Library Resources / Glossary

3D Tape
	3D tape is a double- sided tape made out of a foam material. It is thicker than normal double-sided tape and comes in a variety of thicknesses. It is used to raise images away from the background and to create shaker boxes.

Acid

In chemistry, a substance capable of forming hydrogen ions when dissolved in water. Acids can weaken cellulose in paper, board, and cloth, leading to embrittlement. Acids may be introduced in the manufacture of materials and left in intentionally (as in the addition of certain sizing, like starch or glue) or incidentally. Acids may also be introduced by migration from other materials or from atmospheric pollution. Discoloration and embrittlement are attributed to acid.

Acid Free

Containing no acid. Acids destroy paper over time. Acid free items have a ph (a measure or acidity or alkalinity) of 7.0 or higher. 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. It's imperative that all materials (glue, pens, paper, etc.) Used in memory albums or scrapbooks be acid-free.

Acid Migration
	The leaching of acid from one object to an object it is in contact with. The most common acid migration in scrapbooking is from your bare hands to your photos and paper.

Acrylic Handle or Block
	Clear plastic blocks, sometimes have an imprinted grid or line on it, used for stamping with unmounted or acrylic stamps.

Acrylic Stamps
	Stamps made from a clear polymer plastic so you can see through it making image placement easier and more precise. Use with an Acrylic Block.

Adhesive
	Bonding agent that artists use to affix one item to another. A variety of different types of adhesive exists including glue dots, tape runners, glue pens, Xyron machine, etc.

Aerial Perspective
	Creating a sense of depth in painting by imitating the way the atmosphere makes distant objects appear less distinct and more bluish than they would be if nearby. Also known as atmospheric perspective.

Album
	Blank book used to store photographs or scrapbook pages.

Alkaline
	A chemical used to neutralize acids as they form within or migrate to paper. Note: High-alkaline papers are no better than high-acid papers.

Altered Book
	Collaging, stamping, embellishing, and otherwise altering a found book to reflect an artistic idea or narrative.

Analogous Color Scheme
	colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel.

Aperture
	The opening in a camera that lets in light. The aperture opens and closes when the shutter is released.

Archival
	Archival (or conservation) quality materials are stable or chemically balanced, suggesting durability and permanence (a high resistance to aging). Such materials are considered safe for preservation purposes; agencies that govern large archives, such as the Library of Congress, set archival standards for their curation.

Archival Ink
	Dye ink that is fade-proof, waterproof, lightfast, acid-free, and non-smearing. This is great for scrapbooking, also ideal for stamping images if you plan to watercolor or have problems when you color.

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

Artist Trading Cards
	Tiny works of original art that are traded among artists, usually at conventions. Each card measures approximately 2-1/2" x 3-1/2".

Ascender
	The part of lowercase letters (such as k, b, and d) that ascends above the x-height of the other lowercase letters in a face.

Asymmetrical Balance
	Balanced achieved with dissimilar objects that have equal visual weight or equal eye attraction.

Balance
	The distribution of visual weight in a work of art.

Baseline
	The line on which letterforms rest. (Round letters like "e" and "o" normally dent it, pointed letters like "v" and "w" normally pierce it, and letters with foot serifs like "h" and "l" usually rest precisely upon it.)

Blending Pencil
	Tool used to blend colored pencils to create different shades of a color.

Bone Folder
	A flat piece of bone or plastic, round at one end, pointed at the other. Used for scoring and folding paper.

Brayer
	A small rubber "rolling pin" used to flatten papers, smooth surfaces, or apply paints or inks.

Brush Markers
	Water-based marking pens with a long, broad tip like the tip of a paint brush.

Buffered
	Word used to describe products capable of maintaining the core of a solution. For example, buffered paper prevents acid from moving from a photograph to paper.

