Getting griddy, with Chickaniddy!

Hi Magpies and welcome to June! This month I chose to work with a manufacturer I hadn’t used before, Chickaniddy Crafts. I’ll be honest, I was pleasantly surprised by Chicaniddy and I even went back to the shop and did a second order for more papers to use! I used all 3 of the collections available in the shop, Scrumptious which is a Thanksgiving line but as you’ll see, you don’t need to use it for Thanksgiving at all, Yippee and 365.
I decided to also focus on doing LO’s based on grids for you all this month. Grids are a great way to create a clean & simple LO easily. I have done little sketches of the base, grid design as well.
This is what I would call a classic grid design LO. I did try a couple of times to do a proper grid LO, with a grid of patterned paper squares and a photo on top but I just could not make it work for me! It’s a design I have used many times, just grab a square punch and away you go, quick and simple, easy LO, but this month I just could not find the right combination of photo and patterned papers and it just wouldn’t come together for me. Here’s a sketch of what I mean, just create a grid of pattern paper squares. You can use one or more of the squares for your photo, or place your photo over the top of the grid, covering some of the squares.

 

So this first LO is based on the classic grid, but with a large photo dictating the size. So I started with my large photo, which is 8″ wide by just over 5″ deep and then cut 8 squares to go underneath the photo, just a shade under 2″ square because I wanted a gap between them.  Here’s a quick sketch of the base design. You could change this design up by turning it around, 90 or 180 degrees or by putting one row of pattern paper above and one below. Or change the large rectangle to pattern paper and have smaller squares of photos.

This LO is based around the Scrumptious, Home Sweet Home paper. I cut a lot of the squares from the paper, I had to use that smarty cat square cause it’s so cool! I also used some of the patterns from the reverse side of the Frolic in the Leaves paper. I added the striped strip from the bottom of the Home Sweet Home paper along the bottom of my grid because it just worked! Then I layered up the squares with various bits, I used stickers from the Seven Paper, Baxter, Tiny Phrase Stickers Cat which also come in a dog version too. I layered up the MAMBI Fabulous chipboard circle from the Chipboard Value Pack, Hello Friend on top of some punched shapes. I am going to focus on MAMBI next month because those Value Packs are awesome, you get 4 or 5 sheets in the book and there’s some fab designs. I also layered up an exclusive Hey Little Magpie Flair Badge on top of some punched shapes too.
To finish off my LO, I used an old file folder tab I had in my stash at the top of the photo and then added a line of Hey Little Magpie Dewdrops in black. They come loose in a bag and you get absolutely loads for your £1! I did adhere the all individually with Glossy Accents I find it quite calming, dotting on the Glossy Accents and adding a dewdrop. It’s like adding a line of enamel dots, but a way cheaper alternative.

 

The next LO is a grid of strips. Super easy to do, just grab a photo, cut strips of paper and make them the same depth or width as your photo. Then make a horizontal or vertical grid with them. I also added a strip of paper across the bottom to add a bit more interest, you don’t need to but if you’ve put together your grid and think hmmm, needs a little something else, an strip of paper under might help, or even a strip above and below. No need to stop at one strip either!

I used a few papers from both the 365 and Yippee lines for this one. That black and white striped paper is one of my favourites! It’s from 365 and is the Daydream paper. I also used Measured Memories, Smell the Roses, Daily Schedule and Walking on Sunshine papers. My title is from Dear Lizzy Serendipity Thickers. I embellished using some of the brads from Chickaniddy, both the 365 brads and the Yippee ones too. The brads are larger than I was expecting and they’re lush! I also used a MAMBI puffy sticker from The Good Life Sayings pack and a tiny sticker from Amy Tangerine Rise & Shine Phrase Sticker pack. That pack is awesome, it has 2 sheets each of 4 different colours, so 8 sheets of stickers but they’re really small & cute! So worth it for £2.99.

 

My next grid builds around my photo. I took the photo, then cut a rectangle of paper the same depth and half the width (I used a journalling card which happened tobe the right width that I needed but it was too deep, so I cut a slice out of the middle and joined it back together, you can hardly see the join!). Then I cut another piece of patterned paper the same to sit beside it. I didn’t like this, it wasn’t interesting enough so I cut a slice off the bottom and added in another piece of patterned paper. I could have stopped there but I needed more, so I added another strip the same width as the photo, above and below my grid. So I just built a grid around the photo, working off the width or depth of the photo for my sizes.

For this LO I used the black & white striped Daydream paper, the gorgeous floral Smell the Roses paper, and the journalling card I used with the heart & XO on it, comes from the Cloud 9 paper. My title is really old Thickers from my stash and then I’ve used Pink Self Adhesive Rhinestones from Hey Little Magpie above and below my design. Those rhinestones are such good value for £1 per pack.

