You said that you have to be 80-85 to get heirlooms. On my first char ever (undead rogue) i played a lot of random battlegrounds and i got the pvp shoulders. It takes time but it was totally worth it :D. And btw great guide.
You can smooth the hard edges of a selection by feathering. Feathering blurs edges by building a transition between the selection and surrounding pixels. This blurring can cause some loss of detail at the edge of the selection.
Complete guide to Layer Blending Modes in Photoshop, written, video + free ebook. One of the fastest ways to get amazing looking images is by using Blending modes. Each blending mode changes the way that a layer reacts with the layer underneath it. You get a small inkling of this by adjusting the opacity of a layer. Using blending modes opens up an entirely new world. These are like sunglasses for your layers that can become x-ray specs and a whole lot more.