ROFL. I just had to share. Chase got a new coat. OMG. So cute. He looks so bad ass.

Hope you’re all having a wonderful Monday. Tune in tomorrow for exclusive previews on NEW products coming THIS WEEK.

It’s Turkey Lurkey day! I’m sure most of you are busy baking and getting ready to celebrate with your loved ones. To us Canadian folk it’s just another Thursday. Nonetheless, it’s a great time to think about all the things I’m thankful for and I’m truly thankful for you – the crafty goddesses who support my passion by visiting, participating, sharing and shopping at Peppermint Creative.

Just a reminder that for this week’s Click-a-Pic Challenge we want to see your best FOOD pictures so don’t forget to pull out the camera sometime between turkey & pie to get a great shot.

And be sure to stop by over the weekend for the GREATEST SALE OF ALL TIME.
Sale starts Friday and ends Sunday night so DO NOT miss it – seriously…it doesn’t get much better than this!

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Keyboard shortcuts can be a major time saver in general but this is especially the case when working in Adobe Photoshop. Most people do all their work with their mouse but you will find that basic keyboard shortcuts will help you get things done faster and more efficiently…plus you look a like quite the pro when you use ‘em. Yes, it can be a bit of an adjustment but it’s well worth taking the time to try to get used to it. It will quickly become automatic.
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Cut, Copy, Paste & Select All
These SUPER handy shortcuts will work for you in most programs. Word, Excel, Photoshop even when composing an email or when surfing online. If you are still doing the right-click method for any of these commands I hereby order you to stop immediately and attempt these. Memorize them. They are a HUGE time saver and seriously, nothing says NEWBIE more than right-clicking for these basic commands.

CNTRL+C = Copy

CNTRL+X = Cut

CNTRL+V = Paste

CNTRL+A = Select All

SAVE! SAVE! SAVE!
This one’s in CAPS because if you’ve ever lost a page halfway through you’ll know the importance of saving your work. Press CNTRL+S anytime while working to save your page. Every time you press CNTRL+S the computer will update the original document with all your recent changes.

Zoom In & Out
Press either as many times as needed to zoom in and out from your canvas.
To zoom in press CNTRL and tap + (plus)
To zoom out press CNTRL and tap - (minus)

Fit Canvas to the Screen
Press CNTRL+0 (zero) to make your canvas fit on the screen.
Very helpful when creating a page!

Palette Peek-a-boo
Need more work space? Make your palettes disappear!
Press TAB once to hide all palettes. Press TAB again to bring them back.

Hold My Hand 
Click H (Hand Tool) to bring up the hand tool which allows you (with the use of your mouse) to move around your document. This is particularly useful when you are zoomed in.  Also, if the hand tool is active, hold down the CNTRL key, you can zoom in without changing to the zoom tool. If you hold down the ALT key, you can zoom out without changing tools. *You can also hold down the SPACEBAR to access the hand tool temporarily. It will function as long as you are holding it down.*

Oh Crap! Undo
Make a boo boo? Undo the last thing you did by pressing CNTRL+Z.
To go back more than one step, press CNTRL-ALT+Z.
This is the BEST keyboard shortcut ever invented. If only there was one that applied to real life. Lord knows I’ve attempted to CNTRL+Z my life more than a few times.

Control+T = Transform
Pressing CNTRL+T brings up the transform bounding box – that little box with knobs at each corner that allows you to resize an object. Hold down SHIFT while you use your mouse to resize in order to maintain proper proportion and avoid warping things into odd shapes.

No Thanks, Deselect
Pressing CNTRL +D will deselect your selected item and get rid of those marching ants.

Change Brush Sizes
Increase your brush size by pressing the right bracket key ‘]’
or press the left bracket key ‘[‘ to decrease the size of your brush.

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Bookmark this post so that you can check back and practice. They will soon become automatic and will save you a ton of time! Got any shortcuts you want to share? Just leave a comment with your tip!

Have you seen these adorable Flair Buttons all over the web? I think it started as a Facebook thing but they’ve quickly made their way to blogs, avatars, forum & gallery signatures etc. So I made a few scrappy ones for ya! They are web-quality but you can use them however you want. If you read yesterday’s post you can decide for yourself whether or not this is cool or super UNCOOL. LOL. I think they’re so cute!! Just download and enjoy and if you want you can make your own with this awesome Facebook Application.

:: DOWNLOAD FLAIR BUTTONS

Oh bloggie, bloggie. How I neglect you so…

I don’t mean to. It just kind of happens. With Twitter and Facebook and the Forum – a girl can hardly keep up. I don’t even know who’s reading what and quite frankly the whole thing is getting completely out of control! Nonetheless, I vow…VOW I SAY to pay more attention to my blog. Any suggestions as to what you want to see?

Don’t be shy. Let me know.

Just in case you are utterly disappointed with my blog neglect, I come baring products…well, product. Check it out! A brand new Mini Kit: Autumn Splendor and it’s only $3.83 until Nov. 21 (reg. $4.50). You can also pick up all your favourite Fall products for 15% off until Nov. 21st too. So check out the SALE section on the shop.

Doesn’t it just make you want to jump in some leaves or smell some cinnamon sticks?
YUMMY. Check out these awesome pages the Mint Chickies made:

Page by: Keela Fox

Page by: Cindy Schneider

Page by: Kirstie Ibrahim

Ok – AS PROMISED I will be BACK tomorrow with more essential information that cannot be missed…or some non-essential information that perhaps you wouldn’t mind missing but you don’t want to miss it because it might be something cool……or it might be something very UNcool. It could be totally lame but you will never know unless you come check. And if you DON’T come check you’ll be sitting at home wondering whether or not you missed something good. So spare yourself the stress and come see what’s up tomorrow.

Ciao for now my little chicklets.

Oh lordy! What a rotten week. My computer took a nose dive into virus-ville last week and I was without my trusty desktop for about 4 days. It was a mean virus; a NASTY virus. One that required wiping the entire hard drive clean and re-installing everything from scratch.

Oh whoa is me!! What a miserable 4 days it was. It’s a certain kind of torture to not have your computer at home. Its different when you’re out of town, busy on vacation…but when you’re at home it’s AWEFUL.

I decided to use the time to catch up on the stuff I’ve been neglecting. Cleaned the house, steamed the bathroom, did the laundry, grocery shopping, some office errands etc. It was incredibly productive and I was feelin’ mighty good.

And then IT happened.

The warm forehead, the burning eyes, the weak and achy muscles. OMG now I have a virus. See what happens when I leave my house?

So between the two viruses (the computer is cured, I’m still in engaged battle) I’ve managed to lose an entire week of work and am none too pleased about it. Luckily my cold/flu whatever I have was not complicated by a nervous breakdown because I had all my files etc. backed up.

So as I pop another Vitamin C, take a swig of Echinacea and run a few virus scans, I remind you to get your rest, wash your hands and PLEASE back up your important files and photos. It’s worth the effort to make sure you don’t lose irreplaceable memories!

Ciao for now.
::Sniffle::