Terms Glossary
Ever Wonder What Some Paper Crafting and Card Making Terms Mean?
The sections below tell about the variety of papercrafting products available to you for use in your creative expression. Included are Stampin’ Up! specific supplies too.
When finished learning on this page, look for the button at the bottom to advance to the Tools Glossary.
ADHESIVES
Adhesive Sheets – Double Sided Adhesive with protective but removable sheets which can be applied to the back of cardstock, foil, DSP and then die cut or punched out and takes the place of other adhesives. Just peel off the protective backing and stick to your project.
Dimensionals – Double-sided adhesive foam hexagonal dots to add depth and dimension to your card layers. Great to adhere heavier embellishments too. Acid free. Available in white – normal or mini, and a black combo pack. The Foam frame holding the dimensionals can also be cut and used in your cardmaking, so nothing is wasted. The hexagon shape can also be cut in half (irregular pentagon) and used in smaller places.
Scotch Brand Double Sided Tape – Some crafters prefer using double sided tape that they can tear from the roll to adhere their card layers together.
Fine Tip Glue Pen – Used for detailed die cuts to glue securely to projects. Acid Free. As soon as you are finished using it even before placing the item you are gluing in position, insert the wire inside the cap into the nozzle to prevent clogging. Dries clear. Can also be used for making a stamped image shiny if applied all over and allowed to dry.
Foam Adhesive Sheets – Double-sided adhesive foam sheets can be cut with paper snips or used with open dies (not fine detail dies) for any project. Allows you to cut larger sizes to cover larger areas more efficiently.
Foam Adhesive Strips – Sheet of double-sided white foam adhesive strips. Used to create shaker cards to add depth and dimension while enclosing an area/space on a card that glitter, small beads, or fake snow might go. Usually the layering is cardstock, foam strips, clear window sheet, and cardstock frame. Can be cut with paper snips.
High Temp Mini Glue Gun – Sometimes you need a stronger glue that sets quickly to hold layers, a special embellishment or bow in place.
Mini Glue Dots – Dots of gummy adhesive on a roll. Will hold heavier embellishments, ribbon and more. Acid free.
Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) – A dual tipped bottle – a narrow tip and a broad tip places thick white liquid glue exactly where you want it. Produces a strong bond when dry. Dries Clear. Acid free.
Stampin’ Seal and Seal + – Adhesives for cardmaking, an instant bond, permanent adhesive that adheres 3D projects and heavier layers securely.
Tear and Tape – A double sided instant bond, permanent adhesive that can be cut or torn to the length needed for use in card or 3D projects. Can also hold ribbon in place.
COLORING TOOLS
Blender Pens – Dual tipped pens filled with a specialized solution for easier blending of ink and watercolor pencils. Wipe excess color from pen tip on scrap paper to clean before recapping. Acid free. Xylene free.
Blending Brushes – Velvety soft brush heads to blend ink beautifully. Apply ink from the ink pad onto the paper in a circular motion. Rinse ink from brush with warm water and let dry completely before using again.
Chalk Pastels – Used for coloring.
Sponge Daubers – Apply touches of ink on stamps or directly on projects. Comfortable fit on one finger for great control.
Spritzers – Atomizer cylinders that can be filled with diluted ink/water or rubbing alcohol/ink for faster drying to give a speckled dot effect for backgrounds.
Stampin’ Blends – Alcohol-based markers sold in a two-pen set – a light shade and a dark shade combo pack for color blending options. Blends have two ends – A brush tip and a narrow tip for precise coloring.
Water Painters or Aqua Painters – A brush tip and fillable handle that holds water/liquid for easy water coloring techniques with ink.
Watercolor Pencils – Soft lead-colored pencils that can be used individually, together or mixed with a Blender pen.
Wink of Stella – A glitter brush for accenting stamped images. Brush tip creates both thick and thin lines.
DRY EMBOSSING WITH FOLDERS
Embossing Folders – Come in multiple widths, are a folded plastic with a positive imprint on one side and the negative imprint on the opposite side. Cardstock goes inside and is run through the Cut & Emboss Machine to create a uniformed embossed impression that adds depth and dimensions to your designs. A 3D embossing folder is thicker plastic that offers a more detailed, varied, dimensional appearance after running it through the Cut & Emboss Machine. Embossing folders can be inked inside for interesting additions to the impressions.
Hybrid Embossing Folder – A multiple result tool that incorporated a die that can be set inside the folder for new creative results.
HEAT EMBOSSING
Embossing Powder – Turn stamped images or sentiments into glossy raised designs. Use with VersaMark ink and heat tool. Comes in many colors including metallics. Stamp with Versamark, pour/spoon/dip into embossing powder, tap off excess then use heat tool about an inch away from the powder until it turns shiny/glossy and raised.
