Things To Draw In A Scrapbook

How to doodle on your scrapbook pages. Let's take a look at how you can incorporate your own doodles in your layouts. This will make your scrapbooking even more personal!

Doodles are simple drawings and scribbles that can be abstract or actually look like something. Doodling is so much fun and everybody can do it! There is no right or wrong way to do it. You can draw very simple and basic doodles or get those creative juices flowing and make something more elaborate. Use your doodles as the background to your photos and stories or make them into cute, little, and, above all, personal embellishments!

Want to see even more doodle-type art on scrapbook layouts? Check out this blog post that is all about ZENTANGLING on your pages!

Doodle A Cute Frame

Perhaps the most logical place to start doodling is to embellish the photos on your scrapbook. A relatively easy way to do that is to doodle a frame around them. Doodling is so versatile that you can adjust your doodles to fit any theme and any color scheme. Let's take a look at an example of a doodled photo frame!

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The photo of these cute dogs has a doodled frame. It is a cool mishmash of geometric shapes and it is kept in the color scheme of the page. Some interest was added by overlaying the doodles with a hexagon grid. The rest of the page has some doodled flower clusters, all in the same green and blue color scheme.

Doodle About Doodling

If you love to doodle, why not make a scrapbook page about it? After all, our hobbies deserve to be documented! So get that doodling genius in gear and start drawing!

This layout attempts to answer that century-old question: To Doodle Or Not To Doodle? For me, and hopefully for you too, the answer will always be: To Doodle! I love that the doodles on this page reflect the personal style of their creator. The handwritten journaling fits in with the doodling theme perfectly, and even has some doodling around it!

Doodle In Shapes

Doodling has a lot in common with zentangling, especially when you limit your doodles to fit a particular shape. It is a great way of creating unique page elements for your layouts that go beyond "just" doodling. They can help set the theme of the page and create some playful visual interest.

I suppose technically this should be described as journaling in a shape, which in this case it the bold, big letters of the title. But this would also look awesome with some actual doodle-drawings in those letters! I love that the rest of the page has some very personal doodles, love thos little skulls!), most of which are clustered in the right bottom corner. The whole layout is pulled together by a doodled frame around the entire piece. The creative way the photo has been altered deserved a special mention!

Here is another layout with word doodles. This time the word "snow" has been doodled over and over in different sizes and fonts into flower petal shapes. Or are they snowflakes? Either way, the effect is very cute and the doodles flower-snowflakes fit the minimalistic look of the rest of the page beautifully. This layout shows that even when you feel you're not very good at doodling shapes you can still doodle with words!

Doodle On Pattern Paper

If that white piece of cardstock is just too daunting for you why not start with a patterned paper background and doodle on that? This way you can follow along already existing lines to emphasize certain shapes of the existing pattern. Or you could follow your artistic heart and just make your own doodles, creating instant embellishments for the page. Let's take a look at an example!

First of all, how cute are those photos! This kid is ready for some big adventures with those cool shades! Now let's look at the doodling. The patterned paper that was used as the background has a very doodly vibe to it itself. The added black doodles therefore fit right in! I love that the doodled plant vine-type shapes are embellished with some cute little white flowers. The color scheme of the layout fits the bright colors of the kid's outfit perfectly!

Doodle On People's Faces

We've all done it: draw mustaches on people's faces in magazines or newspapers. It's just one of those things kids love to do! So why not be a little naughty and doodle something awesome on the faces of the people in your photos? Especially if it helps set the vibe or theme of the page. Or maybe just because it is sooo much fun!

I love this layout. The photo is perfect for some added doodles! I think these particular doodles were added digitally, but the principle stands. So let yourself get inspired by those cute Snapchat filters, after all, that is a way of doodling on your selfie! Make yourself, or other people in your layout photos, into a cat or other animal. Add some awesome mustache or cool sunglasses. Apply makeup or some elaborate hairstyle. Just have some fun!

Doodle To Support The Theme

You can always doodle whatever you want on your pages, but it is a great idea to get inspiration for your doodles from the theme or subject of your page. Creating doodles that support the theme (birthday, summer, Christmas etc.) helps to pull the layout together whilst still giving it that playful look. It is a great way to embellish your page without distracting from the focal point or the theme!

This first layout is a great example of doodling to support the theme. In fact the little doodles help to tell the story of the photo even further. The little cloud doodles tell us about the weather conditions. The newspaper doodled banner give a festive feeling to the layout and the little letter, number and phone doodles help us understand what the little kid is actually doing! I love the way some of the doodles are swirled around the photo creating both a photo frame and a whirlwind of action.

The kids in these photos are basketball stars! And the star and swirl doodles totally support that superstar theme. The big star behind the photo cluster sets the tone, together with the title and the red doodled star rises to dizzying heights in a mighty doodled swirl. Such a fun way to decorate a scrapbook page! Notice how the big star is angled, adding even more playfulness to the layout!

Doodle Your Own Background

Only have boring monochrome scrapbook papers? Not to worry: just doodle on it to create an interesting and very unique background! It is a great way to get those creative juices flowing and add something truly personal to your scrapbook layouts.

This layout has a background that has been completely filled with doodles! You could almost argue that it is more of a zentangled page than doodled. I love the very creative way the journaling is included in the doodles. The creator of this page was clearly inspired by those song lyrics and just went for it! I love that the colors of the photos match the color of the photo frames and the color of the doodles. This way the layout is very cohesive.

This layout shows a completely different doodling style to create a lovely background. The doodles fit the title of "Bloom into you" beautifully. I love the monochrome aspect of the page, combining the black and white photo with the grey of the pencil drawings. With this kind of doodling your kids could create the background to their own pages!

