December 2005: Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! Coming soon! More products and free stuff. I don't want to let the cat out of the bag, but the biggest special in ChainStyle history is in the works. In the meantime, have a safe and happy holiday season. And be on the lookout for the new products which will be posted in January.

If you've hung around for a while, you probably know by now that I opened up a new Community section on my site where you can contribute your favorite Links, Downloads, Tutorials, and Photos. Please feel free to jump over there and check it out. And please post your own work. This is where we can all learn from one another and show off our best work. There's also going to be a contest coming soon where you may be able to win a prize for your efforts. So keep checking back for that. I'm still working out the details.

Finally, I wanted to extend my heartfelt thanks to all those who purchased products over the past 3 months. Your donations have helped out those in need within the Gulf Region of the U.S.

October 2005

Before I begin talking about any new events, let me just say that I am continuing to support the Red Cross hurricane relief efforts through October and it will continue until the end of November. For each product purchased, $1 will be donated to the Red Cross. A big THANK YOU goes out to all those who purchased so far and helped to contribute. Even if you don't purchase a product, please help by donating to the Red Cross

The biggest change lately is the new ChainStyle Community that I have set up to replace my Forum. You can post your photos, tutorials, links, downloads and even add events into an interactive calendar.

While I've been on an updating kick, I've also redesigned my Links Page. You'll find a whole new set of links there. I've added my favorite Photoshop Books, some new "Hot Links" and a list of Photoshop Instructor sites in case you wanted to visit some of the people who quite literally "wrote the book" on Photoshop.

September 2005

HURRICANE KATRINA RELIEF EFFORT! Recent events in the gulf coast have been in the hearts and minds of all of us in the U.S. I want everyone to know that any product purchases made through this site will help with the relief efforts. For each product purchased, $1 will be donated to the Red Cross at www.redcross.org. This means if you purchase 5 products, for example, $5 will be donated.

This relief effort will continue through September, and possibly further into subsequent months. My hope is that this will promote other small businesses to do their part. I also urge everyone out there to make the minimum $5 donation to help out with relief efforts. Remember that if everyone in the United States were to donate this minimum amount, that would add up to 15 Billion dollars, give or take. So please help if you can.

Please Donate Now

August 2005

New Video Tutorials are here! I just uploaded 4 Photoshop tutorials for you to look at in the Tutorials section. Let me know what you think, and if you like them, I'll make a few more in the future.

Also, if you're thinking of purchasing Auto FX Photo/Graphic Edges, or any other edge software program, you really should look at my Working with Masks and Edging Effects PDF tutorial, as I think it may surprise you to see how easy it is to use the tools in Photoshop to make your own custom edges.

If that's not enough, after you're done reading that, go grab some free custom frame shapes and go to town. And finally, there's a new site skin called "Sin City" which is loosely based on the Movie of the same name.

June 2005

The new site design is here! And what an undertaking it was. To highlight, the entire design was switched from table-based to CSS layout, which gave me the ability to make the majority of the site XHTML-compliant (hey, it's the wave of the future).

If this is gibberish to you, don't worry. Just check out what I think is the coolest new feature: You can switch site themes/styles by selecting a skin (to the left under the main menu) and the entire site's look will change. Keep in mind that you need to have a Javascript- enabled browser and have your cookies turned "on" for this feature to work. I will put together new site skins as time permits. Everyone is welcome to hop on my forum and suggest a theme.

May 2005

Check out the May 2005 issue of Photographic Magazine, where there is an honorable mention about my site in their "Output Options" column: On The Border. The article, which is written by Jon Canfield is an exploration into Photographic Framing options for print. He has a great book which I would urge you to check out called Photo Finish.

In addition to that, I have contributed some free actions, styles, and tutorials to the CD that ships with the May 2005 issue of the UK magazine Computer Arts. So drop by your local store to pick up a copy, or get a Subscription at Amazon.

April 2005

Photoshop CS 2 is here! And though I don't have my copy yet, I am itching to pick up the upgrade. From what people have said on NAPP and elsewhere, it looks to be a very promising upgrade. Visit the Official Adobe site to read more about it. Too bad they had to form an ubercorporation and merge with Macromedia. Blech!

July 2004

Al Ward brings together the best in the biz for a great Book / CD package! The Photoshop Productivity Toolkit will teach you all the action essentials you need and contains some very slick professional effects. I contributed Over 150 of my very own actions - my best work - in this essential productivity bundle.

June 2004

There is a promotion going on at the Photoshop Roadmap. There are new styles and frames which are not available on my Frame Lab CD. So stop by and download them for free. You have to register first in order to take advantage of this promotion, however registration is free. On top of it all, it's a great site for Photoshop Resources.