Screw Photoshop!

Ok. Not really. We all know that is how I make my money. Lol. But sometimes, even though I love PS, and I live it, I need a break. It's like a relationship. A...Relationshop? lol. But, have you seen the price tag? It's expensive  and not everyone can get it. And PS Elements, confuses me. A lot. Maybe it's because it's like, the little, funner little sister of PS, that after a while annoys you so bad, you are thinking about slamming your head against a wall to get her shut up....Ok....maybe not that bad...maybe.
Here is the image I am going to start with. I am going to use the programs and see what I get.

So, I want to talk to you guys about alternatives. There are some out there.
First, I am going to start with online stuff.
Remember Piknik? How we loved it all so much, then Google took it away from us. I found a site I like better. For realzies. It's called PicMonkey. And I have been using it a lot lately to edit my photos really quick for the blog. They will start charging in the future, but no date set yet.

There is also Aviary Advance. You might know Aviary from the iPhone app. But, before that they had/have this site. I think it is hard to use. It's good though if you need to up a Photoshop file and you don't have PS.

And as far as downloads I highly recommend GIMP. It's like 'Photoshop for the rest of us!'. You can seriously edit photos, and you can also draw. It's an open software. If I didn't have photoshop, and wanted to be a little serious about photography, this is what I would use. It's a little intimidating at first, but so can Photoshop. And you can get brushes and actions for Gimp for more variety like PS!

There you have it.
What do you think? What do you use?