Creative Living Nov. 23

Information on children’s books, creating a soothing home sanctuary, and making personal changes in our lives will be the featured topics on “Creative Living” at noon Tuesday and at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Rowena Fullinwider, owner of Rowena’s Foods Inc. in Norfolk, Va., is not only a great cook and the head of a large food company, she also writes children’s books based on the her gourmet Jam and Jelly Factory.

Jill Roe, consultant with PartyLite, will focus on ways to transform an ordinary living space into a soothing home sanctuary that will rejuvenate the mind, body and soul with candles, fragrance, color and soothing music. She lives in Houston, Texas.

Author and motivational speaker Judi Moreo will talk about her newest book, “You Are More Than Enough” and tell how a person can change themselves beginning with their own personal feelings. She’ll discuss the “worry trap,” mentors, choices, goal setting, and other positive factors in our lives. Her company is Turning Points Int’l., and she lives in Las Vegas, Nev.

Information on new embroidery machines and projects for family events, fundraisers and rainy day activities will be the featured topics at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and at noon Thursday.

Sewing instructor Carol Bell from Ann Silva's Bernina Sewing Center in Albuquerque will demonstrate using a stand-alone embroidery machine that is perfect for personalizing things such as caps, sweatshirts and more.

Deborah Durham of Hewlett Packard will show assorted projects designed for family events, school fundraisers and rainy day activities. She lives in Santa Fe.

Fun projects for kids

Whether it’s those “dog days of summer” or rainy day blues, kids tend to get bored occasionally. Some of the suggestions are:

• Transform your backyard into a daylong mini-camp for your kids and their closest pals. Have your children invite a group of friends over (preferably age 8 or older) to create their own T-shirt using iron-on transfers made from items they scan onto the PC and transform into T-shirt designs. Original ideas for T-shirt art include collecting items from around your yard (such as leaves, flower petals, blades of grass — anything that’s fairly flat and not scratchy), and scanning them in for a real “back to nature” flavor.

• Spend the day looking at the world from a “kids-eye” view. Arm your kids with a digital camera and send them out for a morning of picture taking — either in the backyard, at the beach or at a local park or museum. Then, spend the afternoon on the PC helping them create their own picture frames using clip art. Print their frames out using a color inkjet printer and experiment to see which photo looks best with which frame.

• Set aside a morning for correspondence — but make it fun, not formal. Help your children design their own stationery (letterhead and envelopes) on the PC using clip art or original designs they create. They can use the stationery to keep in touch with friends and faraway relatives.

• Help your kids make their own stickers and watch the hours fly by. Kids can create stickers using clip art and then decorate shoe boxes with the stickers. Write each child’s name on his or her box to avoid confusion. Then stage a treasure hunt in the backyard and use the boxes to hold all the found treasures.

“Creative Living" is produced and hosted by Sheryl Borden. The show is carried by more than 118 PBS stations in the United States, Canada, Guam and Puerto Rico and is distributed by Westlink of Albuquerque.