By Bunny Gates, Educator for BERNINA of America, Inc.

Ny 10-year-old granddaughter wanted a bank to save her money in, so I made her this little bank from a plastic peanut butter jar. The finished rectangle is the same height as the can, and overlaps about 1" when wrapped around the can. Hook-and-loop tape is used to fasten the ends together.

Kayleigh loves bunny rabbits and the color yellow. The cut baby bunny design is from OESD Signature Collection #12241, Springtime 5. I added her name in OESD's Explorations Embroidery Software, then embellished it with decorative stitches from my BERNINA 830.

Kayleigh loves her new bank! And she loved putting in the coins Grandma gave her, and then shaking her bank to hear them rattle around inside!

By Belinda Gibson, BERNINA of America Educator

I always change my kitchen and dining area for whatever the holiday is -- they've been dressed in patriotic red, white, and blue since the first of June in honor of Flag Day and for the 4th of July.

Independence Day is this weekend, but it's not too late to make some fast and easy placemats for your 4th of July get-together! Get out your serger and gather together red, white, and blue fabrics and serger threads. Cut fabric strips of various widths. Thread your serger for a wide 2- or 3-thread flatlock; I used Maxi-Lock Swirls in Rocket Pop #53-M62 in the looper to create the multi-colored stitching. Flatlock the strips together as shown, then serge around the outer edges. For more sturdy placemats, sandwich a piece of flannel between the pieced top and a backing before serging around the outside edges.

A note from Elaine Emmons, blogger and BERNINA sewing machine owner:

Although I enjoy using my serger, I also love when my favorite BERNINA can multi-task! Here's how I make velvet roses for my pillows:

• Using an overlock stitch and Overlock Foot #2, finish the long doubled edge of a strip of cotton velvet.

• Using Ruffler #86, Gathering Foot #16, or heavy bobbin thread and a long stitch, gather the opposite edge.

• Roll into velvet roses for a quick and easy addition to handmade pillows.

These can also be made into pins or embellishments for headbands, purses, or anything you choose to create!

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.