I use plastic sets I bought at Joann's. I even have flower ones.

I have one of those yo-yo clown dolls from the Little Golden Book (I think) that my grandmother made me when I was a girl. Someday I want to make one of them. Mostly I use yo-yos to embellish bags or clothing. I use margarine tub lid, masking tape roll, CD, whatever yields the right size. I've included a photo of a quilted bag I decorated with yo-yos and buttons.
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I made coverlet throws, hotplates, potholders, animal quilts, flowers appliqued to other quilts. decorations on gingerbread houses (red strip fabric). décor for postcards

I use the clover yoyo makers from extra small through jumbo. I also use Marcia Layton patterns. They are so much fun.

There are many small projects that can be made with yo-yos. Including different types of Christmas tree ornaments such as candy canes, trivets, garlands, beards on Santa wall quilts, flowers, and more. I would think a Google search of fabric yo-yo projects might turn up some great ideas. As I see pictures posted using them, I save them on my computer in a file just for yo-yo projects.

I made a round tablecloth with my yo-yos in a flower garden type repeat pattern. l also made a vest. A pillow top. I did a Thimbleberry Christmas Table Topper.

Recently I have purchased a Yo-Yo maker which should be fun. Today I watched Eleanor Burns and she had a yo-yo American Flag as a wall hanging or table topper.

I'm in the final stages of finishing Amy butlers bloom quilt x 2 for my twin GDs. http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/pdfs/Bloom_Quilt.pdf. There are 275 yo yos each. I made the small ones with the cover yoyo templates, the larger one using the Olfa circle cutter and the giant ones I cut a template from foam board. If you cut all the circles first you can make the yoyos almost anywhere. Planes, in front of tv etc. I knocked out a bunch on the plane to and from. Have fun.

One of Kim Diehl's books has a couple of patterns using yoyos. They are a fun project!!

Yoyo quilt attached to staggered strips
 

Here is a yoyo quilt I did for my grandniece that featured 11 and 13 yoyos attached to strips and sewed together. It was a great take with project that I did when we traveled on the weekends . She loved it. It did take me all summer to sew the yoyos and then attach them to the strips before I finished machine sewing all the strips together for the top. It's been almost 4 yrs since I did this one and would consider another one for a take along project.

My mom used a coffee can lid for her Yo-yos. Her quilt took 15 years to make... she would spend weeks cutting out her circles and saving them in her little tote, then take it along with her on a one week vacation every year. She and Dad drove all over the place. She would spend that week in the car making her yo-yos then add them to her previous year's work. So a full sized quilt was finally finished after 15 years! Haha!