Scrapbooking Glossary

[Leanne]

Acid-free Acid is used in paper manufacturing to break apart the wood fibers and the lignin that holds them together. If acid remains in the materials used for photo albums, the acid can react chemically with photographs and cause their deterioration. Acid-free products have a pH factor of 7.0 or above. It's imperative that all materials (glue, pens, paper, etc.) used in memory albums or scrapbooks be acid-free.

Acid migration Acid migration is the transfer of acidity from one item to another through physical contact or acidic vapors. If a newspaper clipping is put into an album, the area it touches will eventually turn yellow or brown. A deacidification pH factor spray can be used on acidic papers, or they can be color photocopied onto acid-free papers.

Archival quality "Archival quality" is a term used to indicate materials which have undergone laboratory analysis to determine that their acidic and buffered content is within safe levels.

Buffered paper During manufacture, a buffering agent such as calcium carbonate or magnesium bicarbonate can be added to paper to neutralize acid contaminant. Such papers have a pH of 8.5.


Journaling Journaling refers to text on a scrapbook page giving details about the photographs. It can be done in your own handwriting or with adhesive letters, rub-ons, and stencils. It is probably the most important part of memory albums.

Lignin Lignin is the material that holds wood fibers together as a tree grows. If lignin remains in the final paper (as with newsprint), it will become yellow and brittle over time. Most paper other than newsprint is lignin-free.

pH factor The pH factor refers to acidity of a paper. The pH scale is the standard for measurement of acidity and alkalinity. It runs from 0 to 14, each number representing a tenfold increase; neutral is 7. Acid-free products have a pH factor of 7 or above. Special pH tester pens are available to help you determine the acidity or alkalinity of products.

Photo-safe Photo-safe is a term similar to archival quality but more specific to materials used with photographs. Acid-free is the determining factor for a product to be labeled photo-safe.

Sheet protectors These are made of plastic to slip over a finished album page. They can be side-loading or top-loading and fit 8-1/2 x 11-inch or 12 x 12-inch pages. It is important that they are acid-free. Polypropylene (vinyl), commonly available for office use, is not of archival quality and should not be included in albums.

[Leanne]

Photo-friendly, acid-free albums are available in standard 8-1/2 x 11-inch, 12 x 12-inch, and 5 x 7-inch sizes. Most will let you insert plastic page protectors. The most popular types of scrapbooking albums are: Three-ring: These familiar favorites have rings that snap apart for easy page insertion and removal. Spiral-Bound: Albums with this type of wire binding have permanently attached pages and are ideal for one-topic and themed scrapbooks. Strap-style: Albums that use plastic straps allow the pages to lie completely flat when the album is opened.



Adhesives
There are lots of different scrapbooking adhesives available, but some will work better than others for particular applications. You can choose from adhesives that set up instantly as well as repositionable adhesives that let you safely lift and rearrange elements (wet bonds usually are permanent while dry bonds usually are repositionable). Here are the most popular types of adhesives and the applications where each works best: Double-sided tape and dots: Usually sold in plastic dispensers, and is available in both permanent and repositional adhesives. Adhesive dots are great for adhering smaller items to layouts and also are available in permanent and repositional forms. Photo corners and sleeves: Photo corners with a peel-away backing come in sheets and rolls and in a variety of colors. Photo sleeves are made of clear plastic and have adhesive backing; they simply slip over your photos. Corners are ideal for attaching photos directly to layouts; sleeves work best for displaying photos that you may want to change later. Spray Adhesives: Aerosol spray adhesives provide an even layer of glue that can cover large surfaces quickly. Sprays work well for adhering background papers or photo mats, and the dried adhesive won't show through transparent papers, such as vellum. Use spray adhesives only in well-ventilated areas and away from flames; never let children use them without adult supervision. Liquid Adhesives: These come in a bottle, stick, pen, and wand applicators, and with thick or thin tips. The adhesive itself may be permanent or repositionable and fast- or slow-drying. Liquid adhesives work best for attaching small items such as punches or die-cut letters, or for tacking down dimensional items such as beads and buttons. Adhesive Tabs: White and transparent double-sided adhesive tabs come in roll form and in refillable dispensers. They're great for adhering both small and large items with minimal mess. Adhesive Foam: Use double-sided adhesive foam, dots, squares, and roll tape to secure items to your page and add dimension at the same time. They'll life die cuts, letters, and cropped photos up to a 1/2-inch from the page surface.



Embellishments
Use embellishments to personalize and enhance your scrapbook pages by highlighting photos, drawing attention to journaling, or helping to set a theme. Although nearly anything can work as an embellishment, these three are amongst the most popular: Punches: Available in a variety of shapes and sizes, decorative paper punches let you create custom accents by punching shapes from whatever papers complement your layout. Die Cuts: These premade paper shapes are available at most scrapbook and crafts stores and come in many shapes, sizes and colors. For a fee, some stores will let you use their die-cutting machine with your own papers to creat shapes and perfectly coordinate with your layout. Stickers: Acid-free, photo-safe stickers come in thousands of different themes and sizes and are widely available in sheets and rolls.

