In case you haven’t heard the buzz already, Daily Blog Tips just kicked off their Blogging Idol competition - and guess what? I’m in it!

Hosted by Daniel Scocco, Blogging Idol is a contest in which over 90 contestants are fighting to gain the most RSS subscribers in 30 days. At the end of July, the winner will take home over $3,000 in prizes. If you are interested in learning more about Blogging Idol, check out this post.

I’ve been extremely busy in the last few weeks with designing, maintaining client work, being gone in Europe and California on business, and finishing Platinum and my redesign. With all this time away, I feel like I’ve lost connection with a lot of my old friends on the web. While I am working right now to catch up with all of my networks and social media pals, I am also working on branching out to new and more creative places to find people like myself who I can connect with.

In case you haven’t noticed, Elite By Design is sporting a brand new design! I am very excited for this latest theme. I went with a strictly dark layout, with clean corners, strong typography, and a beautiful new way to show my blog posts. I really feel that this look is very professional and elegant.

Ah, the beautiful world of Photoshop brushes. With thousands of incredible sets floating around the web, thousands more being made all the time, it can become quite a daunting task to find the perfect ones for your projects. Let me show you 75 insane high resolution Photoshop brushes that will be perfect for any project you may happen to be working on. Enjoy!

Well, after 10 days of being out of town in Europe, I’m finally home. I got in a couple nights ago and it has taken me a few days to recover from jet lag as well as catching up on hundreds of emails and RSS items.