The hearts on this page are created using stencils, the rest of the doodles are drawn freehand. What a great idea to combine those two techniques! This way your hearts are perfectly drawn and you still have the playfulness of the rest of the doodles. I love this chalkboard look, it kind of fits the black and white coloring of the little dog!

I love this completely over-the-top look! It's like someone wanted to try out their new red marker in every possible way. Notice that the enthusiastic doodling is not restricted to just the background: the creator of this page happily doodled on the photo itself as well! My favorite doodles on this page are the little golden crowns and tiaras added to every person's head. The color combination of gold and red is perfect for Christmas!

Another doodled layout that is inspired by song lyrics! This time the chorus of the song is doodled in white on the photo matte (matching the black and white photo!) and the rest of the lyrics are doodled in black on the red background. Listening to an inspiring song whilst doodling is a great way to get a free flow of creativity going!

This layout is just hilarious! The photo is funny and that is emphasized by the journaling in the blue speech bubble. The main colors of the page are red, white and blue, with black doodling on the white paper background. The page is filled with over-the-top "Vegas-style" doodling, resulting in a very unique and personal style. Making this layout must have been so much fun!

This layout shows some of the possibilities of adding color to extensive background doodling. I love the little white doodled circles that are randomly colored in. This kind of doodled structure can work very well to create all sorts of different backgrounds.

Paste Cut-Out Doodles

By doodling on different colored paper and cutting them out you can use your created doodles as unique and personal embellishments on your scrapbook layouts. Doodle your own little flowers, swirls and shapes, cut them out and place them in gorgeous clusters on your pages. This will instantly give that 3D look to your doodles embellishments.

For this layout random swirl doodles have been cut out and used as embellishments. The swirls support the snowy theme of the page, creating a sort of snow storm together with the white snowflakes. Adding the doodled swirls this way gives an extra (3D!) dimension to the layout. I love that the swirls have two colors: the light blue of the paper and black pen scribbles. This adds extra movement to the swirl doodle embellishments.

In this layout a whole doodled flower cluster was added. The doodles have been drawn on white paper with a rather thick marker, which gives an awesome effect. I love how some doodled flowers are added to other places on the page and how the use of the thick marker is continued in the title and some of the journaling.

Doodle The Skyline Or Other landmarks

Add a little personality to your pages by doodling the skyline or some other famous landmarks of your place of destination! What a great way to embellish those travel layouts! Doodle your route on a map, doodle on your photo to show which hotel room was yours or just add doodles of those familiar touristic sights!

This doodled skyline is not strictly speaking the literal skyline of New York City, but it does add a nice urban feel to the page. Especially, since that skyline doodle was combined with some pidgeons, fire hydrants and the famous New York City yellow cabs! The hexagon-shaped photos give a nice impression of what looks to be a fun city trip! The paint splatters add a little inner city grunge to the layout.

Use Doodled Pattern Paper Or Embellishments

Not sure about your doodling abilities, or just not sure about what shapes to doodle? Don't worry: there are patterned papers and embellishments out there that have done all the doodling for you. Just add a nice collection of them to your page and hey presto: a very personal and unique looking layout with premade doodle embellishments!

These cute and colorful firework embellishments are a perfect example of premade (digital) doodles. The title doodles are also premade. You can cluster these elements in any way you want, just like regular embellishments. The result is a colorful, personal and unique page that perfectly documents those wonderful family memories!

In this layout pre-made doodles were added in the form of a doodled doily, yellow dotted circles and doodled red and black frames. The combination of all these very different doodles is a very colorful and unique page! The vibe of the layout perfectly fits the cute and sassy photo!

This layout has a completely different vibe to that of the previous layouts. It is a classic layout that uses cute scratchily doodled flowers (hello, design triangle!) and doodled hand-lettered title. I love how the doodled black flowers are combined with those yellow paper ones. Grey and yellow is such a beautiful color combination. The yellow really pops off the page!

Doodle Your Journaling

Why restrict your doodling to just some embellishments or the background? No need! It is so much fun using doodles in your journaling and titles! Let's take a look at how some of our fellow scrapbookers have done just that!

This is the left page of a two-page spread, which is why the title seems to stop mid-sentence. There are doodles in the title that help to emphasize the meaning of the words. Also, the journaling itself is filled with doodles like little hearts substituting the letter "O" in the word "Love" and doodled lettering. Different colors are used, adding an extra playful touch to the journaling. This kind of journaling sure looks like a lot of fun!

This layout has both doodling in the corner of the page and doodling in the journaling. A quote or song lyric is used for journaling and the wavy lines on which the funky differently sized letters are written beautifully fits the theme. I love the addition of the wings. The white of the wings is mirrored in the white "colored-in" letters in the journaling. All elements together create a very ethereal layout vibe.

Use Mixed Techniques

Sure, you can doodle with pens, pencils and markers! But why stop there? Have you ever considered mixing up some techniques and for instance doodle using embroidery? Or using stamps? Or anything really? Well, I've found two layouts online that have combined some techniques onto one gorgeously doodled page.

We'll forgive the typo since the layout is so cute! Don't you just love the blue-on-blue doodling on this page? And just take a look at those embroidered doodles! So cute! What a great idea to use stitching in this way! I absolutely adore the winged letter "R" that is filled with bigger and smaller hearts. It is an absolutely precious layout!

This layout has a different doodling combination. As far as I can tell, the extensive floral doodles are either preprinted on the page or (digital) stamps. The cluster around the photo contains colorful little doodled balloons and other doodly embellishments. The result is a playful and colorful feast for the eyes.

Need More Inspiration? Consider Zentangling!

If you like doodling and scribbling on your pages, you might want to consider doing some zentangling too! Take a look at this blogpost to get some more inspiration on how to embellish your layouts using your own creativity!