[Leanne]

Pens and Pencils
Lots of different writing utensils are safe to use on scrapbook pages, but look especially for those labeled "acid-free" or "photo-safe." Also choose products that will resist bleeding and fading. All come in a plethora of colors and sizes. Gel Pens: These medium-line pens are ideal for journaling or outlining letters and embellishments, and they just come in just about every color imaginable. Colored Pencils: Available in hundreds of hues, colored pencils are a scrapbooker's staple, ideal for shading and adding highlights to lettering and creating embellishments. Use them with a blender -- a clear, colorless pencil or pen -- to smooth and soften your colors. Felt-tip Markers: Besides giving you a range of color choices, felt-tip markers also come in several different tip styles. Here are the four most common tips you'll find:



Chisel Point:
This versatile marker has a tip with both broad and narrow edges and can produce distinctive decorative lettering and designs.

Monoline:
These all-purpose pens have tips that range from very fine to thick (usually specified in millimeters). The round, tapered nibs can be used to create smooth lines for basic lettering techniques, captions, borders, line art, and illustrations, as well as to add details to letters made with other types of markers.

Scroll Point
: This notched-tip marker produces a double line with just a single stroke. Use it to make basic block letters, design detailed borders, or draw straight double lines.

Brush Point:
This marker has a flexible paintbrush-style tip, which is useful for adding ink to rubber stamps and for filling in shapes and letters.

[Leanne]

Templates
Take advantage of many shapes and sizes of plastic templatesto crop your photos, create embellishments and do dry embossing. Lettering templates also come in a range of sizes and type styles.


Scissors and Cutters
Most cutting implements you'll find for sale will work fine for scrapbooking. Here are a few of the handiest and how best to use them.



Scissors:
They come in straight- and decorative-edge styles. Long straight=edge scissors are useful for cutting large sheets of card stockand paper for freehand cropping photos. Small scissors work best for cutting out detailed embellishments. Decorative-edge scissors are ideal for cutting photo mats or anything to which you'd like to give a dressier look.


Crafts and Swivel Knives:
Craft knives are perfect for making straight cuts on paper and card stock and for cropping photos. Swivel knives are similar to craft knives, but their rotating blade makes them better for cutting along curves or cutting out letters and template shapes. use these sharp tools with a self-healing or glass cutting mat.


Rotary Cutters:
Often used to cut fabric, rotary cutters are also handy for cutting large sheets of paper and card stock or trimming photos. Use these tools with self-healing or glass cutting mats.


Paper Trimmers:
This tool is handy for making square cuts and straight edges. The larger sizes are capable of handling even oversize sheets of paper and card stock.

[Leanne]

Techniques
Journaling Handwritten or printed journaling -- the art of telling a story in print -- separates scrapbooks from photo albums. As you plan journaling for a scrapbook page, keep these tips in mind:

Try to let your journaling connect the page viewer with the actual event. Record more than just titles, dates, and names. Describe your reactions to what was happening, tell what the subject was doing, and why, share how you feel when you look at the photos, or point out what you notice now that you didn't when the photo was taken.

Let someone else proofread a draft of your journaling before you add it to the page. Check for spelling and grammatical errors, or use the tools in your word processing program.
Practice hand-journaling to perfect your penmanship. Try writing your text in pencil before going over it in pen. Also experiment with different styles of script and a variety of writing instruments.
Use computer type to record large amounts of journaling or create custom page titles.
Try recording your journaling in shapes such as circles or hearts, or in a wavy or diagonal line for variety and interest.


Cropping Cropping involves a variety of techniques and tools. Make multiple prints or photocopies before cropping your photos, and crop only small areas at a time. Don't crop Polaroids -- the chemicals in the paper will damage your photos. There's not one right way to crop. You can use a craft knife and ruler to trim off a portion of the photo and retain its square or rectangular shape. Or use a pair of small sharp scissors to silhouette and image, cutting away the background. You can also use circle cutters and templates to create interesting photo shapes or simply crop the photo freehand. Here are some tips:


Carefully compose your your photos in the camera viewfinder before shooting to avoid excessive cropping later.

Let the natural composition of your photo determine the final cropping. For example, a wide group of people will appear better cropped as a horizontal oval than as a circle.

Let the photo remain the focus. Don't let elaborate cropping detract from the subject.


Matting Use matting to make your photos, journaling, and memorabilia stand out on the page. Coordinate matting colors and textures with your photographs and memorabilia rather than detract from the subjects. Use a solid-color mat to blend in with the layout or a patterned mat to stand out. To create a simple photo mat, use a background paper or card stock that's slightly larger than your photo. Position the photo on the mat, and adhere it with archival-quality adhesive. Then trim the mat with straight- or decorative-edge scissors, a craft knife, or a paper trimmer.