Sweet Photo Frame How-To

Want a fun and easy (and inexpensive) gift? Well, here you go. You will need:

Unfinished wooden frame (I got this one at Michael's for $1)
Craft paint
Fabric yo-yos (made with fabric scraps, needle and embroidery floss)
Hot glue gun
Hard Coat Mod Podge (optional)
Acrylic sealer (optional)

1. Start by lightly sanding and painting your frame, front and back.

2. Once paint dries, coat frame with Mod Podge (I like the hard coat version for this project) and acrylic sealer if desired. Let all of that dry overnight.

2. For the embellishments, you'll take fabric scraps and make some yo-yos. All you need is a circle template for cutting your fabric, a needle and some thread (embroidery thread works really well). There are LOTS of free tutorials on the internet showing how to make a yo-yo. Here is one I like; and here and here. And you don't need to invest in one of those plastic yo-yo templates that are sold at quilting shops unless you want to. I took a 5.5-inch diameter spool of ribbon and used that to trace circles onto fabric scraps with a disappearing ink fabric marker, which I then cut out.

3. Attach the yo-yos to the frame with hot glue. And there you have it!

PS -- If you use the $1 Michael's frame, you should know that it doesn't have a glass or plastic insert to cover the photo! Well, I guess for $1 I shouldn't have been surprised. I'll probably salvage something from an unused frame.