Design Your Own Programs, Flyers, and Greeting Cards with Microsoft Publisher

Microsoft Publisher has long been one of my favorite tools. While you can do almost anything you want in Word, I find Publisher makes it easier to manuplate text and pictures to get the desired results. As Secretary of a local organization, I have used Publisher to create and print a monthly news letter, the by-laws in booklet form, flyers to advertise fund raisers, tickets to the fund raisers, personalized birthday cards, certificates to be given to members, gift certificates, and business cards. If you can imagine it, you can create it in Publisher. Microsoft Publisher is an easy-to-use application.

Once you click on File and New the Microsoft Publisher Catalog pictured here opens with an extensive list of possible projects including those mentioned above and many more including postcards, invitations, calendars, and labels.



Here you can select from a library of hundreds of templates or blank publications. When you click on the categories on the left examples are displayed on the right. Once you select the example with the layout similar to what you want the Quick Publication Wizard opens and walks you through the setup process. After you have finished the layout process, you can edit and change any pictures, wording, fonts, etc., you want. Professional publications have never been easier.

If you have addresses stored in Microsoft Office Excel, Microsoft Office Outlook, Microsoft Office Access, and more, you can combine and edit these mailing lists within Publisher. Then you can create mail merge projects enabling you to personalize envelopes, certificates, greeting cards and other projects.

To get your copy of Microsoft Publisher 2007 you can go to TigerDirect or CompUSA and purchase Microsoft Publisher or you can go to Microsoft Windows Marketplace and download it. Get your copy today and start printing your own greeting cards, signs, business cards, booklets, etc. Remember, if you can imagine it, you can accomplish it in Publisher.

Make Perfect Group Shots with Adobe Photoshop Elements 7

Did you ever want that perfect family picture, but couldn’t get all the kids to look up or smile at the same time? Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 has the element for you. Here are three pictures. In the first one the mother is looking up and smiling, the second has the little boy is looking up, and the third the little girl is smiling.




With Adobe Photoshop Elements Group Shot Element, I combined all three for the perfect picture.





On the main menu bar I clicked on File then New. This opened a drop-down menu from which I selected Photomerge Group Shot. After that the instructions were on the right hand side of the screen. I followed the directions and you see the results.

Get Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 today and create your perfect group shot.

Adobe Photoshop Elements Download Your Free Trial Today

Adobe was founded in December 1982 and in 1989 introduced Adobe Photoshop which quickly became its main product and the industry standard for graphics professionals. Their line of products has continued to progress and in September, 2008, Photoshop CS4 (Creative Suite) was released. This new release features many additions which are beyond my current understanding. I hope to explore and report on some of these possibilities such as the ability to paint directly on 3D models, wrap 2D images around 3D shapes, add depth to layers and text, and more.

The current Photoshop family contains four products:

• Photoshop Elements 7.0 for Windows \ Photoshop Elements 7.0 for Macintosh
• Photoshop Express beta
• Photoshop Lightroom 2
• Photoshop CS4 (x86 and x64)

Today we will look at the Photoshop Elements 7.0 for Windows, the #1 selling consumer photo-editing software. Here are a few of the positive attributes:

1. With it you can organize your photos by tagging them with keywords, dates or other information.
2. You can edit your photos with a number of available techniques. You can actually clean your scene of unwanted elements. You can use several group shots and create a single perfect picture where everyone is smiling.
3. You can create products such as photo books
4. And, you can share your photos with family and friends by ordering prints or using online offerings.

I went online to Adobe and downloaded a trial of Photoshop Elements 7.0. Look what I accomplished in just one setting. Using the layering technology, I placed my grandson in front othe the Akaka Falls in Hawaii and in this Christmas picture. Just think what we can do.

I encourage you to go to Adobe and try one of the free trial programs.

Music for iPods and MP3 Players

Now that we have our MP3 players, where do we get our music? There are many sources available, but one to consider is the iTunes Store.

iTunes is an application, introduced by Apple Inc. in 2001 that has gained and maintained a reputation for being easy to use. iTunes is available as a free download for Macintosh and Windows operating systems from Apple's website and is used for playing and organizing digital music and video files. As of June 19, 2008, Apple had sold 5 billion songs using the iTunes Store, where you can legally download your favorite songs on iTunes and buy music, movies, TV shows, and audiobooks .

Officially, using iTunes is required in order to manage the audio of an Apple IPod portable audio player; however, alternative software for this purpose does exist. For those of us who have MP3 players that are not iPods, iTunesMyWalkman is a great application to use.

Ways to listen to your music through iTunes:

1. If you have a sound card and a set of speakers, you can listen through your computer
2. Use your iTunes library with one of the Motorola/Cingular iTunes phones
3. Wirelessly stream iTunes music from your computer to your hub-connected home-theater speakers
4. iTunes also has a radio option that allows you to play live streams of Internet radio from a variety of stations

Click here to visit the Apple Store today and put your music and video collection a click away. Organize, browse, grow, and share your digital music and video collection with iTunes.