Yo-yos

There are so many uses for yo-yos and they are so easy to make. (See the tutorial I did here.) You can make a variety of sizes by using different size patterns. Cds, drinking glasses, dinner plates, anything round works as a pattern and comes up with different sizes.

Earrings

I found this idea on Etsy and I loved them. I have made several pairs of earrings with beads so I thought I could try a pair using yo-yos and a few beads. All you need is some jewelry wire, crimps, and earring hooks, and a few beads. All of these items are available at craft stores. I used small yo-yos for this. I believe the pattern was one one of those plastic cups kids get at restaurants but that was a long time ago and I have since traced the original onto a piece of cardboard so that it is flat and can fit in the bag of yo-yo supplies. Anyway, take the wire and insert it into the yo-yo piercing two holes in the top of it. Bring the wire up through the holes so that both ends are sticking up. Take the beads you have chosen and string them on both pieces of your wire and add the crimp after that. Then take your earring hook and thread it through the wire, too. Bring the wire back around and put it through the crimp again and down a bead or two. Once it is in the right place and all the extra wire is sticking out of the last bead, take some pliers and smash the crimp as hard as you can. Snip the wire so that it is not showing. The finished product should swing freely on the hook, though if the wire is too tight and doesn't swing back and forth it isn't the end of the world. Just try to make the two earrings so they look the same.

I don't have pierced ears so I made mine using earring converters instead of hooks. I wouldn't recommend that since it didn't want to do what I wanted it to. If you need clip earrings I suggest making them with earring hooks and then putting them on the converters instead of skipping the hook step. Shortcuts aren't always as short as you think.

Garland
Sew yo-yos together with thread to make a long string. Hang them on a tree (look for pictures of this later on in December) or hang somewhere in the house.

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There are many other projects you can do with yo-yos. There are some here in my tutorial or do a google search or type in yo-yos on Etsy. If you find a project you like see if you can find directions online or experiment with the picture you have. There are lots of ideas out there.

And don't forget to stop back tomorrow for more gift ideas.