The CTMH My Crush books are gorgeous inside and out.  I love the covers and how they reflect different looks and personalities.  But did you know that you could add your own creative touches, to really make it yours?

Here are the covers of a few of my My Crush albums:





Don't be afraid to let your creativity loose!  Stamping and diecuts can really make your My Crush album personalized just for you!

All month, I've been giving you tips on how to be creative and work with My Crush albums for a variety of reasons and types of memory keeping.  I've been keeping a My Crush album to document the things that make me happy and hope to continue adding to it all year long.

But as I've mentioned before, I've also been working on a My Crush album to complement my traditional scrapbooking for our recent trip to Hawaii.  The album was given to me, and already partially embellished by my amazing Secret Sister Denise.  And here are some ways that I've filled in the pages ....




Postcards and room cards fit perfectly -- use a Flip Flap as a pocket to keep them safe.

Pocket scrapbooking is a hot trend, and I love how the little cards make scrapbooking so easy.  I also love how Picture My Life cards can be so versatile and used for so many things.

So if I can use PML cards for making other things, why not add them to my My Crush album?

Here are some spreads, featuring my 10-year-old son Charlie, using PML cards.  I love how they turned out.


Here, I used cards to convey various messages, then cut out the star from a third PML card to add as an accent.  After all, Charlie is my Superstar!


And here, I use the cards primarily as accents, cutting and punching as needed to add to the page.

So if you're stuck for accent for your My Crush layout, dig out your PML cards and get creative.  They're not just for pocket scrapbooking!

I like collecting ticket stubs, receipts, cards and trinkets when we go on vacation.  It's an interesting way to add to the story and documenting memories.  But sometimes, it's difficult to work them into a traditional scrapbooking layout -- you don't want to cut them to make them fit, but you don't want to leave them out.  So what do you do?

You make a pocket!  This technique works for both 12x12 layouts as well as My Crush memory keeping.

Here, I'm making a My Crush album with memories from our recent CTMH Incentive Trip to Hawaii.  My Secret Sister Denise gave me this album, and I'm using it as a complement to the traditional layouts I'm creating -- it's a great place for all those brochures, tickets and other memorabilia that I collected.


This is one of the opening spreads.  At Aulani, they left us a little newsletter each day, with all the happenings around the resort.  So I used a paper shopping bag that I got and attached it to the page.  I'm going to fold up the "Daily 'Iwa" editions and tuck it in that bag.  Then, later on, I can pull them out, read all sides, and remember the good times we had.

Your My Crush album is a great place to try out different journaling techniques.  Writing or using an existing recipe, like I did in this post earlier this month, is one way to journal.  Another way is to get multiple people writing something about the same event or memory.

I created this spread about my son Sam's Sea Cadet Awards Ceremony that was held in May.  Sea Cadets is a big part of his life, and he works hard to reach his goals within this group.



So I took the "He Said, She Said" approach to journal about this special night.  I wrote about how proud we are of him.  And I let him have his say, too.  Flip Flaps are great for this type of journaling because you can make the most of your space.

I think I've said before how much I love washi tape.  It's fun, colourful and versatile -- good for just about everything.  And that includes CRUSHING.


Often, I use washi tape to make it look like I've just taped a photo or journaling spot onto the page.  But on this spread, I took the washi tape a bit further.

Some of our most favourite memories are associated with food.  So why not add that to your CRUSH book?  One of my husband's favourite family recipes is for Lemon Orange Cake -- his Nanny used to make it for him as long as he can remember.  And I think the memories of visits with his grandparents make this cake just as tasty as the cake itself.

Here, I've CRUSHED a piece of Lemon Orange cake that I made for Hubby's birthday, along with the recipe on a recipe card.


I inserted the recipe into a Flip Flap, so that we could see both sides of the recipe card.  And then I hid some special journaling underneath the recipe card.



I kept the rest of the page simple, so that the recipe was the hero.

Don't have a recipe?  Use the recipe format for other journaling.  For example, if you're doing a page about a sweet girl in your life, maybe the recipe is:

Come back throughout the month for more tips and tricks for your CRUSH books.

Want to learn more?  Come out to my "52 Weeks of Happiness" Crush Workshop.

Lately, I've been crushing the things that make me happy -- from family recipes to special occasions to every day silliness.  I love the freedom and unstructured creativity that comes with CRUSHING.

Here are some tips to make crushing faster, simpler, easier ... and super fun!

CRUSH Tip:  Keep It Simple, Sweetheart.  And keep it flat.

The beauty of Crush books is that they don't have to be over complicated.  Simple photos.  Simple embellishments.  Simple techniques.  You can really capture memories while you're on the go, or catch up quickly if you're behind.  The pages are already beautiful, so you don't have to add much to create a gorgeous page.  And simplicity helps your photos POP.

Another part of keeping things simple is keeping it FLAT.  You don't want a lot of dimensional or hard embellishments bulking up your book.  Because the pages are bound in, bulky bling can make it more difficult to work with future pages.  It may also make your book as a whole too think and cumbersome.  Keep your Crush books flat, light and uncluttered.



This layout is about my newly-decorated living room.  It's my oasis and the place I want to go when I need to relax.  So I just used a little bit of washi tape and a few simple stamps to embellish the pages.  Journalling finishes it off.


This one page layout is all about my breakfast.  Not too exciting for outsiders, but I like routine and I am a creature of habit.  This page is a reflection of me and it makes me smile.  Again, it's flat and simple, with a little washi, a few stamps and a little bit of me left on the page.

Come back throughout the month for more tips and tricks for your CRUSH books.

Want to learn more?  Come out to my "52 Weeks of Happiness" Crush Workshop.

This month's special campaign features some great albums called My Crush.  Good for travel, good for baby albums, good for "all about me" books -- they are fun, pretty and versatile.  I'll be blogging all month about My Crush but while I'm working on some stuff to show you, check out this great video and introduce yourself to My Crush!


Check out my "deals" page for more info on the Summer Crush campaign.

I love ice cream.  My hubby loves ice cream.  My kids LOOOOVE ice cream.  We always have some of that cold, creamy goodness in our house.  So when we went on our cruise last spring and there was a self-serve frozen yogurt machine right on the pool deck, we were all in HEAVEN.

This month's Stamp of the Month was deliciously perfect for a layout about the Fro-Yo machine.  And the Blossom papers were the ideal colours -- nice and fresh and cool.

Take a look!



Like what you see?  You can make this layout at my "One Layout, Two Looks" workshop on June 19.  Learn more here.

And get your "Ice Cream Dream" stamp of the month for just $5 when you spend $50 or more this month!  Details here.