Funnel – You use a funnel to catch any excess embossing powder in and return the powder back to its original container. Other ways to return embossing powder to it’s container are: 1) a piece of scrap paper creased down the middle, 2) a coffee filter, 3) embossing trays with a built-in funnel end and brush, and 4) glitter trays.
Heat & Stick Powder – Use to adhere gilded leafing embellishment.
Heat Tool – Use to dry ink quickly or melt and set embossing powder.
INKS
Classic Stampin’ Ink Pads – Are stackable, flip open, and the firm foam ink pad is stored upside down so the ink is always close to the surface and ready for use. Ink is fast drying, dye based, and acid free. Pads can be re-inked with matching ink refill bottles.
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink – Use with alcohol-based markers or as a general-purpose ink. Acid free. Pads can be re-inked with refill bottles.
Stazon Ink – Use with water-based inks and can be used on non-porous surfaces. Acid free. Permanent ink. Use Stazon Ink Cleaner to remove from non-porous surfaces and red rubber stamps. Do not use this ink with photopolymer stamps. Ink pads can be re-inked with Stazon refill ink bottle.
Versamark Ink – An ink that creates tone on tone or watermark effects. Also used with embossing powder and the Heat Tool.
STAMPING IMAGES
You place a red rubber cling stamp or a clear photopolymer stamp onto a acrylic clear block. Both types of stamps have a raised area which when inked will imprint the design on it onto you paper or cardstock. Many stamp designs are available. Some are solid images, others are fine line designs. Depending on what type of ink you use, results will be varied but beautiful.
PAPERS
Designer Series Paper – Patterned paper that has coordinating or color complementary designs on each side. The nickname DSP but could also mean double sided paper. Acid free. Lignin Free.
Foil Paper – A thick glossy paper used in cardmaking.
Glimmer Paper – It is like a glitter paper, but the glitter doesn’t fall off and get on everything. Great for adding some sparkle to your project.
Masking Paper – A special paper with light adhesive on one side to keep paper sections ink free while stamping or coloring. When finished gently and slowly peel up the masking paper so no damage will occur to your project.
Stampin’ Up! Cardstock* – A classic, heavyweight cardstock (thick paper) is dyed all the way through so you won’t see any white edges when cut or torn. *except Basic White.
Vellum – A translucent paper that can be used as is with punch or die or can be colored on the back side for a stained-glass window effect in cardmaking. Can also be colored with Stampin’ Blends and spritzed with rubbing alcohol for interesting artsy results when dry.
Watercolor Paper – A heavy archival cotton textured paper suitable for water coloring. Acid free.
Window Sheets – Made of clear acetate plastic for use in box or card making, can also be die cut or embossed with an embossing folder.
A FEW DEFINITIONS
Card Base – Foundation upon which a card is built. A card base can be a variety of sizes, a variety of paper weights, and can be pre-scored too.
CASE – Copy and Share Everything or Copy and Selectively Edit.
Layer(s) – Layers of cardstock, vellum, glimmer paper, or foil that the card designer wants to use in their design. Usually the layers proportionally decrease in size by either 1/16″ or 1/8″ of an inch at a time. These layers create a stepped effect to help focus the eye on the main elements of the card design.
STAMPS
Cling Stamps – Stampin’ Up!s cling stamps are made of red rubber with a layer of foam cushion resulting in a well-stamped image. Their highly adhesive, coordinated image label helps the entire stamp to be super “clingy” to the clear acrylic block. You must be very careful when removing the cling stamp from the clear block so that you do not rip the foam cushion layer.
Distinktive Stamps – These Stampin’ Up! photopolymer stamps create different opacities in a single stamped image.
Photopolymer Stamps – Are made up of photopolymer material. These stamps are transparent and are available on plastic sheets inside their stamp cases. Crafters can use these stamps with clear acrylic blocks or stamp positioning tools to stamp the desired image or pattern onto a given surface. You are able to achieve precise alignment when Two-Step stamping, building scenes, or layering images.
Reversible Stamps – Stampin’ Up! has specialized photopolymer stamps with images on both sides.
Rubber Stamps – Are made from red rubber and they originally were mounted on wooden blocks of various sizes depending on the size of the stamp. However, those are falling out of fashion as it is difficult to see where you are stamping precisely. With Stampin’ Up!s invention of “cling” stamps, the red rubber and foam unit have a very sticky image or sentiment label when applied that stick really well to clear stamp blocks.
Two Step Stamping – A two-step process with two separate stamps. You stamp the first stamp with a crisp outline image, then fill in the details, such as highlights and shading with the second stamp.