the same again.
Sebastian dug deep into his suitcase and magically produced some wings. If you look back a couple of posts, you will see a portion of them was protruding from his suitcase – the bright green bit. I do think he did quite a remarkable job of solving the problem of how to attach them since he isn’t really a fairy. Tying them on with a bow seemed to be pretty resourceful.
Now why on earth would Sebastian want fairy wings? This you gotta see.
Apparently he had a lingering desire to meet Tinker Bell. How do you think he managed that? First we all had to shrink really small because Tinker Bell is the same size as Sebastian.
The result of which, if we all weren’t really small, none of us could have seen him. Here’s another view of what the world looks like from a fairy’s point of view.
We knew that Vidia was tinker Bell’s nemesis so we were a little worried that Sebastian might not fair too well, but she was really sweet to him. He has that effect on both humans and fairies it seems. Here’s Vidia having an earnest conversation with Sebastian.
At first Tinker Bell was a little confused by such a small bear - with wings no less.
But then she realized how big of a fan this little bear was. It must be time for some flying lessons. The best place to take off from? Why Tinker Bell’s head of course!
Alas, there were other admirers waiting to meet the famous fairy so we had to leave. Here’s Tinker Bell wishing Sebastian a fond farewell. Meeting her was wonderful – for all of us.
There was one last surprise to this portion of Sebastian’s fairy foray. We had the best of luck when we happened upon Peter Pan. Yes, the real Peter Pan - hanging about not far from Tinker Bell’s fairy forest.
It must be something to be such a small bear. You get to perch in some pretty amazing places.
Oh, Sebastian has two things he wanted me to add. First of all, he said I had been remiss in my last post because he had no evidence of having met Aurora, also known as Sleeping Beauty. So here’s she is in all her sweetness with Sebastian.
And secondly, he wanted me to tell you about his very wild ride.
“Sebastian, I think that is going to have to wait until next time. I’m having trouble keeping up with you!”
Therefore, he asked me to ask you to please come back later and read about his madcap adventure.
Today Sebastian finally let me in on part of what he had hidden in his suitcase. He had to actually - because he needed a photographer and I happened to be it.
It seems with the rhinestones he created himself a crown – fit for a very small prince.
He believes that way back in his family tree there is some royal blood and he set out to find his long lost relatives. I do not know whether or not he is actually related to any of the royals pictured here. If he’s not, I’m not going to be the one to tell him. In any case, he wanted me to share with you photos of his adventures meeting two kinds of royalty.
Here’s the first kind – the ones who have proven fairy tale royal lineage.
The lovely and ever so affectionate Cinderella.
He’ll never wash his face again, I’m sure.
Then in the royal castle he met Snow White and her prince.
It would be difficult to find a more charming pair.
Since the beast was no where around Sebastian felt quite safe enjoying Belle’s attention.
Sebastian was very excited to meet Rapunzel even though he was a little concerned he might get tangled up in her long tresses. He thought Flynn was pretty cool too!
For the second kind of royalty, Sebastian met a real prince of a server named Michael. He was kind enough to pose with Sebastian and my very own prince.
Just between us, even though Sebastian has some wild ideas, I’m glad he needed a photographer. We met the nicest people. I know for sure he’s only just begun this adventure because his suitcase would hardly close. I wonder what else he has up his furry sleeve?
To be curiously continued . . .
Sebastian asked if he could borrow my desk for a while. I said, “Sure. Whatcha up to?” But he wouldn’t tell me. He simply asked that I leave him to his creativity. Then I asked if I could watch and he said no. Sebastian is up to something.
I tried to be nonchalant when I walked by him very, very slowly – with my camera – several times.
The first time this is what he was doing. He had poured out my rhinestones. H-m-m-m.
“Are you playing stoplight, Sebastian?”
“Don’t you have something to do?” came the reply.
This is Sebastian’s “you’re not supposed to be in here” look.
“Okay, okay. I’m leaving – for a bit,” I said.
When I came back Sebastian was trying to close his suitcase.
“Uh, Sebastian, something is sticking out there.”
“Sitting on it won’t help,” I advised helpfully.
“Well, now something different is sticking out. What is that?”
“Nope, try again. Whatcha got in there, buddy?”
“All secure, huh? Won’t you give me a little hint?
What’s in the suitcase?”
Yep, Sebastian is definitely up to something. I wonder what it is.
