Official Cover for Iwishacana!!!!!

Omg you guys! Look at it! I can't stop looking at it!

Isn't it just darling!? 

Okay, I know you guys are going to ask me, so let me put it out there: How in the WORLD did you create a cover so gorgeous without any help from a publisher or anyone with an ounce of art talent?

Well, remember that post about cover shopping? (Pssst, check it out!) And the whole cheap royalty-free stock pics I mentioned? Well, I got the 50 dollar price plan and downloaded it. It was SUPER easy.

You think I'm lying don't ya? It's the truth. Now this is the original of the picture:

Still gorgeous, but not the same. How did I change it? Two words: Photo shop.

Wait, don't go running off into your little corners mumbling, "I'm no good with technology like her! Gosh darn youth and their apparent advance killer skills in photo shopping!"

Let me tell you a little secret: This is my first time photo shopping.

I know! Shut up, right?! And I did it in like an hour. Now I know you STILL may not believe me, but it's totally true. I was actually labeling my books for my classroom library and watching a Tyler Perry movie (they were playing ALL DAY today, so I watched it. Normally, I wouldn't but my grandmother wanted to watch it, so I did.) when I downloaded this photo and was like, "Hmm, let me try out the Adobe Photo shop thingy."

It's the best, so I've heard. I tried to tinker with it a little bit before, but I couldn't even use the darn thing. And no, when I tried to use it, I still couldn't get the hang of it. So you know what I did? Ended the trial. There's no point to wasting time, reading the manual and trying to photo shop when there are plenty of other free (and yes, you read right FREE) photo shop programs out there.

So I know you're on your toes wondering: What kind of photo shop software did SHE use and was it easy to find?

Uh YEAH or else I wouldn't blog about it. Basically, I typed in free photo shop software and bam there it was: PhotoScape. No kidding.

And let me tell you once again that this software is FREE. The great price of nothing. Gotta love it. Then I thought, "Okay, let's try to use this darn thing." So I pushed a few buttons, and uploaded my pic up there and viola! Easy. Simple. Direct. Instant results.

Photo shop beginners dream.

I put down my labeler and pushed a few more buttons, just playing with it, and wiggled my eyebrows (seriously, just like in Ace Ventura Pet Detective) and said, "This is going to be fun."

And an hour or so later my wonderful book cover appeared. And it was really under an hour or two. Solemnly swear PhotoScape is as easy as breathing. This is my first time I've used it and I'm going to keep using it until . . . Well, forever.

I'm telling you guys, I was so intimated with photo shopping. I really was. I was like, "What? Me? Tamper with a photo? Ha! I'm not even an artist!" But I did it. And you guys cannot ignore the simple results of how professional the cover looks.

Come on, look at it.  All the cool kids are doing it. I'll wait.

*looks down at watches then resumes typing*

Anyway, those are the results just as I promised to present to you. Now who said I needed a publisher again to produce a professional looking book cover?

*crickets*

Yeah, that's what I thought. :)