Buffered Paper

A paper that is pH neutral to begin with and then has a reserve of Alkaline to neutralize additional acids as they migrate to the paper. Just because you are using buffered pages or buffered papers do not assume that you can add an unlimited number of acidic materials to your album and the acid will be absorbed. Many papers are buffered only because the materials used in their own manufacture are known to become acidic over time, therefore the buffer is added solely to protect that paper from becoming acidic in the future and is not capable of absorbing any extra acids.

Calligraphy
	1. The art of fine handwriting. 2. Fancy penmanship, especially highly decorative handwriting, as with a great many flourishes.

Cardstock
	A general term for heavier papers commonly used for the covers of catalogs and brochures, and frequently used in scrapbooking. The correct term for heavier-weight paper is cover paper.

Chalks
	Not to be confused with pastels. Chalks are made up of a pigment powder that is compressed into small blocks. The powder can be applied to a variety of mediums to enhance or add color.

Circle Cutter
	A cutting tool used to make different sized circles.

CK OK
	A seal of approval designed by Creating Keepsakes that is put on products that have been tested to be safe to us in scrapbooks.

Clip Art
	Graphic images you can download or copy from the Internet or from a CD-ROM disc (or literally clip the art from a book, magazine or other print medium. If you’re not adept at drawing or painting, clip art is an easy way to illustrate your scrapbooks, journals and other crafts.

CMYK
	A printer's native color space. A color model that synthesizes all colors as combinations of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black; it begins with white, and subtracts the appropriate color to yield the desired color.

Collage
	An artistic composition made of various materials (paper, cloth, wood, etc.) that are glued onto a surface.

Color
	A visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect.

Color Schemes
	A set of colors when used together creates a harmonious look.

Color Theory
	A body of practical guidance to color mixing and the visual impact of specific color combinations.

Color Value
	Refers to the lightness or darkness of a hue.

Color Wheel
	1. A tool used in the visual arts to learn about colors and their relationships to another. 2. A circular diagram in which primary and usually intermediate colors are arranged sequentially so that related colors are next to each other and complementary colors are opposite.

Colorbox(TM)
	A Brand name of pigment-based stamp pads.

Colorfast
	A pigment or dye that is resistant to environmental exposure, such as light, acid, heat and other atmospheric conditions.

Coluzzle
	A brand name of a special type of cutting template that has cutting lines in nested sizes to cut shapes, letters, etc. Uses a special foam mat and swivel cutting knife.

Complementary Color Scheme
	Two colors on opposite sides of the color wheel, which when placed next to each other make both appear brighter. This scheme is intrinsically high-contrast.

Condensed Font
	A narrower version of a font, used to get a maximum number of glyphs into a given space.

Contrast
	The differences in values, colors, textures, shapes and other elements.

Cool Colors
	The hues from blue green through blue violet, most grays included.

Corner Rounder
	A punch used to turn pointed corners into rounded ones.

Corner-Edger Scissors
	Scissors that cut decorative designs on the corner of a page. Each pair of scissors has four different designs that can be cut.

Corrugated Paper
	Paper that has been shaped into thick folds or parallel and alternating ridges and grooves.

Crimper
	A tool paper is rolled through to add a thick, dimensional and repeatitive design to it. The most common design is a corrugated line.

Crop
	1. To trim the unwanted parts of an image. 2. A scrapbooking party.

Cursive
	Typefaces that resemble handwriting, frequently having joins or the suggestion of joins between letters.

Deacidify
	The process of removing acid from paper, documents and other items to prevent deterioration. There are a variety of chemicals on the market for de-acidifying documents, such as Archival Mist.

Decorative Scissors
	Scissors with a special pattern for the blade, i.e. zig-zag, scallop, etc., that creates a decorative edged paper.

Descender
	The part of lowercase letters (such as y, p, and q) that descends below the baseline of the other lowercase letters in a font face. In some typefaces, the uppercase J and Q also descend below the baseline.

Design
	To create or execute in an artistic or highly skilled manner.

Die Cut Designs
	Paper designs cut from a die-cut machine.

