If you like an image so much that you want to gaze at it while you're toiling away at your computer, why not use that image for the background of your computer, better known as the desktop wallpaper? If you can't choose just one favorite image, you can use several to create a multi-image screen saver.

If you have two or more photos you want to use, you can create a Windows screen saver. Follow these steps in Windows Vista:

Mac users can create custom screen savers even easier:

Everyone knows that a picture is worth a thousand words. Whether you're selling puppies or advertising an open house, adding a photo to an ad or flyer really helps to drive home your message.

Here are the abbreviated steps to quickly create an ad or flyer:

Many local copy shops, retail stores, and Web sites (such as Zazzle.com or Cafepress.com) enable you to add photos to T-shirts, hats, tennis shoes, tote bags, ties, mouse pads, and many other items. If you can produce it, they can put a photo on it. But it's easy, and less expensive, to tackle this project yourself.

Buy plain white T-shirts at your local discount store or plain aprons and tote bags at your craft or fabric store. Then, buy special transfer paper at your office supply or computer store. Print your photos on the transfer paper (be sure to flip the images horizontally first), iron the print onto the fabric, and you've got yourself a personalized gift for very little cash.

What do you get for the person who has everything? How about a blanket of memories? You can transfer photos onto patches of fabric and create unique memory quilts. What grandmother wouldn't love to have a quilt with photos of her children and grandchildren?

For special events, important announcements, or maybe just your favorite family photos, you can get posters and large-size prints at many copy shops and service bureaus. Call and talk to a knowledgeable rep at your copy shop or service bureau so that you know exactly how to prepare your file. Here are a few questions to ask:

In addition to printing large prints, many service bureaus mount prints on foam core or the sturdier gator board. These service bureaus also can laminate prints to protect them from scratches and UV rays.

Don't wait for a natural disaster or theft to get you motivated to prepare an inventory of your household or business assets. Take your digital camera and shoot pictures of your items. In Windows, double-click your selected image and add text to describe the items in the caption section of the Organizer. You can also select the image and choose Edit

Figure 18-3. Create an inventory of your assets.

Then, create a single PDF document from those multiple files by creating a slide show, as shown in Figure 18-3. Chapter 15 explains how to create the slide show PDF.

After the PDF is finished, you can upload the PDF file to a Web storage site, or burn a CD or DVD and place it off-site in a safety deposit box or other secure location. If the need arises, your insurance agent can view the PDF by using the free Adobe Reader software. For more on outputting to slide shows and writing to CD and DVD, see Chapter 15.

Nothing helps to document a process like images. The spoken word and the written word are great, but showing how something comes together is even more effective. Consider using your photographs to help document your projects from beginning to end. Whether it's a project involving home improvement, furniture building, crafts, or cooking, take photos at each stage to record the project. If you're taking a class or workshop and the instructors don't mind, take your camera to class. Documenting the positions or steps of that new yoga, pottery, or gardening class can help you practice or re-create it on your own later, either for yourself or to explain to someone else.

Figure 18-4. Document your favorite projects for easier re-creation later.

Import your desired photos into the Organizer and create notes on each step of the project in the caption area. You can also create your text on the image itself by using the Type tool in the Editor. Output the images to a PDF (described in Chapter 15), as shown in Figure 18-4.

There's nothing like some interesting photos to jazz up the obligatory school report. Doing a botany report? Include some close-ups of a flower with text labels on the parts of the flower. Have to write a paper on the habits of the lemurs of Madagascar? Trek down to your local zoo and have a photo shoot. Create a simple collage of lemurs eating, sleeping, and doing the other things that lemurs do. You can use the Photo Collage command on the Create panel. (See details about this command in Chapter 16.) Or you can create your own custom collage by making selections (see more in Chapter 7) and dragging and dropping them onto a blank canvas. In fact, buying your children their own inexpensive point-and-shoot cameras may give them a little more enthusiasm for school work.

Before you start taking your photos to the next dimension, here are a few extra ideas: Make fun place cards for dinner party guests, create your own business cards or letterhead if you need only a few, design your own bookplates and notepads, or label storage boxes with photos of their contents. Check out www.kodak.com for a slew of projects, such as party kits (from invites to gift tags), kids' mobiles and door hangers, photo recipe cards, and magnets. The possibilities are endless.