Hi, my name is Karen and my shop at MyMemories is KJDdesigns. I have been designing since 2015. I am a designer/crafter at heart. I love to create. Sewing, scrapbooking, and origami are just a few of the crafts I have done over the years. As soon as computers started showing up in homes, and schools; I was hooked. I even taught computer classes all over the USA for five years.
As I was surfing the Internet one day, I came across an opportunity to win MyMemories Suite v2, so I entered. And I won! That was a while ago! We are now in version 9.
I decided to dig deeper into this “digital scrapbooking” thing and I was amazed at the number of Acronyms used. Just as I thought I had learned them all, I would see a new one being used. I was constantly asking what does this mean, what does that mean? LOL So today, I am writing for the “newbies” in digital scrapbooking. I want to help you understand what everyone is talking about. The best advice I can give to the “newbies” is to join MyMemories Forum where they have challenges. This is the best way to learn new things and to push yourself to try something new. As long as I have been designing, I still learn new techniques, and short cuts. Also purchasing MyMemories Suite will be a tremendous help in your creating and designing.
Think about it, a lot of things have their own language. Math has a language of its own, as does music, boating, and yes even digital scrapbooking. So, let’s get started!

Getting to Know the “Lingo”

365/Project 365/Photo 365 - Refers to the challenge of taking a picture every day of the year and creating layouts. It’s like having a photo journal of the year.

ATC – (Artist Trading Card) These miniature works of art can be created in many mediums, including digital. The canvas size is typically 2 ½ X 3 ½ inches. They are often swapped with other artists or collected in a similar way to other trading cards such as baseball cards.

BLINKIE – A small graphic (often rotating or flashing in some way) to advertise a site, or a favorite designer. Digital scrapbookers will often display blinkies in a forum signature line, or on a blog.

BT – (Blog Train) A group of designers who make individual small kits centered around a theme and/or color palette. They post these kits for free on their blogs so when others go to the sites of each designer and download their kit, they end up with one large kit. You can be a designer for the blog train, a person who downloads the parts of the train, or both. Joining a Blog Train is free.

CANVAS – The area of your page in MyMemories where you build your layout.

CLUSTER – A grouping of digital embellishments.

CREDITS – A list of the designers’ names in which you used part of their product in a kit or layout. A list of credits can be placed in the Terms of Use, in a post or in a gallery where you are displaying your layout.

CROPPING – Reducing the size of a photo or cutting out a specific area of a picture to use. Just like with paper scrapping, you can crop pictures to use on digital layouts.

CT – (Creative Team) This is a team that is put together by an online store or digital designer to help them showcase their products and designs. Creative Team members are usually required to create and post a certain number of layouts in exchange for free product and/or other benefits.

CU – (Commercial Use) Products labeled as CU can be used for commercial projects. With the items provided in a kit, you can create items or papers and resell them. Once again, be sure to read the TOU in the kit on exactly what can or cannot be done to the elements, and how the items can be sold. Usually if a kit is appropriate for commercial use it can also be used for PU/ S4H or S4O. The kit you make with CU items can only be sold for PU.

License – Allows you to use other designer’s creations in a kit that you re-sell. Some Licenses are free. Some designers require you to purchase a CU License from them before using their creations in a kit you sell. Licenses can cost anywhere from $5.00 to $100.00. Again, this information can be found in the kit’s TOU. It is best to always give credit to designers even if they don’t require it. It’s just the courteous thing to do.

CU4CU – (Commercial Use for Commercial Use) Products that allow the customer to create their own commercial use products from the provided elements or papers. When using CU4CU kits make sure to read the Terms of Use. If a kit is CU4CU it is usually okay for CU/PU/S4H/S4O. Items that are used from a CU4CU kit may be sold in your kit as CU.

DESIGNER – A person who creates digital and/or paper products for scrapbookers to use.

DIGI/DIGI SCRAPING – An abbreviation for digital scrapbooking.

Digital Scrapbook Programs – A computer program like, MyMemories Suite, that allows you to create papers, embellishments, layouts, and photobooks.

DPI – (Dots Per Inch) Which is a measure of printing resolution. The industry standard for digital scrapbooking products is 300 dpi.

DROP SHADOWS – Shadowing added to your elements and/or papers to add dimension and realism to digital scrapbook layouts.

DT – (Design Team) Another name for Creative Team.

EHD – (External Hard Drive) which is a storage device for files that is separate from a main computer. It is portable and plugs into the computer via USB drive. It is a good way to have a back-up of your files.