Dingbats
	Typefaces that consist of symbol characters such as decorations, arrows and bullets.

Display Font
	A font that has been designed to look good at large point sizes, often for use in headlines. Typically such a font is not as readable at smaller sizes for large amounts of text. If a serif font with optical sizes, it will likely have lighter weight main stems and much lighter weight serifs and crossbars than a text-size version of the same typeface.

Dots Per Inch (dpi)
	Measures the resolution of a scanner, printer, or image; the more dots (or pixels) per inch, the sharper the image. Images used for magazines and other print media typically have a high resolution, such as 300 dpi, versus a low-resolution image on the Internet of 72 DPI.

Double Mount
	To place a photograph on two background papers.

Dry Embossing
	A technique using brass stencils and a stylus which creates a raised look to the paper.

Dye-Based Ink
	Water-based, quick-drying ink; not generally considered archival (unless specifically stated) and cannot be used for wet embossing.

Elements of Design
	The basic ingredients that the artist uses separately or in combination to produce artistic imagery.

em
	A common unit of measurement in typography. Em is traditionally defined as the width of the uppercase M in the current face and point size. It is more properly defined as simply the current point size. For example, in 12-point type, em is a distance of 12 points.

Embellishment
	An element that enhances or decorates a page, i.e. buttons, eyelets, etc.

Emboss
	To create a raised design on paper, either by heating embossing powder laid on a stamped image, or by using a stylus to trace a brass stencil.

Embossing Ink
	A special type of ink pad that is very wet and thick allowing embossing powder to stick to it.

Embossing Marker
	A marker that comes in a variety of colors that contains special ink that creates a raised look when heated.

Embossing Pen
	A pen with tinted embossible ink used to create detailed designs that are then ebossed using embossing powders.

Embossing Powder
	A fast melting powder that delivers rich colors and solid surface bonding. Sprinkle onto a wet, inked surface, and then apply direct heat to melt, creating a slightly raised design.

Emphasis
	The principle of design that appears to be the dominant, or the most noticeable quality of a work of art.

en
	A common unit of measurement in typography. En is traditionally defined as the width of the uppercase N in the current face and the current point size. It is more properly defined as half the width of an em.

Encapsulation
	A method of displaying three-dimensional memorabilia and protecting nearby items from acid contained in the memorabilia. Items are encased in stable plastics.

Expanded Font
	A type design variation with more than normal set. Thus, a loosely spaced or wider than normal font.

Eyelet
	A small metal or plastic ring used to reinforce such a grommet.

Fabric Paint
	Paints made specifically for stamping or painting on fabrics that will be permanent and washable when dry.

Fibers
	1. A slender, elongated, threadlike object or structure. 2. Fancy threads used to decorate scrapbook pages

Film Speed
	Refers to film's sensitivity to light. Lower-speed films are less sensitive (use these on a bright, sunny day). Higher speed films are more sensitive (use these in low light situations).

Fine And Chisel Pens
	Double-ended pen with a fine tip on one end (0.5mm) and a slanted (or chisled) tip (6.0mm) on the other. Lets you create very thin or broad lines.

Focal Point
	A specific area, element or principle that dominates a work of art. The viewer's eye is usually drawn there first.

Font
	A set of characters. In the world of metal type, this means a given alphabet, with all its accessory characters, in a given size. In the world of digital type, it is the character set itself or the digital information encoding it.

Font Face
	One of the styles of a family of faces. For example, the italic style of the Garamond family is a face.

Font Family
	A collection of faces that were designed and intended to be used together. For example, the Garamond family consists of roman and italic styles, as well as regular, semi-bold, and bold weights. Each of the style and weight combinations is called a face.

Foreground
	The image or figure, as opposed to the background.

Form
	Describes volume and mass, or the three-dimensional aspect of objects that take up space.

Frame
	Mounting consisting of a border for a picture. It has the center cut out and is positioned over the picture.

Genealogy
	The study of the descent of a person, family or group from an ancestor.

