Well, I recently realized that I never mentioned how much this tutorial has helped me out and I wanted to step in and remedy that.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write it. I wasn't understanding how to use a layer mask on my own but once I buckled down and went through this process I have to admit I use in every project. I can't tell you how many times I found myself wishing I hadn't erased something and having to recreate it (or carry around a bunch of duplicate layers "just in case" I needed them). Now, it's such an easy thing to modify the mask instead.

If you happen to not quite get the concept of layer masks I encourage you to follow this tutorial and ask the questions until you do. You won't be sorry.