Where can I recycle stuff?

I have some old electronics, a half gallon of old paint and some batteries to things I no longer own. I don't want to just throw them in the trash but don't know where I can take things locally.
Here is a site to help!

Try http://earth911.com
Just type in what you want to recycle and your location. You'll get a list of sites locally that can recycle your item. Now you can get rid of the things you don't need and, feel good about it.

Now for my video of the month. It's been around a while but if you haven't seen it, you'll enjoy a good laugh. If you have seen it, it's always worth watching again.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I love surprises, especially surprises that can make others smile.
Let's make it a better world by sharing a little love and remember, you're never too old to have fun.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
to all my Photoshop friends!

Create watercolor text in Photoshop

Need some unique looking text? I'll take you throw the steps on how I created the following example:(This tutorial may be difficult for a "beginner". You'll need to know how to work with layers and change blending modes)
First you'll need some artistic looking paper. You can find paper like this online at sites like Bing by just typing in "paper backgrounds" when searching for images.

• In my example above I started with File>New>500x300 pixels with a white background.
• Create a new layer and fill it with white and name it "Text" (the next 7 steps are done on the Text layer)
  
• Select the Horizontal Type Mask Tool and select a script font (I used Brush Script-see example)
• The size of your font will depend on how much text you plan on adding. I used 250 pt.
• Type what you want as long as it fits on your canvas
• Select>Modify>Feather (4-6 pixels in this example)
• Select your paint colors for the foreground and background (I used blue foreground and burgundy background)
• Filter>Render>Clouds
• Deselect then Filter>Artistic>Watercolor (adjust settings as desired)
• Copy and paste your paper picture onto a new layer
• Move the "paper" layer below the text layer
• Select the text layer and change the blending mode to "Multiply"
• For the final touch, change the opacity of the text layer down to around 80%
  

Now your watercolor painted text is just slightly transparent and looks wonderful on your paper background!
BONUS!

Out of gift tags?
With all chaos during this holiday season, did you forget the gift tags? Not a problem.
Just go to the following site to create custom gift tags! You’ll find themes for any occasion and be able to print them right on your printer and from the comfort of your home.
Merry Christmas!
http://www.dltk-cards.com/tags/tag2.asp

FREE calendar creation

Sometimes you just would like a calendar to hang on the refrigerator on laying by your phone. Here is a site that lets you create and print a calendar for free.
CalendarLabs lets you can print yearly or monthly calendars.

These calendars can be customized. For example, you can add holidays to your yearly calendar.
It's simple, customizable and the best part, it's free.

http://www.calendarlabs.com/

And now, for my movie of the month.
There is beauty all around us. Take the time to enjoy our beautiful world my Photoshop friends.

Photoshop - Layer Styles Tips

Sometimes getting a perfect effect in your layer styles takes some work and patience. If you get that layer style exactly the way you want it, how do you duplicate that perfection onto another layer?
Well, you don't have to write down all the settings in your Layers Styles Panel then add these effects to your new layer. Here is a quick trick.
Hold down your alt/opt key and drag that layer style icon (fx) to the layer you want to apply that perfect layer style on.
Want to see how it's done? Watch my short video below. :-)
layer_style_tips2