Doodling: You Can Do It!

It seems like scrapbooking trends are just like fashion. Everything will come back in style eventually, so hang on to everything you own. Take pens, for instance. Five years ago, I did not scrapbook a single page without pulling out my box of pens to accent my titles, punchart and paper piecings. While paper piecing may not yet be back in style, my pens are getting used more than ever before.

Everywhere I look, penwork is being used to accent layouts. Whether it is a whole page of doodles and accents, or just using a pen to journal, everyone is doing it. Penwork is an easy way to add an inexpensive handmade touch to your work of art. Even if you are like me and do not consider yourself a freestyle artist, you can find ways to work this hot trend into your layouts.

So, pull out your own box of pens or go buy a new favorite. It is time to doodle and draw!

Practice makes perfect. The first step to feeling confident with your pen is to start with some basic lines and loops. Take out a scratch piece of paper and draw a box. In that box, draw some straight lines over and over again. Pay attention to how you hold the pen and the angle of your hand. A hand held to closely to the paper may tend to smudge your pen lines. Don't labor over each line; instead draw aimlessly and quickly. Once you feel confident with those lines, change direction and add some waves to the lines. Move to a new box and draw lines that swirl, curve, zig zag and loop in random patterns. Learn to accept "mistakes" and imperfections, as those are a trademark part of doodling.

Now it is time to go beyond basic lines. You are now ready to combine your lines with some basic shapes like stars, hearts, diamonds, flowers and circles. Start with the simple shape and then add outlines, dots or swirly lines. If you are not confident in your ability to draw the basic shapes, look for dingbat fonts or clip art that you can trace with a lightbox. Instead of drawing a shape, you could use doodles to accent a die cut, sticker or punched shape. Still not confident enough to draw directly on your page? Doodle onto a piece of cardstock and then add that to your layout.

Incorporating doodles into your layouts can be as easy as doodling something at the edges of the photos, to something as complex as an entire doodled background. Here are a few ideas for simple ways to add doodles to your layouts:

• Handwrite your journaling on to doodle lines, adding some extra flourishes to a large drop cap letter at the beginning.
  
  
• Draw doodle lines around your page, adding a few basic shapes in the corners.
  
  
• Doodle onto a transparency and overlay that on your page.
  
  
• Use a template to draw an outline letter and then fill in that letter with doodles.
  
  
• Add doodles to a title or subtitle word.
  
  
• Doodle on to a pre-made embellishment to make it your own.
  
  
• Mix pen doodles with other random marks from paint, brads, rhinestones or thread.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Doodle random words around a photo mat or other shape.

By playing a little with your pens, you can find many ways to fit doodling into your personal scrapbook style. Keep it structured or make it totally random - you can do it!