Glue Stick
	A dry, tacky glue in a tube-like pen.

Glyph
	The word glyph is used differently in different contexts. In the context of modern computer operating systems, it is often defined as a shape in a font that is used to represent a character code on screen or paper. The most common example of a glyph is a letter, but the symbols and shapes in a font like ITC Zapf Dingbats are also glyphs.

Grain Direction
	The direction in which a majority of the fibers lie in a finished sheet of paper.

Handmade Paper
	Paper made by hand that is often rough and uneven in texture. There are flowers and leaves in the paper sometimes, which can add to the natural look.

Heading
	The caption or title that explains the theme of a layout.

Heat Gun
	A professional heat tool that directs hot air to a precise area. The forced heat melts embossing powder, creating a slightly raised surface on the design.

Heritage
	Traditions passed down from generation to generation.

Hue
	The color in its purest form, with no black, gray, or white added.

Idea Books
	Books usually about one aspect of scrapbooking. Some are written for particular themes (weddings, babies, pets, etc.) while others are devoted to a particular product (stickers, die-cuts, templates, etc.).

Incire
	The art of cutting and folding paper using special Incire templates to create intricate designs.

Intensity
	The strength of a color based on how true it is to the primary color.

Iris Folding
	A paper craft technique that originated in Holland. An appropriate pattern is taped to the front of a pre-cut design opening and folded strips of colored papers are layered and taped in position over the pattern from the back, creating a spiraling design.

Journaling
	Any words you write in your book or on the scrapbook page, from titles and captions to long descriptions, poems or stories.

Kerning

The adjustment of horizontal space between individual characters in a line of text. Adjustments in kerning are especially important in large display and headline text lines. Without kerning adjustments, many letter combinations can look awkward. The objective of kerning is to create visually equal spaces between all letters so that the eye can move smoothly along the text. Kerning may be applied automatically by the desktop publishing program based on tables of values. Some programs also allow manual kerning to make fine adjustments.

Layout
	Visual elements of a page placed into a pleasing and readable arrangement.

Leading (pronounced: ledding)

The amount of space added between lines of text to make the document legible. The term originally referred to the thin lead spacers that printers used to physically increase space between lines of metal type. Most applications automatically apply standard leading based on the point size of the font. Closer leading fits more text on the page, but decreases legibility. Looser leading spreads text out to fill a page and makes the document easier to read. Leading can also be negative, in which case the lines of text are so close that they overlap or touch.

Ligature
	Two or more letters tied together into a single letter. In some typefaces, character combinations such as fi and fl overlap, resulting in an unsightly shape. The fi and fl ligatures were designed to improve the appearance of these characters. Letter combinations such as ff, ffl and ffi are available in all Adobe OpenType Pro fonts and selected Adobe OpenType Standard fonts.

Light Refraction
	Light bent through a prism that shows the colors of the visible light spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, Indigo and violet.

Lightfastness
	The speed at which a pigment or colored paper fades in sunlight.

Lignin
	A naturally occurring fiber. 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.

Line
	A mark made by a pointed tool and is often defined as a moving dot. It has a length and width, but its width is very tiny compared to its length. A line often suggests movement is a drawing or painting.

Linear Perspective
	A form of perspective in drawing and painting in which parallel lines are represented as converging so as to give the illusion of depth and distance.

Masking
	A technique used to get the effect of stamped images behind each other, in front of another, or coming out of or going into one another.

Mat
	Mounting consisting of a border or background for a picture, usually sits behind the picture.

Memorabilia
	Certificates, documents and other items that tell a story. Memorabilia can include souvenirs from trips and mementos from special occasions or historical events.

Monochromatic Color Scheme
	Variations in lightness and saturation of a single color.

Mosaic
	A technique in scrapbooking where you cut photos, paper, etc. into small shapes and then piece them together to create a mosaic look.

Mount
	To adhere a photograph, embellishment or other item to another piece of paper.

