I am trying to do some spring cleaning…I have multiple boxes and bins to go through–some as old as 11 years! We went through some real transition times where we wanted to clear out a room so my mother-in-law could move in with us, clear out another room so my father-in-law could move in, the remodeling of our house, and, then, I had some major health issues that caused the back up to start!
I am slowly, but surely, clearing the logjam, HOWEVER, I have five large bins of Beanie Babies to figure out what to do with them! Now, I love Beanie Babies and want to keep one of each of them for my collection (although if I have to move and downsize I’ll be in trouble!)–that is one bin and the fifty or more I have displayed now! That leaves four bins to part with! Do any of you readers have any suggestions of what you would do with them? Have any of you ever had a situation like this and already solved it?
I have Beanie Babies from Broadway plays like “Phantom of the Opera”, “Kiss of the Spider Woman”, “Ragtime” and others which I will NEVER give up, but seconds and thirds and fourths and fifths of individual Beanie Babies are unnecessary! Just how many Snort the Bulls does a person need?
How did I start collecting Beanie Babies? It is all my son’s, Matthew’s, and McDonald’s fault! In the mid to late 1990′s, I was given my first Beanie Baby…Daisy the Cow, by a co-worker! I thought it was cute, but nothing special. Then, my son heard about, at school, Teenie Beanie Babies that were Kid’s Meal prizes at McDonald’s in 1999! Oh, boy, being in line–with men, of all things–waiting for the next Teenie Beanie Baby to be released was a hoot! I remember the excitement of the chase! I had to have every one of them! I even went on eBay to get every Beanie Baby I had missed getting when they first came out that I could afford! The secondary market was alive and strong on eBay! I got the 1996-1997 season of Teenie Beanie Babies through eBay and paid around one hundred dollars for the ten of them! I was addicted!
Then, on January 1st, 2000, Ty retired all Beanie Babies and that did the secondary market in! I stopped collecting Beanie Babies then! It stopped being fun for me! And, now, I have 4 large bins of Beanie Babies that aren’t necessary for my collection!
I look forward to hearing from you with suggestions of what to do with all the extra, adorable stuffed ones!
Michelle
P.S. By the way, while you are on my site please feel free to check out my shopping page. There are 50 online stores from which to buy and choose. There are items from books, printing needs to jewelry. It also includes Home Depot and Amazon for all your shopping needs.
The Disney Fairies franchise was created around Tinker Bell, the beloved character of Disney’s 1953 animated classic Peter Pan. The franchise has introduced many new characters and depicts the life of the fairies in Never Land. Disney Fairies merchandising activities includes children’s books, a web site, and a film series featuring “Tink” and a number of her friends.
Tink’s character is beautiful, brave and a little sassy. She makes up for her lack of experience in many areas with her gift for problem solving. Easily annoyed, Tink remains loyal to those close to her. Her dream is to leave Pixie Hollow in search of lost things.
The Disney organization announced plans for an illustrated novel for young girls at the 2005 Bologna International Children’s Book Fair. The first effort was Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, written by Gail Carson Levine. Published in the fall of 2005, the novel became a New York Times bestseller, and has been released in 45 countries and 32 languages.
The story is set in Pixie Hollow, located in the heart of Never Land. A powerful hurricane has blown Mother Dove’s magical egg out of the nest, destroying it. This egg holds all of Never Land’s secrets and without it, Tinker Bell and the other fairies begin to age. Their only hope lies with enlisting the bravest fairies to take the pieces to Kyto the dragon, whose fiery breath may be able to repair the damage to the egg and save the inhabitants of Never Land.
Tinker Bell was made famous by her non-speaking role in Walt Disney’s animated classic Peter Pan, based on the popular novel Peter and Wendy. According to legend, she was modeled after Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe. Not true, insists Disney animator Marc Davis, who claims that his reference for the attractive, blue eyed blonde with the hourglass figure was in reality actress Margaret Kerry.
Davis dressed “Tink” in a short green dress and matching green slippers. Whenever she moves, she leaves behind a small trail of pixie dust. This same pixie dust enables humans to fly as long as they think happy thoughts. Oddly enough, a handful of critics over the years have complained that Disney’s depiction of Tink is too blatantly sexual.
Tink has served since 1954 as hostess for a variety of Disney television programming and in all Disney movie ads, flying over Disneyland spreading pixie dust with her magic wand. She appears at the beginning of every Disney movie, flying over the trademark Magic Castle.
Prominently featured in Peter Pan’s Flight, one of the top attractions at California’s Disneyland, Tink has also been making regular appearances at the park since 1961 as a fly-through-the-air live performer climaxing the nightly fireworks display.
Tinker Bell has been the central character in the Disney Fairies franchise since 2005, and a wide-ranging line of merchandise has been build around her character, including dolls, books and clothing. She became the smallest waxwork created by Madame Tussaud, measuring just five and one-half inches. In 2010, she was honored with the 2,418th star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.
P.S. By the way, while you are on my site please feel free to check out my shopping page. There are 50 online stores from which to buy and choose. There are items from books, printing needs to jewelry. It also includes Home Depot and Amazon for all your shopping needs.
Tinker Bell or Tink for short , is a character from the 1904 play Peter Pan. Created by J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan was novelized in 1911’s Peter and Wendy. The worlds most famous fairy, Tink was seen in a number of film and television treatments written around the Peter Pan stories, the best known being Walt Disney’s 1953 animated classic Peter Pan.
Tink’s animated life began as a minor character described by Barrie as a “common fairy.” The Disney Studios brought fame, if not fortune, to Tink and she has grown into the role of unofficial mascot of the Disney organization. The Disney Fairies franchise was built around her, and she has become one of the most beloved animated characters of all time.
