where women create

How did I miss this new magazine about studios? Probably because I missed a lot last year starting when I blew out my knee exactly one year ago tomorrow. I had a lot of time on my hands and began obsessing about my own tiny, cluttered art space while sitting with my leg in that brace for two months. I also became fascinated by other artists' studios during that time so I'm anxious to get my hands on this magazine now that I know it's available.

The current issue is of particular interest because New Mexico artist Pamela Armas and her studio are featured in it and also on the Where Women Create Blog where you can see several photos of Pamela's amazing 22,000 sq. ft. studio and art space. My friend Yvonne (who does the annual Egg Show here in Magdalena) knows Pamela and we tried to visit her last year when we attended the Mountainair Sunflower Festival but were disappointed to find that she was out of town. We're still hoping to get back there one of these days. Yvonne says that photos just don't do Pamela's place justice...you just have to see it...it's that fantastic.

another journal folder thingee

 

I'm practicing on family and made this one for my daughter-in-law. She likes having little storage places in her journals. I was being lazy and used a CD folder for the little envelope in this one but I think next time I'll make one out of the same paper I used for the front. I love how that lokta paper looks (and feels) a lot like leather when you put gel medium on it. I mixed gloss and matte so it has more of a sheen than a shine

Oh, and I'm shooting for functional with these...not art. I plan on doing some with prints or photo transfers on the front eventually and I also want to make some cloth-paper and try that as well for the covers.

journal folder

My son needed a journal/sketchbook for his cabinet/furniture building business and asked me to come up with something for him. Not sure this will hold up to being tossed in a backpack but it was a start. I'm working on a different flexible cover for it today. Maybe it will work better. (oh and try to ignore the puny elastic cord...I'm in search of some that's bigger but haven't had a chance to shop for it. Does anyone have a good source for bigger corded elastic in different colors?)

not ready for this yet...

I can't believe we've gone so quickly from the fall beauty (shown in some lovely photos posted this week on Elaine's and Leau's blogs) to this. I don't love winter.

Haevyn's art doll

I'm doing art with my 5-year-old granddaughter, Haevyn, once a week. We made this yesterday. :)

our new granddaughter

Promise Lynn Doyal, 7 lbs. 7 oz., 20 in. long arrived today (June 20, 2009) at 2:59 pm. She's beautiful and looks so much like her mom!

"And so, after we had patiently endured, we obtained the Promise." Heb. 6:15 (NKJV) (sorry for the slight alteration of scripture "he" to "we". :)

confessions of a chuckoholic

Hi, I'm Laurie and I'm a Chuckoholic. I have become obsessed with and addicted to a television show. Never before in my life have I done anything like this but I was vulnerable and in need of serious escapism and comedic relief in my life during the past year. I hate to sound so dramatic but the NBC show Chuck sorta saved my sanity even while inducing an insanity of it's own into my life.
With all the drama associated with what has been happening with my grandmother's deteriorating health, this silly little techy fantasy (which combines comedy, romance and spy action and a tiny bit of drama with colorful, endearing characters that are surprisingly well acted) became my weekly escape from reality and a bit of a tonic for my mental and emotional well-being.

I discovered it last spring while house sitting for my daughter in Colorado. I never would've seen it at home because at the time we didn't have local channels. After returning to NM, I watched online so we could see the episodes I had missed but the more I watched it the more I enjoyed it so that soon I had to resubscribe to local channels on DirectTV, just so I could watch season two of Chuck. Pretty soon that wasn't enough and I had to buy the season one DVD so I could enjoy the episodes on a larger screen and any time I wanted to see them again. Just this past January, when Gramma's health began the intense decline and I never knew where I would be or what might be happening on Monday evenings at 7 pm, I finally subscribed to the show on Amazon Video on Demand so I'd never miss an episode and could rewatch season two whenever I needed a fix. I even joined some Chuck forums online so I could see what other "Chucksters" were saying about each episode. I became very much like a drug pusher, successfully convincing my husband and some family members to become viewers. Just like any addiction, there was a progression into the insanity.

The show became one of NBC's "bubble shows" and in danger of cancellation this spring (largely due to the extremely competitive time slot when it aired) but a group of incredibly loyal and crazy fans (and critics) banded together to fight for their favorite show. Sometime this spring during the darkest hours of my grandmother's decline I finally crossed over that fine line between being fond of something or being obsessed with it and joined the cause to "SAVE CHUCK". I wrote letters to NBC, I pre-ordered season two on DVD, I made sure to watch online just in case viewing it on Hulu or NBC.com counted toward anything in the ratings game and I downloaded every episode onto my computer so I would never, for one moment be without Chuck if I needed to rewatch an episode. I've annoyed all my FB friends with an endless assault of Chuck-related updates. We even stayed with my son and his wife in Albuquerque the night of the finale just so we could buy Subway sandwiches and participate in the "Finale and a Footlong" aspect of the Save Chuck campaign to show Chuck's sponsor Subway that we meant business and paid attention to commercials and product placement in the show.

Two days after the finale, Gramma passed away but I continued to self-medicate with Chuck. I scoured the internet for news about renewal and anxiously awaited the day of NBC's Infront announcement of it's fall lineup only to be disappointed, along with millions of other Chuck Fanatics, that NBC was postponing it's decision and would announce Chuck's fate on May 19th. About a week after Gramma's passing I was on the NBC Chuck forum and we were discussing what more could be done to Save Chuck. If you'd like to know the rest of the story and hear about my involvement in the Have A Heart - Renew Chuck AHA Campaign go here to read an online article by Brian Howard.

The craziness continues as we await news of Chuck's future but we are hopeful and cautiously confident that we have been heard. If not, and Chuck isn't renewed for a third season, at the very least, perhaps our obsession has benefited someone. Click below to go directly to the We Heart Chuck blog.