Recommended Software and Books

Software

Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2

http://www.amazon.com/Paint-Shop-Pro-Photo-X2/dp/B000VJTL1Y/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1214412899&sr=8-1
Amazon has it for $69.99. This is a one time purchase to make ALL of your books.
I like Corel the best and there are quite a few tutorials for free on the web for them but the most popular one is:

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6

http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-29230727-Photoshop-Elements-6/dp/B000UKBIEC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1214412990&sr=1-1
Amazon has it for $76.49. Again a one time purchase to make ALL of your books.
Think of it as buying some papers and embellishments to make your first scrapbook but you get to re-use it all again and again and again!

Books
Although there are a lot of free tutorials o
n the web, I wanted a book that I could thumb through as well. I liked

Picture Yourself Learning Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 by Diane Koers

and it’s on Amazon for $19.79.
http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Yourself-Learning-Corel-Paint/dp/1598634259/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214413186&sr=8-2
I have a few more books that I ordered through Amazon today and I'll review them after I get a chance to look at them.

--Rachel