Do you ever wish you could take a photo and just turn it into a masterpiece that you could hang on your wall?  Certain photos were just made for this, but it’s hard if you don’t have that artist’s touch.  That’s where Corel Paint It! comes in.  This program is a miracle worker….working right before your eyes to create beautiful paintings out of your most precious photos.  I have had so much fun using this program, and I can’t wait to do more with it.  The possibilities are truly endless.

Once you’ve installed Corel Paint It!, it’s really as easy as 3 steps.  The tools and buttons are easy to navigate, and I found this program to be so user-friendly; it didn’t frustrate me at all, like other programs have in the past.  I personally think it would even be a great program for kids to try; it would give them an activity that is both creative and fun. It comes with a Quick Start Guide that walks you through the features, and within seconds, I was creating my first painting.  Basically, all you have to do is select the photo you want to paint, and you choose your painting style.  Once you’ve done that, you click a button, and just watch the photo become a painting.  When it’s done, you can restore certain aspects, such as faces, small details, etc.  It’s that simple.  Here is my first oil painting (before and after) from a picture of the boys playing in the sprinkler.

Now, you can add things when it’s done painting, as well, such as fairy dust.  I decided to sprinkle some fairy dust around the edges of my photo.  You can mix and match certain colors with this.

There are several styles of painting you can try with this program.  They include Oil, Impressionist, Modern, Illustration, Watercolor Sketch, Detailed Watercolor, Colored Pencil, Pencil Drawing, Pen and Ink, and Pastel.  I tried another photo from the Japanese Gardens near where we live….this time, I used the Impressionist style.  It turned out beautifully, before and after.

There are other brushes and brushstrokes, besides fairy dust, in all different sizes, as well, including pencil, felt pen, sponge, airbrush, spray paint, smudge tool, furry brush, neon pen, leaf brush, distortion brush, pattern pen, wave brush, and dissolver brush.  You can erase, you can add patterns, and more.  If you’re not happy with your painting, then you can easily restore your picture and start over.  You can rotate and zoom in or out; you can even crop your photo.

This program works well with Corel PaintShop Photo, iPhoto, and other photo-editing software.   This program runs with both Mac and PC, with Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7.  You can actually obtain a free trial here.  There’s also a video tour available.  You can purchase Corel Paint It! for $39.99 from Corel.  I definitely recommend this program, especially if you want to create beautiful art out of memories.

Corel is offering one MamaBuzz reader the opportunity to win a copy of Corel Paint It! You can enter by doing one or more of the following; just be sure to leave me a separate comment for each way that you enter.  I’ll draw the winner, via random.org, on Wednesday, July 14.  This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada only.  Good luck, and have a wonderful day!

1. Visit Corel Paint It!, and tell me which painting style you would use.  What would you create with this program?
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3. Follow MamaBuzz on Twitter.
4. Tweet about this giveaway; in fact, you can tweet daily to earn extra entries.
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(Disclosure: I received a copy of Corel Paint It!, free of charge, from Corel, for the purposes of this review.)