Barrie described his creation as a common sort of fairy and a mender, or tinker, of pots and kettles. Whenever Tink speaks, her voice sounds like a tinkling bell, and is understandable only to those who speak “fairy.” She appeared on the stage as a small darting light, projected from off stage with the aid of a small hand mirror and a powerful light.
Tinker Bell displays a number of human-like qualities and frailties. She can be jealous, downright mean and spoiled rotten at times and sincerely helpful and kind at others. Her mood swings are explained by her small size. Apparently, fairies are too small to be able to hold more than one emotion at a time, so there is no room for any counterbalancing feelings.
Gaston Leroux’s classic horror novel The Phantom of the Opera was published in 1910, and quickly caught both the attention and the imagination of a worldwide audience. The intense drama of the disfigured and insane musical genius and his forbidden love was brought to the silver screen in 1925 by Universal Pictures, starring veteran actor Lon Chaney, the “Man of a Thousand Faces”, in the title role.
The Paris Opera House, the setting for much of the play, was brilliantly recreated on Universal’s Stage 28. The lavish and expensive steel and concrete structure can still be seen today.
Lon Chaney applied his own macabre makeup in secret, and took the special techniques that caused a score of moviegoers to faint during the Phantom’s unmasking with him to his grave.
The initial reaction from moviegoers at the preview showing in Los Angeles was less than enthusiastic, and producer Carl Laemmle ordered new scenes shot. The revamped version was shown four months later in San Francisco but Universal executives were still not satisfied. Additional scenes were added and some existing ones deleted before the third version premiered five months in New York City to critical acclaim.
Originally released as a silent movie, about half of the film was partially re-shot with sound for a 1929 domestic reissue. A 1930 international version included a number of additional editing and titling changes.
The Phantom of the Opera was heavily promoted by Universal through posters and magazine ads, a special souvenir booklet, and a number of quirky merchandise tie-ins, such as “Phantom Red” milk shakes, and Saks Fifth Avenue’s “Phantom Red Velvet Evening Pump” shoes.
French novelist Gaston Leroux is best known for his horror classic The Phantom of the Opera. Born Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux in 1868 in Paris, he spent his childhood in the small coastal village of St. Valery-en-Caux, where his grandparents owned a ship-building company. These formative years fostered both a love of the sea and an interest in becoming a writer.
Leroux’s academic career began in the Norman town of Caen, where he immersed himself in the classic works of such writers as Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas. More significantly, he began writing poetry and short stories during this period. Leroux later moved to Paris, where he received his law degree in 1889, but his interest for the law had already been eclipsed by his passion for writing.
He accepted a position as a court reporter, and later drama critic and journalist. Leroux’s work took him to Russia, Asia and Africa, writing articles for L’Echo de Paris and Le Matin. One of his domestic articles dealt with the death of a noted patron at The Paris Opera House, killed when one of a chandelier’s counterweights mysteriously gave way and fell.
Leroux wrote his novels on the side for a number of years, supporting himself by his earnings as a journalist as well as a sizeable inheritance left by his father. Enthralled by the writings of Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle, Leroux’s works included horror, adventure, mystery and fantasy novels, including his best known and much beloved The Phantom of the Opera, published in 1910.
The Phantom of the Opera, originally published in1910 as Le Fantome de l’Opera, was written by French novelist Gaston Leroux. Many have described it as the greatest horror story of all time. This classic dark novel continues to sell well to the present day, attracting hordes of new fans with each succeeding generation of book lovers.
Set in the world-renowned Paris Opera House, the story centers around Erik, a disfigured and demented musical genius who refers to himself as The Phantom. His overriding goal is to help his former student and the woman he has grown to love from a distance, Christine Daae, become the toast of the Paris opera society. He succeeds in terrorizing the reigning opera star, Carlotta, into resigning from the leading role with a series of letters signed The Phantom. Her replacement is none other than Christine.
The Paris Opera House is the perfect setting for this macabre tale, with its hidden rooms, dark staircases and forbidding underground chambers. When Leroux began writing his classic “horror love story” there were actually rumors of odd happenings at the Paris Opera House, attributed to an unknown “opera ghost” that may have served as inspiration for the novel.
Sometimes described as a love story, The Phantom of the Opera is much more than that. Leroux’s novel is a dark tale of dangerous obsession and the madness that follows it. The other principal characters – Christine and her lover Raoul – are never as developed and well-rounded as the twisted madman, Erik, who manages to infiltrate and monopolize practically every scene with his dark, foreboding presence.
each of them for my collection (although if I have to move and downsize I’ll be in trouble!)–that is one bin and the fifty or more I have displayed now! That leaves four bins to part with! Do any of you readers have any suggestions of what you would do with them? Have any of you ever had a situation like this and already solved it?
How did I start collecting Beanie Babies? It is all my son’s, Matthew’s, and McDonald’s fault! In the mid to late 1990′s, I was given my first Beanie Baby…Daisy the Cow, by a co-worker! I thought it was cute, but nothing special. Then, my son heard about, at school, Teenie Beanie Babies that were Kid’s Meal prizes at McDonald’s in 1999! Oh, boy, being in line–with men, of all things–waiting for the next Teenie Beanie Baby to be released was a hoot! I remember the excitement of the chase! I had to have every one of them! I even went on eBay to get every Beanie Baby I had missed getting when they first came out that I could afford! The secondary market was alive and strong on eBay! I got the 1996-1997 season of Teenie Beanie Babies through eBay and paid around one hundred dollars for the ten of them! I was addicted!
