Create a handmade card with your sewing machine!

Layer paper, and use your machine stitches instead of glue to attach your layers. A great way to use your decorative stitches!

If your machine has the capability to create lettering, you can stitch a decorative message.

Get out some decorative paper and give it a try!

Here's a note from Bonnie Lyn McCaffery, quilter, author, vidcast host, blogger:

I love, love, love doing bobbin embroidery with YLI Candlelight Yarn in the bobbin. I decided to play with this on some notecards. I took regular card stock folded in half and painted it with DecoArt SoSoft Metallic paints. Let dry. Open the card and trim the cover with a decorative rotary cutting blade so the front cover measures 4 1/2" (save the trimmed piece). Close the card and trim the card to 5" x 7".

Load the bobbin with YLI Candlelight Yarn and adjust the bobbin tension so it pulls smoothly but with a little resistance (test on a scrap piece of card stock to be sure stitching lays smooth). On the top of the machine I used YLI Wonder Invisible Thread. I picked a decorative stitch (you might want to experiment on card stock before stitching your beautiful notecards) and stitched it about 1/2" from the bottom edge of the card front. Leave thread tails and glue these to the back side of the card.

I used the trimmed pieces to glue inside the card to give contrast to the front decoratively cut edge. Trim the excess.

With the holidays almost here, I'm trying to decide if I have time to get everything stitched and wrapped. I'm working on the stitched part and I just ran across a new book from Leisure Arts that will take care of the wrapped part. The Wrapping Scarf Revolution by Patricia Lee is the answer to getting my gifts beautifully wrapped in eco-friendly reusable fabric pieces and scarves. This Asian technique can be used not only for gifts, but as a way to carry items from artwork to wine bottles. The book also has instructions for folding and tying scarves into temporary purses, bags, and backpacks - just untie and restyle when you want a new look! The last page of the book has "A Quick Guide for Making Your Own Wrapping Scarf." I'll add that to my stitching list and see if I can wrap each gift with another gift this year - 2 for 1!

Here's a quick project from Denise Jones, Operations Manager for Bernina Sewing Centers located in Hancock Fabrics locations:

I have a new grandson, and his mother, my sweet daughter-in-law, wanted burb cloths but not too wide or too thick. So I decided to use Bias Binder #84 to finish a soft curve on the side of the diaper so that I did not have to make it two layers.

I used a piece of tear-away stabilizer on each side of the diaper and then serged the soft curve before using the 26-30mm bias binder to cover the edge. Then I finished the ends with a traditional double-folded binding finished to one inch.

The applique has my grandson's name in it somewhere or above or below (I added this with BERNINA Embroidery Software) for going on outings with other children.

Here's a note from Denise Jones, Operations Manager for Bernina Sewing Centers located in Hancock Fabrics locations:

I have always loved making soft toys, and when we got our new grandson I had another chance to make some. Not being a fan of hand sewing and loving brightly colored socks I decided to give the Minkee Pal 2 Collection #12061 from OESD a try with some socks. I used one pair of footies per toy. I cut them open and used fusible woven interfacing (OESD Gentle Touch) on the back to keep them from stretching. I then followed the same instructions as if I were using Minkee.

I did open each design in my BERNINA Embroidery Software in order to edit out some of the stitches as I thought some of the details might be too busy with the striped socks. My grandson loves them and when they need to be cleaned my daughter-in-law just throws them in the washer.

Designs are available from your local BERNINA/OESD dealer, and from www.embroideryonline.com.