Muted Colors
	Subdued tints or shades of colors that tend to be more suitable for backgrounds.

Mylar
	Mylar (polyester) is used as a protective clear covering for photos and album pages. Mylar is currently regarded as the highest quality material used for this purpose.

Non-Bleeding
	A term that describes an ink that does not spread from the original mark on the paper's surface. Non-bleeding depends on both the degree of sizing in the paper and the use of solvents (other than water) in ink.

Oblique
	A slanting version of a face. Oblique is similar to italic, but without the script quality of a true italic. The upright faces are usually referred to as roman.

Opaque
	Any substance or surface that will not allow any light to pass through.

OpenType

The OpenType™ format is a superset of the earlier TrueType and Adobe® PostScript® Type 1 font formats. As jointly defined by Microsoft and Adobe Systems, it is technically an extension of Microsoft's TrueType Open format, which can contain either PostScript font outlines or TrueType font outlines in a single font file that can be used on both Macintosh and Windows platforms. It can also include an expanded character set based on the Unicode encoding standard plus advanced typographic intelligence for glyph positioning and glyph substitution that allow for the inclusion of numerous alternate glyphs in one font file.

Ornare
	The paper crafts art of paper piercing, or pricking.

Overstamping
	To stamp another stamp either wholly or in part over another image or process.

Page Protectors
	Plastic sheets that display and protect pages.

Page Toppers
	Hand-drawn illustrated phrases in bright colors meant to be used as titles at the top of pages.

Paper Piecing
	The process of taking a design, making a pattern, cutting the pieces from a variety of papers and assembling it together.

Paper Tearing
	A technique in scrapbooking where you tear paper, rather than cutting it to create a unique texture.

Paper Tole
	A 3-D Decoupage paper craft. The art of re-creating a frame-able art picture in three dimension using various cut-outs taken from 5 or more of the same print.

Paper Trimmers
	Paper-cutting tools used by placing paper, lining it up on a grid and moving down a blade.

Papuela Paper Weaving
	Weaving strips of paper using a template to create a design.

Pastels
	Sticks of powdered pigment held together with a gum-binding agent. There are two types - an oil based pastel which has a creamy feel to it and a dry pastel which has more of a powder consistency. Pastels often contain acidic materials as the binding agents.

Pattern
	Art elements positioned in a planned or random repition to enhance surfaces.

Pattern Paper
	Paper with any type of design or image on it.

Pergamano
	Also known as Parchment Craft. Designs are created on thick parchment paper using a combination of inks, dry embossing, and paper perforation.

Permanent Adhesive
	Term used for adhesives (glues) that are usually very tacky when first applied and not meant for use on items you may have to reposition before they are dry.

pH
	A measure of the concentration of acidity or alkalinity in paper; the scale runs from 1 pH (very high acid content) through 7 pH (balanced, neutral) to 14 pH (very high alkaline content). Buffered papers range from 7 to 9 pH.

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.

pH Neutral
	When a material or product has a pH of 7. It is a more definitive term than acid free. An acid free product could be extremely alkaline. Since is is also undesirable to be highly alkaline because of damages, pH neutral is a desirable quality.

pH Testing Pen
	A pen used to test the acidity of paper. The pen mark changes colors, depending on the level of acid present.

Photo Activity Test (P.A.T.)
	This test, created by the American National Standards Institute, determines if a product will damage photographs. If a product passes the P.A.T., it is safe to use with your photos.

Photo Corners
	Paper with adhesive on the back used to adhere photographs to a page on the corners. Used to adhere photos in scrapbooks and photo albums without applying adhesive directly to the photograph.

Photo Safe
	A term used by manufacturers to indicate their products are safe for photos. There is no regulation of this term; it is held to be highly suspect.

Photo Sleeve
	A clear plastic pocket that slips over a photograph to protect it.

Photo Tinting
	The process of applying colors with oils or dyes to the surface of a black-and-white photograph, giving it the appearance of a colored photograph.

