Let's Make Stuff: Yakkity Yak.

Hooray! A tutorial! While not an entirely useful item, it’s certainly a fun one! Let’s make a Yakkity Yak bubble to hang on the wall.

Materials

Materials:

• Foam core board (you can purchase this at your neighborhood arts & crafts store—mine was from Pearl Arts before they closed (RIP Pearl on Chicago Ave). Select your preferred size. I decided to go big or go home.
• Pencil!
• Exacto knife & new blades (this is important!).
• Color of your choice cotton embroidery thread (I picked pink of course!)

Step 1: Draw your bubble in pencil on the back of your foam core. Start by drawing a large oval. Keep your elbow & wrist stationary & draw from your shoulder. This will help you to get a more even circle but don’t worry if it isn’t perfect—that’s half the fun! After you’ve drawn your oval (or rectangle or rounded corner rectangle—the possibilities are limitless!), add on the little pointy tail bit wherever you like. I chose to put mine in the lower corner.

Step 1: draw your shape!

You can’t really see the pencil marks very well in the photograph, so I drew over mine with a thick permanent marker to show you more clearly. As you can see: definitely not perfect!

Step 2: Cut out your shape! Use a brand new blade in your utility knife and go slowly. This will ensure a nice clean edge.

Step 2: Cut it out!

Step 3: Pokin' holes!

Step 3: Pokin’ some holes. Due to the size of my bubble, I chose to do two holes. I dug around in my kitchen for a poking implement and settled on a bamboo skewer. If you don’t have one, anything pointy will do. If you’re fancy & have tools, grab your awl & get stabby.

Step 4: Thread some of that embroidery thread through; tie some knots & suspend! Ta Da!

Step 4: Thread & Suspend.

Extra Credit:

• While I chose to leave mine blank, write in a word or two of your choosing. I may end up writing something in it eventually but for now, I will fill in that blank on the computer.
• Paint with chalkboard or whiteboard paint for something you can draw or write on over & over again. Magic!