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Scrapbook Glossary
Do You Know Your Scrapbooking Lingo?
by Christina Bultinck
Scrapping Lingo
Acid-Free
When wood goes through the process that turns it into paper, acid is added
to assist in breaking down the wood. Once acid is added to a process, it doesn’t
just stop working, you must neutralize it. So, the acid in paper, still alive
and kicking, is a real enemy to photographs as it will destroy your pictures in
time, which is why acid-free is such a common term in this craft. Everything
from paper to glue must be acid-free. A “buffered” paper is one where additives,
such as calcium carbonate are used to neutralize the acid.
pH
This is a term you’re probably familiar with if you make homemade soap or
maintain a pool. pH refers to the level of acidity in whatever the item is
you’re testing - in this case, paper. The scale ranges from 0-14 with 0-6 being
too acidic, 7 neutral, and anything above 7 has too much alkalinity. To give you
some examples, battery acid has a pH of 1, milk measure at 7 and ammonia has a
pH of 12. Because scrapbook pros want to stay away from acid in their paper,
anything with a pH of 7 or above is good.
Lignin
Sounds like a tasty berry, but it’s not. Lignin naturally occurs in trees as
they grow, but when a tree is processed into paper, lignin is responsible for
turning it yellow and brittle with time.
Photo-Safe
Photo-safe is a term you’ll often see on packing or in instructions. This means
that the embellishment, paper or glue will not harm your photographs. This is
often another term for acid-free, but either way, make sure everything you use
from paper to pencils, had one term or the other on the package.
Sheet Protectors
Finished scrapbook pages are often slipped into sheet protections before being
inserted into the final album. Like all items you use, make sure that they are
acid-free. The Polypropylene variety sold in grocery and office supply stores is
not acid-free. There are also smaller protectors for smaller items you want to
add to the scrapbook, but don’t want to put adhesive on. With these items, such
as a very old letter, you would put it into the protector and then adhere that
to the page.
Cardstock
Cardstock is a heavier, sturdier paper making it an ideal backing for pages with
heavier embellishments or more photographs.
Adhesives
These are used to attach photos and other items to your scrapbook pages. There
are many types of adhesives used in scrapbooks for the various items used in an
album (remember, this country was founded on freedom of choice, so beginners,
don’t roll your eyes with all the choices with you.) Remember to make sure that
the adhesive is acid-free and be sure to note if you’re using permanent or
nonpermanent glue. Once you put it in place, it is there to stay with permanent
glue, while with nonpermanent glue you will be able to pick up the item and
attach it elsewhere. Other types of adhesives include tape, double-sided tape,
liquid, and stick glue, and spray adhesive. Spray adhesive is excellent for
gluing larger items. Because you spray it on, there is a thin even layer of
adhesive, so when you place the item in the scrapbook you do not have hills and
valleys of glue underneath. You can also use adhesive tabs which come in a
variety of shapes large and small.
Photo corners
Photo corners are another type of adhesive, but, unlike the others, photos
corners are placed in front of your picture and used as a frame to keep the
picture in place. They come in many different sizes and colors.
Journaling
Journaling refers to captions below photographs that give information about the
picture. This is the heart and soul of the scrapbook as it gives us the story
behind the picture. Journaling can be a few words, a paragraph, even an entire
column and it can be done by hand, computer or any other method that allows you
to give the details.
Embellishment
An embellishment is a decoration or design added to any part of the album with
the purpose of adding character, color and style. These are things you add to
reinforce the theme and tell the story. Stickers are a popular embellishment,
but you can add anything from dried flowers to ribbon. Embellishment and
creative page design are what make a scrapbook different from a photo album.
Punch
This is not a fruity drink, but rather a hole punch gone wild. The hand held
shape makes come in an array of whacky shapes and patterns that you can “punch”
onto your pages or if you’re really creative, your pictures.
Die Cuts
Die cuts are like paper punches on steroids. They are metal dies (molds) use to
cut sheets of paper into specific shapes.
Straight-edged scissors
Straight-edged scissors are your basic household variety scissors.
Decorative-edged scissors
Inside of the straight shears of standard scissors, decorative edged scissors
are usually made of plastic with ridged or scalloped cutting edges to give pages
and pictures and design, rather than a straight line.
Exacto-Knife
If you’re not familiar with the term, you’re probably familiar with the sight.
Exacto-knives are metal pen-like shapes with a tiny, very sharp razor blade on
the edge that is inserted on an angle giving it knife-like abilities that are
razor sharp and precise. It is a very precise and smaller version of a utility
knife. With this type of knife and it even acts as tweezers in that you can pick
up thicker pieces of paper with the tip, which is helpful especially after
adhesive is added.
Craft Knife
Craft knives are used to make clean, straight lines. Another cutting device is
the rotary cutter, which is shaped like a pizza cutter, only much smaller. This
is excellent for working around corners. Any job or project that deals in design
(graphic design, magazine layout, and advertising) relies on precision in images
and since scrapbooks are a form of communication through pictures and images,
you too will rely heavily on your cutting devices.
Templates
Templates can mean a few things, but all relating to acting as a guide to create
a shape on the paper. A page template is a guide giving you page settings to
create a page size. For example, if you are making a 5x7 scrapbook you could use
a template that would allow you to more than one page from a standard sheet of
paper. Templates are also placed over photos, that when cut according to
template will give your photograph a new shape (like a heart.) Templates are
also used to embellish pages.
Gel Pens
Gel pens are not going to bleed on you. They are so good at this, that when gel
pens are used in day-to-day life, such as check writing, it is the only ink that
a criminal cannot manipulate (i.e. transferring your signature from one document
to another.) Their bleed-free super powers make them an ideal choice for
journaling.
Colored Pencils
As with any art, there are many uses for the colored pencils from drawing
decorations to creating colorful borders or text.
Cropping
I’ve been cropping for over a decade, yet I still think of a stalk of corn when
I hear this term. You have a picture in front of you. Perhaps it is of your dog,
but you took it at a park and there is a garbage can on one side you’d like to
eliminate from the picture and perhaps there is too much space at the top of
photo. By cropping on your computer, you can move the parameter of your photo
in, up or down, to get rid of “undesirables” such as space and garbage. This
will not resize your photo. If you started with a 5x7, you will still have a 5x7
after cropping, but the remaining objects will appear bigger and closer up.
Digital Scrapbooks
When your scrapbook is designed and stored online, you have a digital scrapbook.
These are gaining in popularity. These can be created in PhotoShop or even Word
documents, PDF files, or even Web pages.
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