ELEMENTS/EMBELLISHMENT/ELLIES – Individual objects that are found in a kit. An example of an element would be a flower, button, banner, etc. These objects vary in size but should always be at 300px for the resolution.

FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions

FLASH DRIVE/JUMP DRIVE – A small USB drive for saving and transporting files.

FLATTENED – Means that the page is one unit consisting of one layer. This way the layout cannot be changed.

FONTS – A complete set of characters having different looks or designs.

FREEBIES – Something given out for free!

GRAYSCALE – A colorless image or element meant to be re-colored.

HYBRID – A combination of paper scrapbooking and digital scrapbooking. You can customize and print digital items and then print them out and embellish them with physical scrapbooking items. More than just layouts, this can be items like party decorations, holiday gifts, goodie bags, greeting cards etc.

JOURNALING – The words included on a scrapbook layout.

JPEG/JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) A file format used for storing and transporting photographs and digital images. Digital backgrounds do not need any transparent area, so they are saved as jpgs. If you are creating hybrid cards they can also be saved as jpgs.

KITS – A coordinated collection of digital papers and embellishments that are sold together as a set.

LAYERS – Similar to a set of transparencies that can be stacked on top of each other, to create your layout, used in some scrapbooking programs. MyMemories has layers so you can move your images around and place one on top of another.

LICENSE AGREEMENT – An agreement between you and a designer that would entitle you to the “use” of the item that is purchased. This agreement doesn’t give you complete rights of the image in question, but only the right to use it, according to the designer’s terms.

LO – (Layout) A layout is your finished scrapbook page.

LOTW – (Layout of the Week) Several sites and forums use this acronym when they pick a favorite layout to showcase.

ONLINE BACKUP – Storing photos and digital files on the internet.

PAPER/BACKGROUNDS – These are papers created for the background of a layout. They are usually 3600 pixels X 3600 pixels (12″ x 12″) and always 300px.

PB/BB - (Photobooks/Brag Books) These are pages that are completely pre-designed and flattened. You only need to add your photos and then share or print.

PHOTO EDITING – Making changes to a photograph in a digital editing program.

PIXELS – The tiniest piece of a digital image.

PNG – (Portable Network Graphics) Digital Elements that have a transparent background are PNG files. This can be stamps, stickers, or any type of element. Quick Pages are also in png format where the photo area needs to be clear so you can place your photo behind the QP.

PPI – (Pixels Per Inch) Refers to how many ‘pixels per inch’ there are in the makeup of your image. The digital scrapbooking industry has set its standard at 300pixels. So, when creating and making your elements and papers, use 300px.

PU – (Personal Use) You can use the product for your own personal use.

PX – (Pixels) The individual little color squares of an overall image.

QP – (Quick Page) A predesigned digital scrapbook page saved in a flattened form with a transparent spot(s) for a photo(s). The only thing left to do is to add a photo or photos.

R4R – (Resale for Resale) This means you have purchased a Resale for Resale license from a designer and they are allowing you to Resell their product. You must abide by their TOU to do so.

S4H – (Scrap for Hire) You can use the items to create a flattened layout for other people and they pay you for the service of creating the layout.

S4O – (Scrap for Others) Same as above except you don’t get paid for your work.

SCRAPLIFT/ LIFT - Copying (with credit) another scrapper’s layout.

SCREEN SHOT – A captured shot of the full computer screen on a computer.

TEMPLATES – Templates are usually layered files that you can use as a starting place to create a layout. You’ll need photos, digital papers, and digital elements to customize your layout. Most templates will allow you to move things around as much as you like for complete customization. Elements can also come in template form to allow you to customize them for your work.

TIFF – (Tagged Image File Format) A flexible format that can accommodate layered files.

TITLE WORK – The art of creating a title for a layout.

TOU – (Terms of Use) The terms under which you can use someone’s product. Every kit should include a TOU. You should also READ the TOU in the kits you use as they vary from designer to designer.

TUTORIAL/TUT– A step by step description of how to do something. Can be in written, audio, or video form.

TWO PAGE LAYOUTS – A layout that spans two pages and looks cohesive in design across the space of an open book. Layouts are 3600px (12”) wide, a two-page layout will be 7200px (24”) wide. Both will still be 3600px (12”) tall.

UNZIP – To open or undo the zip file format that digital products are delivered in so that you can use them.

WordArt – Words or phrases customized by a designer as an element. These will be a png or tiff file format.

ZIP – (A data compression and archival file format) A zip file is an archive that contains one or more files compressed or "zipped" using zip compression.