March Madness - watermarking your work

It's been a while since a newsletter and I apologize. In my defense, I've been in the process of publishing a novel! Being a web-designer makes designing a website and book cover very handy!

So, today, we are going to learn how to watermark your work in PSP.
Lesson here
If you'd like to check out my book, go to www.theemeraldtalisman.com

Making Glossy Mouse-Over buttons

I apologize for missing last month's newsletter, but to make up for it, I'm showing you today a really cool mouse-over trick and how to make the buttons (which does not show work in blogger but you could use on your other sites)!

Imagine mousing over the blue button, and it changes to purple.

You'll need paint shop pro, and Eye Candy 5 - Impact to do this tutorial. VIDEO HERE

If you want to learn more about adding them to your web page, and configuring them, please go to www.designbybrenda.com/classes and take advantage of my Fall special for HTML classes.

Hugs,

Stuck on what colors to use?

Color... it'll make you or break your work. I don't know about you, but I struggle in this area a lot. I find a great tube or picture I want to use it in my designs, and then try my hardest to find contrasting colors to make it pop off the page... and end up disappointed.
I questioned if I even had the knack anymore. I know what looks good and what doesn't, but I didn't know why. I was fine if I copied someone else's color scheme, but doing one of my own? I kept hoping I'd just magically find the colors that would make my pages look breathtaking, but have come up empty handed until I discovered the color wheel.
Colors actually have relationships. When Sir Issac Newton figured out how to put the colors in this fancy wheel, he made a huge break-through.
So, there's a few ways you can mix colors together.

MONOCHROMATIC using the same color in different shades	ANALOGOUS using 3 colors next to each other on the color wheel
COMPLEMENTARY using colors directly across from each other on the wheel. Offers the most contrast	SPLIT COMPLEMENTARY using the analogous colors of the compliment. Reduces the high tension of a complementary scheme
TRIADIC COLOR using 3 colors evenly spaced across the wheel. Gives balance and harmony	TETRADIC COLOR dual complementary scheme that gives lots of color choices. Pick a dominate color for the best effect.

I've also found a cool color wheel program that does this for you, so there's no guesswork. http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/
So, I hope it'll help steer you in the right direction of what colors to pick and avoid in your design!
To your design success,