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Fabric yo yos!  I had forgotten about these things for ages then rediscovered them a few years ago as a fun way for the twins to learn hand sewing.

When Alexandra, the princess (for Halloween) needed a brooche to keep her cape on for her costume yo yo’s and pin backs (found deep in the recesses of my craft supplies and never used) were a perfect fit.

 And now I’m seeing yo yos in a whole new light….Christmas gifts!

Put two together (one larger, one smaller), and they make a pretty flower.  Add a button or a bead or a fabric covered button in the center to make each unique.

Then glue them to a pin back or barette, or stitch them onto a hair tie for a beautiful hair decoration.

Cut a circle from your fabric.  Remember the finished yo yo will be a little less than half the size of your circle.  So if you cut out a circle that is 6 inches across, your yo yo will be about 2 and 3/4 inches across.

Working with the right side of the fabric down, fold over the edge of the fabric about a 1/4 inch and do a running stitch with needle and thread.  Be sure to have a knot in the end of your thread then go Up through the folded edge and then back down through the folded edge and continue.  The closer together the stitches are the more ‘ruffled’ your yo yo will look.

When you’ve stitched completely around your circle pull the needle end of the string tight to bunch up your fabric to the center.

Once your fabric is completely bunched to the center do a few more stitches up and down through the folds in the center so it stays in its shape.

Stitch through and tie off the thread on the underside of the yo yo.

For a double yo yo flower make a smaller size yo yo and then place it on top of the larger one and stitch them together through the center.

To apply them to a pin or barrette I took the easy way out and hot glued them on.  And for a hair tie I stitched them on.

Along with a long weekend and lots of holiday visiting comes tired and bored   children who have a tendency to spend a lot of time underfoot.  To avoid the ‘what can we do’ mantra the past few days, I gave them a few craft projects to do.

One project was these cute fleece scarves that were an easy cutting project for them and took a nice little while. 

They cut out 5 pieces of fleece each about 8 inches wide and 5 foot long, it just depends how big you want your scarf.   They stacked them atop each other and I sewed down the center (twice to make them extra sturdy.) 

Then the twins had fun cutting the fringe to within and inch of the center and then fluffed them. 

We had made a few of these as gifts a few years ago and had all but forgotten about them until the other day.  I realized we never made any for the twins and knew they’d love making and wearing them.

Their favorite project was fabric wreaths that we made to decorate our doors this Christmas.  I also made a sparkly fabric garland in matching green and red fabric to hang in our home.  They liked making them so much that they wanted to make more so we hunted down some pink and blue fabrics and they each made one for their rooms.  They turned out really cute, and I promise I’ll have more pictures of them up to show you tomorrow.  And we did videotape that project so they’ll be directions and a how to video up on the kidoozy site in the next few days.