This is a basic working vocabulary of terms.

Crop: 1. to cut photos to improve the image or eliminate portions of the photo
2. a gathering of scrapbookers for the purpose of working on their albums

Mat: adding a piece of paper behind your photo. This helps your photo to stand out from the background, especially if you are using patterned paper as a background. Many if not most of your photos will be matted in your albums.

Emboss:
1.Dry Embossing creates a raised area on your paper by pressing with a blunt object, usually through a template to create a specific design.

2. Wet Embossing uses embossing fluid or ink, embossing powder and an embossing gun (heat tool) to raise up the design

Found objects: This means just what the term says, something you FOUND outside of the scrapbooking arena. It would include things such as lace, old or foreign money, things from your jewelry box, dog tags, postcards, or other memorabilia.

Sketch: a drawing of a page layout. You put your photos and decorative touches in where the sketch has them. This is often helpful if you are experiencing "scrapper's block."

Scrapbooking Styles

There are several commonly found styles of scrapbooking. Being familiar with them may help you to find your own special style. Here are a few of the more common styles.

Minimalist: Defined by Dictionary.com as

1. One who advocates a moderate or conservative approach, action, or policy, as in a political or governmental organization.
2. A practitioner of minimalism

This style tends leans towards the basics, like photos, mats and stickers, being very selective of all.



Colorblocking: Using blocks of color across all or most of the layout to create the design. You may use templates especially designed for this purpose to give the parameters of where to set your blocks, or you can arrange your photos first with no template then add in the fillers to create the block feel on the layout. If you have a particular interest in learning about colorblocking, you may see some how-to articles I have written on the subject at Colorblocking with a Template and Color Blocking with NO Template



Mosaic: "A picture or decorative design made by setting small colored pieces, as of stone or tile, into a surface." Similar to colorblocking, only smaller squares are usually implied and in a smaller area.



Altered Art: Using scrapbooking techniques in other forms of media. Altered books is one form that is very popular. It recyles unwanted books by such things such as painting the pages, ripping or cutting sections of them to allow for lumpy embellishments inside. The altered book may be photo/scrapbook based or totally memoriabila based. You will also see altered art on boxes, coffee cans, paint cans, vases or any number of things. If you can glue paper and objects onto it, it can be altered! Layout used with the permission of Sarah Tyler.



Collage: Defined: "To paste (diverse materials) over a surface, thereby creating an artistic product." Just as you made in grade school, collage style involves a mixing and matching of various photos, stickers, and other page elements. Sometimes the collage involves the embellishments added and sometimes the collage is the actual photos themselves.



Shabby Chic: Shabby is defined as "Showing signs of wear and tear; threadbare or worn-out: shabby furniture. " Chic is "Conforming to the current fashion; stylish: chic clothes; a chic boutique. " So you end up with a a specific "style" of scrapbooking that is old but stylish. This often uses floral prints, mixed patterns, collage elements, and muted colors. Some techniques that shabby chic might embrace would be "distressing" your paper through sanding, crumpling, or even tearing. You might also use walnut inks or tea staining, and other aging techniques. Layout used with the permission of Sarah Tyler



Ephemera: Defined as "Printed matter of passing interest." This style is nostgalic and old fashioned, some examples of things that would ve included in this syle are postage stamps, ticket stubs, and old product labels -- yes, they make stickers now to look like advertising! Layout used with the permission of Sarah Tyler



Kaleidoscope: to cut several identical photos, (some reverse printed) to create a mirrored shape much like that you saw in a kaleidoscope toy as a child.



While there are many more techniques and styles, I hope these examples of some of the commonly used ones has been helpful. I encourage you to experiment and try something outside of your own comfortable style soon!

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