Welcome to the Crafts Glossary
Acid Migration: The transfer of acid from an acidic material to a non-acidic material. This can happen even when the two materials are not quite touching. So when we say "use only acid-free materials," we mean it!
Acid-Free: Paper with pH factor (remember high school chem?) above 7.0. Papers and adhesives that contain acid can damage photos and will actually self-destruct in time.
Acid-Free: Free of chemicals that harm photos in scrapbook projects. Generally, materials whose pH is over 7.0 are considered acid-free. ALL materials used in scrapbook pages should be acid-free unless you want them to dissolve before the next generation's eyes.
Acrylic Rulers: Clear acrylic with 2-color grid for precision measuring and detail cutting. Great for quilters. Or for those who are obsessive about going dutch on the last brownie.
Adhesive: Anything that sticks one material to another. Several common types of adhesive are photo stickers, glue dots or glue sticks, and unwanted relatives.
Adjustable Pivot Screw: Lets you adjust blade tension to your own comfort level.
Applique: Applying shaped pieces of fabric to a foundation fabric to form a design or pattern that's to die for.
Archival Ink: Long-lasting dye ink that will not fade or smear. Even when you apply water colors after stamping, it will not bleed. Also ideal for documents you don't expect to see again for many years, such as IOUs from unwanted relatives.
Archival Safe: Archival materials are meant to last about 100 years - you and me are probably not archival. Archival-safe materials can be safely used for preservation purposes.
Bent Scissors: Angled handles make it easy to cut cloth and other materials on flat surfaces, in case you don't have rubber wrists.
Blade Sheaths: Protective sheath that keeps blades enclosed and fingers intact.
Brayer: A tool resembling a small paint roller, often made of rubber, hard foam or a soft sponge-like material. Use it with paint or ink to create decorative patterns on a flat surface. But don't try to paint a room with it unless you have lots of free time.
Burnisher: Pen-like shaped tool with steel ball tip on end used for embossing. Can also be used to pretend to sign cheques.
Card Stock: Stiff, heavier weight paper used widely in scrapbooking and paper crafts. Usually available in hundreds of colors. But if we've told you once, we've told you a hundred times, make sure it's acid-free.
Chalks: Acid-free chalk that is usually applied with an eye shadow-type applicator or cotton swab to add dimension to die cuts, torn edges, cards, etc. Think of it as mascara for your crafts.
Colorfast: Light, acid and heat are the main things that can harm your scrapbooks or cards. A colorfast item resists all three. After all, no one wants a gray scrapbook, or card.
Crimper: A tool that produces a very narrow accordian-like fold on paper for added dimension. Just don't try to play "Lady of Spain" on the results.
Crimper: Sometimes paper can be so... flat. A crimper adds dimension.
Crop Photo: Using a scissor or craft knife to cut away unwanted parts of a photo in order to create a focal point. Oops, there goes Aunt Hilda.
Cropping: Using a scissor or craft knife to cut away unwanted parts of a photo in order to create a focal point. Oops, there goes Aunt Hilda.
Debossing: The opposite of embossing; the design is indented into the paper or material. Of course, if you turn the paper over, it's embossed, but life is like that sometimes.
Die-Cut: A shape that is cut from cardstock, paper or other material using a biscuit-cutter-like die. Used to embellish cards, scrapbook pages, and little kids who have aced their spelling tests.
Dye Inks: Quick drying ink, not generally used for embossing. Ideal for use on vellum paper if you do not wish to add embossing powder. Not for the indecisive among us.
Embossing: Creating a raised three-dimensional design or image on paper or other materials.
Embossing (Dry): Creating a raised design on card stock, paper or other material using either a brass stencil with a light source and stylus, or with stacked stencils (Fiskars ShapeBoss) and a stylus. Either way, the results are gratifying.
Embossing (Wet): A technique which uses a rubber stamp with inks and embossing powder which results in a raised stamped image on paper or other material. Some people think this is an easy way out. They're wrong.
Embossing Heat Gun: A heat gun, similar to a small hair dryer, used to melt embossing powder so it adheres to paper or other material to produce a raised stamped image. Drying your hair with it could take a very long time.
Embossing Ink: Thick, clear or slightly tinted ink used in (wet) embossing to adhere embossing powder. Don't even think of using quick-drying ink.
Embossing Powder: Powder applied using embossing ink, then heated until it melts to create a raised, embossed, colored image on paper or almost anything else. Sounds messy, looks beautiful.
Eyelet Setter: A metal tool used for applying eyelets. Not to be confused with an obscure breed of dog.
Eyelets: Small hollow metal circles, similar to those once used for leather projects, applied to a small hole punched in material and then secured by splitting the backside of the eyelet open with an eyelet setter.
Gel Pens: Ball point pens with smooth-flowing, acid-free and archival quality ink. Too bad Aunt Hilda didn't have one.
Glue Dots: Extremely sticky round dots of glue used to hold on embellishments such as buttons or heavy metal pieces. Also very useful in sticking things to papers and materials that are normally stick-resistant. Never use around unwanted relatives.
