PSP blending tips?

[ATWIGO]

Once again, a newbie question here for PSP users.

I haven't been able to begin a class yet, so I am just figuring things out as I go. But, for the life of me, I can not get how to blend a photo into the background.

1. I am interested in how to feather the edges. When I use the feathering tool and change numbers etc... nothing changes.

2. How do you get the photo to barely see it on the page? Almost as if it is part of the background. I have played with the opaque and changing numbers around, but it still looks like the original photo I started with.

I was hoping to spend this entire weekend practicing and wanted to figure these two things out. (I even cleaned the house today, so I don't have to on Saturday. LOL)

Thanks for any insight you can give.

Nancy