 

A super simple grid this time, take a photo, cut a piece of patterned paper the exact same size and then another one, the same width but half the height. You don’t even have to place the photo in the middle of your row, you could could place the papers and photo in any combination and this design works horizontal or vertical too.

So my LO couldn’t be simpler. I didn’t go overboard with this one because I wanted the photo to shine and when I added the title, I didn’t think I needed much more. I used the the Smell the Roses paper again (it’s lush) and another gorgeous paper, Autumn Haze from the Scrumptious line. This paper is a gorgeous vignette of green, orange and yellow and I used it on the LO below this one, and had an offcut left over which I used here. This paper is so fab, I went back and ordered another 2 sheets of it lol! The ‘beautiful’ title is from Heidi Swapp and I lucked out and had the perfect yellow paint in my stash to match the yellow roses in the paper. Again, I used Hey Little Magpie Adhesive Rhinestones to make a line above and below my grid, I used clear stones this time. Then I created a little cluster of embellishments with a punched circle, Hey Little Magpie Exclusive Flair Badge and a puffy arrow from my favourites, MAMBI, Love Arrows. I stopped adding stuff then…. which was hard for me lol!

 

The next grid is just a rectangle photo on a rectangle of patterned paper. This again, will work horizontal or vertical. I added extra strips of paper down the outside edges for extra interest because my LO looked a little boring without. But if you don’t need strips, don’t add them. Or you could add more than one strip, or even a row of strips getting more and more narrow as they get towards the edge of the page. But it’s a very basic design to base a LO on and build from there.

I used the Autumn Haze paper for my large base and it couldn’t have matched my photo any better! I cut off the yellow part of the paper but only because I had to lol! I added the narrow strips of orange striped, Pumpkin Spice paper down the sides. I drew the white lines myself with a white pen & ruler. My title are the Grace Foil Thickers from Amy Tangerine Rise & Shine. I made a little cluster of chipboard stickers from the MAMBI Chipboard Value Pack, Chalk Sweet Memories and a puffy arrow sticker from the Chalk Arrow Stickers pack and then added a label sticker from the Scrumptious Label Tag Sticker sheet and put a tiny little glitter heart from Seven Paper Amelia to finish off.

 

The next grid is very simple again! I used a 5 x 3.75″ photo and then chose 2 papers which I also trimmed to the same size as the photo. You don’t need to add a strip across the bottom of the grid but if you think your LO needs a bit extra, then add one. Again, you could add more than one strip above and below or just keep it simple.

Now you know above that I said I cut the yellow bit off the the Autumn Haze paper? Well I used it on this LO, magically, it was exactly the right width for what I needed. Kismet I say! And the pink paper with the tiny orange triangles on the other side of the grid, that is the reverse side of the Autumn Haze paper. So this LO couldn’t have come together easier for me. The pink & white striped strip at the bottom is from the 365 Cloud 9 paper and even though it’s from a different line to the Scrumptious paper, it matches in perfectly. I found all the papers I ordered from all 3 of the Chickaniddy lines, all co-ordinated together which was fantastic. I just hapened to find the perfect sized Thickers in my stash which fit my space perfectly. I made another little embellishment cluster with a punched circle, a MAMBI Puffy Chalk Arrow, an exclusive Hey Little Magpie Flair Badge and then added some Freckled Fawn Neon Glitter Enammel Stars. For a last little touch I added 3 Chickaniddy 365 Brads.

 

My last LO is a super simple design. Just a photo on a rectangle! This a classic design that will always work, vertically or horizontally and you can dress it up or keep it simple.

I went quite over the top with my embellishing on this LO because, well, why not eh! I’d done a couple of super simple LO’s already so I thought I’d go heavy on at least one LO this month. I used my favourite black & white stripe Daydream paper as the background rectangle. I chopped up the Cloud 9 paper and used the memo: journalling card to write on, and lots of the word strips down the side of the photo. I dotted around some of the 365 Brads. I also used some of the fantastic Seven Paper, Baxter Puffy Stickers which are out of stock at the moment but it’ definitely worth signing up for an email alert when they come back in stock because they’re so cool! My title is made up from Amy Tangerine Stitched, Lucky Accent Word Thickers, a MAMBI Puffy, Hey You Sticker and the little letters are from Crate Paper Craft Market Journalling & Title Stickers. Lastly there’s a Hey Little Magpie Exclusive Flair Badge. I loved the is of yellow, pink, black, white & kraft, it was a nice change for me from using black or white backgrounds!

 
So that’s my LO’s for June using Chickaniddy and grids. Next month I plan to use the awesome bright & cheerful Jubilee line from MME and concentrate on circles. I really did enjoy using Chickaniddy Crafts, it was a manufacturer I hadn’t used before it was refreshing change. I found the papers led me towards strong, clean & simple LO’s where as some other manufacturers lead me to make layered, shabby chic style LO’s. I do love doing graphic LO’s though so I enjoyed my choice of papers for this moth, thank you Chickaniddy!