Pica
	A unit of measure that is approximately 1/6th of an inch. A pica is equal to 12 points. The traditional British and American pica is 0.166 inches. In PostScript printers, a pica is exactly 1/6th of an inch.

Pigment
	A dry, powdery agent that possesses color. A pigment will not adhere to a surface, so a binder is required to unite the pigment to paper. A pigment does not dissolve in liquid and does not fade when exposed to light.

Pigment Ink
	Not waterbased; stays wet longer so ideal for embossing; often used in scrapbooks because pigments keep their color longer than dyes.

Pocket Page
	A pouch or pocket used to keep memorabilia.

Point
	A unit of measure in typography. There are approximately 72 points to the inch. A pica is 12 points.

Point Size
	The common method of measuring type. The distance from the top of the highest ascender to the bottom of the lowest descender in points. In Europe, type is often measured by the cap-height in millimeters.

Polyethylene
	A flexible, chemically stable, naturally slippery plastic with little tendency to cling. It is normally manufactured without anti-block and slip agents. Polyethylene is used primarily in the manufacturing of photographic sleeves and poly bags.

Polypropylene
	A clear, pliable, chemically stable plastic used in the manufacturing of photographic sleeves.

Polyvinyl Acetate (PVA)
	A plastic with properties that cause photographs and documents to deteriorate and fade. Note: The pH-neutral glue called "PVA," which is commonly used for book binding and box making, is not suitable for use with photographs.

Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
	An unstable plastic, generally called "vinyl," that may exude oily plasticizers or emit corrosive and acidic hydrogen-chloride gas. It is easily identified by its strong plastic odor. Do not use sheet protectors, photo enclosures, corners or any other product made from vinyl with your photographs, negatives and memorabilia.

Pop-Up
	A special addition to a page that when you turn to the page or open the card, it sticks up.

Post Bound Album
	An album that has 2-3 metal posts holding the binding together.

Power Punch
	A tool that makes punching easier.

Pre-Embossed Paper
	Paper with a raised design.

Preservation
	Activities associated with maintaining library, archival, or museum materials for use, either in their original physical form or in some other format.

Primary Colors
	1. A color that cannot be created by mixing other colors in the gamut of a given color space. 2. Three hues (red, yellow, blue) that together constitute all the colors in the visible spectrum

Principles of Design
	The rules used by artist to organize the elements of art to create a unified arrangement.

Punch
	A handheld tool that cuts small to large pre-formed shapes from paper.

Punch Art
	The art of taking punchies and combining them into other designs such as flowers.

Punchies
	The shapes created by punches.

Quilling
	A paper craft were paper strips are rolled, curled and pinched to create miniature designs. The rolls and scrolls particularly are reminiscent of wrought iron work, where the craft of Quilling had its design origins.

Quilt Pages
	A scrapbook page where a regular quilt pattern is used to make the page look like a quilt.

Radial Balance
	An organized pattern or design emanating from the center of a circular format. This design usually has some symmetrical properties.

Rainbow Stamp Pads
	Pads for stamps that generally have 3 or more colors on the same pad. Some rainbow pads come with one pad rainbow colored, others have strips of different colors sitting side by side.

Red-Eye Pen
	Used to take red-eye out of flash photographs.

Removable Adhesive
	An adhesive that can be temporarily applied and then taken off with an adhesive eraser or by rubbing it.

Repositionable Adhesive
	Term used for adhesives that do not create a permanent bond until dry. Repositionable adhesives can be applied to an object, and that object can be moved without damage to the underlying surface. Once repositionable adhesive dries, it is permanent and the object will not be able to be removed without a special solvent or damaging the surface below.

RGB
	The computer's native color color space. For screen display, red, green and blue pixels (dots) are energized to the appropriate intensity. When all three pixels are turned on high, white is produced. As intensities are equally lowered, shades are derived.

Rhythm
	The repetition or alternation of elements, often with defined intervals between them.

