The one worded txt message...

Ahh yes one of my pet peeves. The one worded text message reply. I absolutely hate them, and research has shown that one worded text messages are subliminally agressive. When I get a one worded text message, I don't reply. Which is actually where the psychology comes in. The one worded text is meant to give information and also let the person on the receiving end know, that a reply to the message is not wanted or needed. There's a few people in my family notorious for sending out these message of "joy". I recently decided to put my frustrations into a comic form and hopefully the message translates well.












Do you see the anger? Do you see the frustration!!

I created some embroidery files with these cartoons and I hope to be able to put them on tote bags for my etsy store. Until then hope you enjoy the cartoon!

Funny enough, due to personal inspiration I was able to draw more than one image for the last frame, I can't really decide which one I like more. The one above is the one I drew in succession with all the other ones. About two minutes after I finished all those, I drew this last one as an alternative. Which one do you like more?

Back Again!

I must admit, when my sister said "If I go to look at your blog one more time and I see that same Gladiolus post, I am going to punch you in the face!" I realized it had been too long since my last post!

So much has happened in the last week! I can't wait to tell you all about it. While I get those posts ready here is the video of planting Gladiolus I was telling you about last week.



I had to film this clip twice. In the video when I talk about planting some gladiolus a couple of days ago, that is actually the first time I shot the video. I thought everything went fine, but when I went to watch the footage I realized my microphone must have been knocked loose and the sound was scratchy and unusable. So out again into my garden I went, and I'm so happy the second time went off without a hitch! I hope you enjoy it!

Planting Gladiolus

Bulb planting is one of my favorite parts of gardening. I never tire of putting corms, tubers, bulbs and anything else you can put in the ground to get a beautiful flower.

Today was mainly focused on Gladiolus, tall beautiful stalks of flowers, as I was filming a little clip for my youtube page. Gladiolus are easily acquired at any home garden store, and if you want a variety that is a little more special there are many web based bulb stores where you can get amazing and exotic bulbs. I really like Dutch Bulbs. There's so many fine bulb distributors out there, I'm sure you'll find one that you like and will be planting bulbs in no time!

Here are some pictures from my morning:

The difference between the top and bottom of a Gladiolus bulb

Me using my long handled bulb planter

All planted! now... patience....

Remember if you plant Gladiolus every two weeks you will have a wonderful succession of blooms in your garden all summer long!

Back in Action

It's been so long! So many wonderful things have happened! Over 60 videos on youtube and more than 100,000 views! The last year has been amazing and I can't wait for what this year brings! Currently I'm a staff reporter for www.CraftCritique.com and am in talks with other blogs to keep more content coming!

Today I bought some glass jars for Honey, hopefully next week I'll be able to extract about 80 or so (guess-timated) pounds of honey from the bee hive in my back yard. I'm also in full swing preparation mode for my next cupcake event to celebrate the opening of the newest location of Adornment, a fine jewelry company, in Newport, RI. You could say, that I'm as busy as a bee!

Here's a link to my latest video on youtube, a fun card for Mother's Day! Enjoy!

Another Video

A nice viewer asked that I show all of my dolls. I didn't know how many exactly I had. Oh boy I have more than I thought! Enjoy!



I think I have figured out the problem with my youtube posts being cut off in blogger, if not you can always go straight to youtube and search: christiantamez

:Update, I did not fix the problem, and I'm not sure how but I want you to know that there is more of a right side to my videos than what is being shown on my blog!

A new video!!!

A new video about caring for American Girl dolls with curly hair! Fun stuff. Shot with a flipcam. I was finally able to upload myself in HD so it's pretty good quality on youtube! AND I also fixed my old video and it's also finally uploaded in HD so search for "Collecting American Girl Samantha Parkington" or just scroll to the bottom of the page!

Something Wonderful

It's not often that a treasure such as a nearly mint White Body American Girl doll comes on the market. It's even more of a rarity for myself to become the proud owner of such an item. Nevertheless it has happened and she is mine!

The original red box and the rare paper ribbon which held the top to the bottom, book insert, pamphlet, and original hair style. Everything you could possibly want as a collector.

This particular White Body is Samantha Parkington. What's interesting about this doll is that she is a transitional doll. Transitional meaning that while she does have a white body - which dates her production from 1986 - 1990- the darker color of her hair indicates that she was produced closer to 1990, when the bodies were changed to tan. The earliest Samantha dolls have a lighter shade of brown hair.

Two White Body Samantha Parkingtons, The "transitional" Samantha is on the left with the darker hair. The earliest Samantha's had lighter brown hair (right).

Another excellent surprise was that this doll came with most of her original packaging. Everything but the piece of tissue paper that originally covered the brand new doll. The book insert is another collectible piece of packaging that originally came with the doll. The seller I purchased my doll from didn't know this and didn't make any note of a book insert. It was after I had won the eBay auction that I asked the seller if it was included. If other collectors had known about it, the price would have risen significantly.

On the left is a Samantha Parkington doll from 2008 - the last year she was made. On the right is an example of how a Samantha Parkington would have looked if she had been purchased from Pleasant Company in the 1980's.