Scrapbooking Terms

Not sure what a corner punch is? What is acid-free?

These scrapbooking terms will help you navigate through all those strange terms.

Before long you will be comfortable with them, and on your way to beautiful scrapbook albums.

Learn about scrapbooking terms like acid-free that will help you pick the supplies you need to protect your memories by preserving your photos.

Find tools like decorative edge scissors and embellishments, to help decorate pages.

Acid Free - Acid free products have a pH factor of 7.0 to 8.5. Papers with acid can yellow photographs and make them brittle. Adhesives with acid can discolor and leave sticky residue on photos and memorabilia.

Adhesive – The glue used to mount photos, memorabilia and papers to the page. There are many different adhesives available. Make sure you choose one that is acid-free. Rubber cement is never safe for scrapbooking.

Archival Quality – Archival quality materials have been determined to be within acceptable limits for acidity, and that they are chemically stable at the time of sale. Using these products could help preserve your photographs and memorabilia for years to come. A specific number of years a product must last to be archival quality has not yet been determined.

Buffered – Buffered items have an alkaline filler. This prevents acid from one item from being transferred to another.

Corner Punch – Creates a decorative design on the corners of papers.

Corner Rounder – A punch designed to round the 45 degree angle corners of photos and papers.

Crop – Trimming photos to highlight specific parts, or to cut out unwanted sections or backgrounds. Can change focus or even just the shape of a photo.

Decorative Edge Scissors – Scissors that can cut decorative edges, such as scallops, zig-zag or wavy edges.

Die Cuts – Letters or shapes cut out of card stock by a die cut machine, used to decorate scrapbook pages.

Embellishment – Scrapbooking extras that can enhance a page, stickers, borders, etc.

Heritage Scrapbooks – A collection of historical family information, memorabillia and photographs that have been organized in a scrapbook.

Journaling – Telling the stories in the photographs, also names dates and places. This will be very important for people that weren't around when the pictures were taken.

Layout – A grouping of photos and memorabilia on a page or pages in a scrapbook.

Lightfast – Lightfast inks and papers are resistant to fading from the effects of exposure to light. Also referred to as fade-resistant or colorfast.

Lignin-Free – Lignin is a natural boding agent in wood fibers. It can cause paper to yellow and become brittle. Liginin can be removed to make the paper safe or lignin-free.

Mat, Matting – Mounting photo on acid-free paper to accent it. This can also be used to buffer the photo from possible harm from products that may not be acid free.

Memorabilia – Items that remind you of a time or event. Artwork, homework, postcards, tickets and programs are examples. These items may not be acid-free, some buffering may be used to assure the safety of your photos.

Memory Book – Another name for a scrapbook.

Page Protector – A plastic sleeve that slips over scrapbook pages to protect them from dust, fingerprints, etc. Page protectors can be top-loading or side-loading. Side-loading do not allow dust to fall down into pages while scrapbooks are stored on the shelf. Polypropylene and mylar are highly recommended.

pH Factor – The measure of acidity and alkalinity. On a scale of 0 to 14, 7.0 is considered neutral. A pH level below 7.0 is acidic and a pH level above 7.0 is alkaline or acid-free.

PH Testing Pen – Used to determine the pH level of products.

Photo Mounting Corners – A non-permanent method of mounting photos or memorabilia to a page. Small corners are mounted to the page and the corners of the photo/memorabilia are slipped into the mounting corners. The items may be easily removed for viewing or copying, etc.

Photo-Safe – A term used to imply that a product will not react with or harm photographs.

Punch – A small tool similar to a hole punch, used to create shapes in paper. These are available in many sizes and shapes.

Scrapbooking – The tradition of arranging photographs and memorabilia in an album along with journaling.

Theme Album – An album that centers around a specific event or subject. Vacations, a baby, wedding or holiday are popular themes. Beginners may decided to start with a theme album. They can be easier to organize.

Trimmer – A tool used to cut photographs or paper. There are several different sizes available. They come in guillotine, rotary and blade styles.

UV Light – Radiation in sunlight and to some degree in lighting. Degrades photos, papers, plastics and adhesives.