Roman Type
	Commonly refers to the upright version of a face within a font family, as compared to the italic version.

Rubber Stamp
	A detailed, intricate design cut out of rubber. It can be mounted on wood, foam or plastic or be unmounted.

Rule of Thirds
	A technique used in photography to help position subjects. A general composition guideline that divides the negative frame into thirds horizontally and vertically to position the subject.

Sans Serif
	A type face that does not have serifs. Generally a low-contrast design. Sans serif faces lend a clean, simple appearance to documents.

Saturation
	The amount of hue in proportion to the neutral gray of the same lightness, that is the intensity of color.

Scrapbook
	A collection of memories. Usually includes photos and journaling, although by definition a scrapbook can include anything memorable such as newspaper clippings, certificates, locks of hair, etc. Also referred to as memory books.

Scrapbooking
	Mounting and preserving pictures, clippings, or other mementos in an artistic and archival manner.

Second And Third-Generation Stamping
	Stamping in succession without re-inking the stamp.

Secondary Colors
	Colors created by blending primary colors. Orange, green and violet are the secondary colors created by mixing a combination of red, yellow and blue.

Serendipity Squares
	Squares made by creating a torn collage of scraps on a background paper. Then cutting it into squares and mounting on complimentary cardstock.

Serif
	Small decorative strokes that are added to the end of a letter's main strokes. Serifs improve readability by leading the eye along the line of type.

Shabby Chic
	A style of scrapbooking that includes sanding, crumpling, and distressing paper to give an old and worn look to your page

Shade
	A color with black added to it.

Shape
	An area contained within an implied line, or is seen and identified because of color or value changes. Shapes have two dimensions, length and width.

Sheet Protectors
	Pockets made of clear plastic to slip over a finished album page. They can be side-loading or top-loading. 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.

Space
	A three-dimensional volume that has width, height and depth.

Spiral-Bound Albums
	Albums that are secured with a metal or plastic spiral binding along the side of the album.

Spirelli
	Decorative thread is wound around a saw tooth card stock edge to create a very unique design

Split Complementary Color Scheme
	A variation of the standard complementary scheme. It uses a color and the two colors adjacent to its complementary. This provides high contrast without the strong tension of the complementary scheme.

Stencil
	1. A method of applying a design by brushing ink or paint through a cut-out surface. 2. A sheet, as of plastic or cardboard, in which a desired lettering or design has been cut so that ink or paint applied to the sheet will reproduce the pattern on the surface beneath.

Sticker
	An adhesive decorative accent ranging in size from a few centimeters across to a full page.

Strap Hinge Album
	Albums secured with plastic straps that run through a holder directly on the pages and keep the book in place.

Style (typography)
	One of the variations in appearance, such as italic and bold, that make up the faces in a type family.

Stylus
	A tool used for dry embossing, similar to a pen shape with rounded ball ends on either end. Also known as an embosser

Swap
	A group where each person makes several duplicates of the item being swapped and then exchanges them with the other members of the gorup. Common swaps are cards, recipes, serendipity squares, and tags.

Swivel Blade
	This cutting tool is like the exacto knife but in place of the straight blade is a smaller curved blade that moves with the motions of your wrist.

Symbol (typography)
	A category of type in which the characters are special symbols rather than alphanumeric characters.

Symmetrical Balance
	A visual balance in which shapes, forms, colors, etc., are equally distributed left and right of a center line in a composition.

Tape Roller
	A device that distributes tape on the back of photographs and scrapbooking pages.

Tea Bag Folding
	Folding small squares of paper to create the unique 3-D designs. Similar to Origami. Also called Kaleidoscope Folding.

Template
	1. A pattern or gauge, such as a thin metal plate with a cut pattern, used as a guide in making something accurately. 2. A cut out pattern used to trace a design.

Tertiary Colors
	Also called intermediate colors, these are blends of primary and secondary colors. Colors such as red-orange and blue-green are tertiary colors.

