The World of Scrapbooking

A Scrapping Vocabulary Primer

As with many hobbies, the avid have developed their own jargon. If your goal is to blend into the crowd at your scrapbook retreat, you don't want your newbie status to stick out like a sore thumb - going in with the vocabulary down pat can help in this regard.

• Scrapbook, scrapping, scrapper. Scrapbook can be either a noun or a verb - the noun refers to the album you're working on, the verb refers to the process of working on it. Scrapping is a common verbal used to describe what you're doing, although the word 'scrapbooking' will also be used. Scrapper refers to the person. Note: do not, under any circumstances, attempt to use more than one of these words in any given sentence. We promise that saying 'I feel like such a scrapper, sitting here scrapping my scrapbook,' really will not make you look like one of the crowd.

• Crops. A crop is a gathering of people to scrapbook, often with the intent of sharing equipment, supplies, ideas, and techniques. The individual work sessions within your retreat might be referred to as crops, or people might use the word to describe events much shorter in duration than a retreat. Crop is also used as a verb in scrapbooking, and refers to using equipment to dice paper into the precise shapes and sizes desired for the scrapbook page.

• Journaling. While some scrappers are all about fitting as many photos and embellishments onto the page as possible, others like to focus on the story-telling aspect of scrapping. Journaling is the process of writing or typing text to be affixed onto the scrapbook page.
  

• Layouts and templates. A scrapbook layout refers to the way in which the various items to be used are arranged in the scrapbook page. Some scrappers feel uncomfortable setting their own layouts, and will use set templates to determine where each item will go on the page.
  

Scrapbooking Supplies

Paper. While you probably all feel quite confident in your knowledge that yes, you know what paper is, how much do you know about scrapbook paper? Scrapbook paper comes in sizes to fit the most common album types, with the greatest variety probably available in the 12x12 inch size. It is lighter weight than card stock, but stiffer than copy paper. Most scrapbook paper is printed on only one side, with a plain white reverse; however, some scrapbook paper is available with a colour coordinating reverse. In many ways, looking at the variety of scrapbook paper out on the market can feel quite a bit like searching for the perfect wallpaper for the dining room.

Embellishments including vellum, diecuts, fasteners, and stickers. These are all the various doodads that you affix onto the paper to make your scrapbook look snazzier than a plain old photo album. While all sorts of items have been used as scrapbook embellishments at one point or another, these are among the most common types. Stickers are indeed what you remember from childhood; however, scrapbook stickers tend to be thinner than children's stickers, and use a special adhesive that is supposed to be less corrosive for the long life of your scrapbook. Diecuts are shapes that have been punched out of card stock; you can purchase them pre-cut, or use special equipment to make them yourself. Alphabets are available in both sticker and diecut form, and are often used for titles in scrapbook pages.

Vellum is a very thin, partially transparent type of paper. The plain kind is often used with printed type, to 'float' the words over the rest of the paper; coloured and printed vellum is also available. Because vellum is relatively see-through, most adhesives look pretty tacky with it - as a result, people often use fasteners instead, such as special brads or tacks. Going into your first scrapbook retreat, it's important to be aware that some types of embellishments are rather looked down on in certain scrapping circles. As a general rule, the less expensive the embellishment, the less scrapping status it carries; not surprisingly, stickers are generally seen as at the bottom of the heap.

Adhesive There are many types of adhesives that you can use in scrapbooking, but they all serve the same central purpose of affixing your photographs, mementos, and embellishments to the paper.

Techniques

A popular technique in some quarters is distressing your scrapbook paper - that's right, you are going to take the paper you spent two dollars a page on, and dip it in water and crumple it up so that it will look old, faded, and worn. Distressingly, there are also a wide variety of special techniques used to tear scrapbook paper.

Alternatives to Scrapping

Scrapbook art, decor, toys, etc

Online scrapping