2 Options for Editing Your Photos for Free

  

Striking as it may be, the above photos are a "before" editing and "after" editing. No idea where that green overlay came from though. That wasn't there before editing. Hmm. Anyway, the great part? This photo of Homemade Cinnamon Roll Ice Cream was edited in a free photo-editing program!

There are two great options for FREE photo editing:

Picnik.com - This website allows you to upload a photo and edit it right there online. There are auto fixes, color & exposure settings, resizing, red-eye correction, and other basics. You can also add text and borders. All of these editing tools are free. Picnik offers an upgraded edition for a monthly fee, but for basic photo editing the free version is just fine. 

Gimp - This is freely distributed "image manipulation" software, as the creators call it. In plain English, this program is almost exactly like your basic Photoshop but it is free! As far as I can tell, it has all of the basic tools that Photoshop has, it uses the same symbols for the tools and they are used all in the same way, making it a cinch for anyone who has used Photoshop. This is the program I use most of the time, since it gives me much more control. If I need to simply "pop" or resize a photo for use on Examiner or a blog, then I do it quickly at Picnik. But Gimp is fantastic for really working with photos. There is a Mac and a Windows version available.

Happy Free Editing!

Jazz up Your Blog for Free: 4 Places to Find Backgrounds

This blog used to be hosted on Typepad. The reason for this is that designing a blog and adding elements in Typepad is like using a WYSIWYG website designer. So easy and self-explanatory, and I can SEE what I am doing, rather than changing code. Though I've wanted to do neat things that I see on other blogs, the idea of changing code and figuring out how to do things (as opposed to just uploading and  dragging elements around, as in Typepad) has always secretly scared me. 

I recently happened upon some beginner blog helps and tutorials - not on purpose - and was inspired to try something new. I started at Kevin & Amanda's blog and instantly thought, "Hey! I can follow simple step-by-step instructions. Maybe I CAN veer from Typepad!" 

So I am here on Blogger now and playing around with my blog's look and feel and details. As I learn new things I will post them on this blog for anyone else who may be scared of this stuff!

Here are four great places to start!:

Shabby Blogs

The Cutest Blog on the Block

Allie Brown's Layouts

My Style Backgrounds

One quick note: keep flipping through designs. On one of these sites, and I don't remember which one, the designs were so-so and then about 11-12 pages in, they were fantastic and I was loving it!

Happy Designing!