Three Things : Stuff I Still Love

Brads! There has never been a brad I didn't like to use! And, so it seems, ribbon.

Brads! There has never been a brad I didn't like to use! And, so it seems, ribbon.

I just wanted to tell you how much I love your blog and how much I appreciate the information and details you share.
Thanks!

I've been using those metal rimmed tags forever, too. They should probably get a Medal of Longevity for so much danged usefulness, lol!
I as just chatting with some others on 2Peas about classic font CM letter stickers...I still love them, even if they don't stand in the clique of scrapbook product popularity.
Ali, do you ever miss using more products on your layouts like you did on these older pages? Or are you just relieved to feel the freedom not to?
Seeing these older layouts of yours reminded me of a question I wanted to ask you because we're focusing on personal style on Paperclipping.com right now...
Sometime after I read your first or second books and had become very familiar with your personal style of scrapbooking, I went to 2Peas and looked at the earliest layouts you posted there. I was surprised to see that, while there were some changes, you seemed to already have your style pinned down from the beginning. It took me many years of wandering before I found myself in scrapbooking, so it's always intrigued me to see people like you who know to be yourself (and know HOW to be yourself) from the start.
Now that you've really reduced layouts to the bare bones, there are still those very classic Ali-moves that are present no matter how much or little product you use. But what I'm wondering is this:
Do you feel like you've moved closer to "yourself" with the emphasis on photos+words? Is this more true to you than before? Or is it just the evolution of your and your scrapbooking--you were expressing yourself then and you are expressing yourself now?
If you have the time/desire to discuss that, I'd love it if you did...either here on your own blog, or on Paperclipping.com, or maybe even as a call-in guest during my live show. Either way, as someone who was slow to find my on way of self-expression, I'm very curious.

i adore that layout with the green and the metal tags. its the first layout of yours i tried to scraplift...dang it was hard!
so kudos on making it look effortless :)
im still drifting in the what is my style wilderness so i dont have any "old favorites" right now...lol

Office Tags
Chatterbox Patterned Paper--mainly the blues and greens LOVE IT> I will be SAD when I use it all up
those teeny tiny flowers that come in the pack by JOLEES.
that's all I can think of that's old......

I totally remember when you were in your vellum letter sitckers/sonnets letter sticker phase! I remember thinking that you must have a TON of them. LOL.
The big Ameriacn Crafts letter stickers are still a favorite of mine, too.

I found that I kept buying more and more of the cool, new stuff...and then never even got around to using it. my "new" method is to simplify and take it back to the basics...your style has been a great influence to me. So, we're back with basic rub-ons, patterned paper and cardstock. simple stuff that I can get DONE without too much thought.

Good heavens! Could that boy of yours be any cuter?! I think not! I know I'm off topic but I don't care. That boy is a doll!

Three Things!!
These are always some of my favorite posts, Ali!

Ah, the memories... those layouts took me back in time. :)

I love paint! I paint anything I can put my paws on. Paper, cardboard, metal, transparencies- you get the picture!
Rub-ons!! Who doesn't love those?! They go anywhere and everywhere.
I also love to use a piece of cardboard as my 'page'... Most recently I cut up the top of an Office Depot box lid to make a page... Tore off some of the brown backing for a more worn look, painted it (of course) and did my layout on top. Turned out better than I imagined.
Thank you for all of your inspiration!
Sarah

Hero Arts has some fabulous alphabet stamps that are comparable to the PSX set.

Heidi Swapp rectangular sticker letters, I finally got turned on to those beauties and they were discontinued a month later. I'm so behind sometimes! But I've never found anything that I like better since. :(

I LOVE Heidi Swapp's chipboard letters -- the kind where you get 4 sheets in one pack. I am actually to the point where I am freaking out because they are not making them anymore -- and I use them on almost EVERY layout. I think I have bought 72 packages total of those ... literally!

Definitely love those mm rummage rub-ob letters. I also reach for ribbon on a regular basis. And I love journaling tags - thanks for the prompt.

I find myself using my corner rounder punch, small alphabet stamps, and brads all the time! I, too, love looking at your "older" LO's! TFS

Ribbon and my sanding block...

I love buttons, ink, sandpaper, and just about anything from the Narratives line by Karen Russell (I miss her fortune stickers- they looked like little fortune cookie papers and had cool quotes on them- I have a small stash of them that I am using on special projects.)

rub ons...and mostly mm rub ons...you know the ones you can't get anymore? sooooo sorry to hear they are doing away with the letters... i have used those for years. the card making size packs i have used over and over again in many of my projects. they are making me sad doing away with such a classic staple.
off topic...i am loving your simple style. and while i love it for myself and may use it still on occasion, i am in a place of what i call 'full' layouts. lots of layers and texture...not foo foo...but just seeing what more texture can be added. i laugh at myself...cause i know it's just a phase, and i am having fun with it. gotta love this art form.