Tetradic (Double Complementary) Color Scheme
	The most varied because it uses two complementary color pairs. This scheme is hard to harmonize; if all four hues are used in equal amounts, the scheme may look unbalanced, so you should choose a color to be dominant or subdue the colors.

Texture
	Refers to the surface quality, both simulated and actual, of artwork.

Theme
	The overall emphasis of a page or scrapbook.

Theme Album
	A scrapbook devoted to one idea. Some popular them albums focus on birthdays, weddings and school days.

Three Ring Album
	Has three snap together rings to add or remove pages.

Time Capsule
	A container holding historical records or objects that represent a culture and is stored for preservation.

Tint
	The color wheel is based on "pure" colors; lighter versions produced by adding white or more light are called tints. These are known as "pale" or "light" colors, as "pastel" colors or (for light tints of some reds, oranges, and yellow) as "tans".

Title Page
	A page or 2-page spread that introduces a section in a scrapbook.

Tone
	Tones are mixtures of a hue and its complement or grays.

Tracking
	The average space between characters in a block of text. Sometimes also referred to as letterspacing.

Triadic Color Scheme
	Three colors equally spaced around the color wheel. This scheme is popular among artists because it offers strong visual contrast while retaining harmony and color richness. The triadic scheme is not as contrasting as the complementary scheme, but it looks more balanced and harmonious.

TrueType
	A scalable type technology which, along with OpenType, is built into both Windows and Mac OS.

Type 1
	The original international type standard for scalable type, invented by Adobe Systems. Type 1 is one of the most commonly available digital type formats and is often used by professional digital graphic designers. It is being superceded by OpenType.

Typeface
	The letters, numbers, and symbols that make up a design of type. A typeface is often part of a type family of coordinated designs. The individual typefaces are named after the family and are also specified with a designation, such as italic, bold or condensed.

Typographic Color
	The apparent blackness of a block of text. Color is a function of the relative thickness of the strokes that make up the characters in a font, as well as the width, point size, and leading used for setting the text block.

Un-Du
	An acid-free solvent that is an adhesive remover. It releases the adhered item without ruining photos, paper and even the adhered item. Once the Un-Du has dried, the stickiness returns to the sticker or item (but not the page from where it was taken off).

Unity
	The cohesive quality that makes art work feel complete and finished.

Value (Principles of Design)
	Refers to light and dark. Value contrasts help us to see a two-dimensional work of art.

Vellum
	A semi-transparent paper. Usually used when you wish detail behind to show through.

Velveteen
	An archival paper with fabric-like, velvety texture.

Vivelle
	An archival paper with fabric-like texture similar to a terry-cloth towel.

Warm Colors
	The hues from red through yellow, browns and tans included

Wax (Or Grease) Pencils
	Soft pencils designed for use on photographs without causing harm and can be wiped off.

Weight (typography)
	The relative darkness of the characters in the various typefaces within a type family. Weight is indicated by relative terms such as thin, light, bold, extra-bold, and black.

White Space
	The blank areas on a page where text and illustrations are not printed. White space should be considered an important graphic element in page design.

Wide-Edge Scissors
	Decorative-edge scissors that make a cut that is five times deeper than normal scissors.

Width (typography)
	One of the possible variations of a typeface within a type family, such as condensed or extended.

Workshop
	A class usually held at a scrapbooking store and taught by an expert. Participants bring photographs and pages to work on and get advice from the instructor.

X-Acto Knife
	A craft knife with a razor blade as the cutting surface.

X-Height
	Traditionally, x-height is the height of the lowercase letter x. It is also the height of the body of lowercase letters in a font, excluding the ascenders and descenders. Some lower-case letters that do not have ascenders or descenders still extend a little bit above or below the x-height as part of their design. The x-height can vary greatly from typeface to typeface at the same point size.

Xyron Machine
	A machine that applies adhesive to the back side of any object. It comes in a variety of sizes. Some models can laminate and create magnets too.