Glue Stick: A round stick of solid glue which is used to adhere embellishments to scrapbook pages, cards, tags, etc. Mistaking the tube for lip balm would be a bad move.
H: We do have healing mats, but since they only heal themselves, we thought they'd make more sense under S.
I: Ingenuity, inspiration and imagination are terrific tools; unfortunately, you have to manufacture them yourself. Innovation, we got that one covered.
Journaling: Hand-written or computer generated on a scrapbook page that usually tells the story of what's going on in the photos. Isn't that Aunt Hilda in the top right shot?
Lignin-Free: Lignin is what holds wood together. But if it's not removed during the papermaking process, the paper can change color and become brittle over time. So you can kiss Aunt Hilda's secret diary bye-bye. Documents and projects for archiving need to use linin-free paper.
Mat Photo: Mounting a photo onto a larger piece of paper or several concentric layers to produce a pleasing effect (or because the frame's too big).
Micro-Tip Scissors: Scissors with a specially sharpened point for precise cuts. So please don't run while holding them.
O: The expression on people's faces when they see how good your work is now that you're using Fiskars products.
Page Protectors: Prying eyes may be okay, but prying fingers are not. Protect your scrapbook pages with clear view sleeves or album protectors.
Page Topper: A section across the top of a scrapbook page - usually one word or a short phrase - pertaining to what is going on in the photos on the page. Usually embellished with chalks, buttons, stitches, etc. Think of it as a gussied-up headline.
Paper Piecing: The process of taking a design, making a pattern, cutting it down into smaller sections and then re-assembling it. (It's lots more interesting than the description. Trust us.)
Photo Corners: Triangular-shaped pockets used to secure photos to an album page or other surface. Exciting? No. Useful? Very.
Photo Safe: This term is generally used in place of the term acid-free when a manufacturer can't legally claim that a product is acid-free. As a rule of thumb, it's a good idea to avoid products that claim to be photo safe rather than acid-free. Don't say we didn't warn you.
Photo Stickers: Attach photos, diecuts and memorabilia to scrapbooks, cards and more with these double-sided stickers.
Pigment Ink: Slow drying ink, used widely for wet embossing. This ink is also used regularly in scrapbooking because it tends to keep its deep, rich color longer than other inks. A pigment-ink page topper? Now there's an idea.
Razor-Edged Scissors: The sharper the blade, the easier it is to cut through multiple layers of paper or fabric. And we have some very sharp blades.
Reinforced Bolt Joint: The heavier the material you're cutting, the more stress you place on the bolt joint. Reinforcement lets you cut thick material.
Rotary Cutters: Contoured handle at one end, circular blade at the other. So comfortable, you'll look for excuses to cut through multiple layers of fabric, paper and more.
Self-Healing Cutting Mat: Gridded surface for cutting with rotary blades and craft knives. Slice it and dice it, it comes back for more.
Self-Healing Mats: Gridded surface for cutting with rotary blades and craft knives. Slice it and dice it, it comes back for more.
Sepia: A brown tint (originally squid ink) added to photos to give them an old-fashioned appearance. Very popular in heritage photos or photos of children. Makes us wonder, though, what they did in the old days to make things look old-fashioned.
SewSharp: Hand-held scissors sharpener.
Shaker: An embellishment created by puitting small punched pieces, glitter or other small, flat objects between a layer of material and transparency film. Usually used on handmade cards or scrapbook pages. As much fun to make as to view.
ShapeBoss: Tray with pegs that provides a base for Fiskars 2-part stencils to make embossing simple and easy. Trust us.
Silhouette Photo: Cutting around the subject carefully in order to preserve detail, then mounting it on a contrasting background.
Softgrip Scissors: Wouldn't you rather have soft rubber material to cushion your hands instead of dealing with unforgiving, blister-causing metal. We thought so.
Softouch Scissors: Spring-action scissors that automatically open after each cut. Yes, it's magic.
Static Puff: A small pillow filled with powder that you pat or rub onto the area you plan to web emboss. This keeps stray granules of embossing powder from sticking to places on your project where they're just plain not welcome.
Stylus: A tool used in dry embossing with either one or two metal ball shapes on either end. This tool resembles a pen, which, confusingly enough, can also be called a stylus. Stick with the real thing.
Swivel Knife: Small, curved-blade knife that turns with the motion of your wrist so you look more skillful than you need to be.
Template: A sheet, usually of soft or hard plastic, with cut-out shapes that you can use to trace or cut identical shapes from paper or other materials. Keep them locked away so kids don't get any bright ideas about using them on their younger siblings.
Texture Plates: These plastic plates add textures to papers, metal, clay and more.
True Left-Handed Scissors: Blades are "flipped" to make life easier for lefties. Let the righties suffer for a change.
U: This letter almost always follows Q. Since we make nothing that begins with Q, we decided not to bother with U.
Vellum Paper: Translucent paper that can be used for everything from stamping to cardmaking to creating memory boxes. In antiquity, made of lambskin; the lambs objected.
W: Memo to R&D: We have products beginning with M, right? Well W is just M upside down. Why can't we take an M product, re-engineer it upside down, and make it a W product?

Orange handled scissors are a