Nephila: - I usually shade the transparency layer before I set it to be slightly transparent. Actually - most times i put the shades for the layer I intend to be transparent on their own layer...so I can set the level of opacity for EACH shade because a lot of times I set it as different levels.

If you save the item by itself, you WILL see the transparency - but it has to be a png file. Jpegs will not save the transparency.

I definitely like the concept :D