Fun with Photoshop Elements

My sister let me play with her camera when we were at our parents' house on Monday.  She has a Nikon d5000.  I immediately developed a terrible case of camera envy. 

Just for fun, let's see some of the neat-o stuff I was able to do with a great photo of Micah with my sister's camera, The Pioneer Woman's action sets, and Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.

Here's the SOOC (straight out of camera) shot:

It's just not fair when you have a subject this adorable to work with, but here we go!

After running the Bring Out the Eyes and the Boost actions from The Pioneer Woman, I had this:

I love how the colors are more intense and his eyes are just crazy blue, but in a good way.  Now, I haven't yet figured out how to fix little flaws like the scratch on his cheek.  Anyone care to school me?

Evan suggested I turn the photo black and white but leave his eyes blue.  Of course, I had no clue how to do that, but a quick Google search revealed the answer.  Presenting the Color Pop version:

Now that's just fun! 

Does anyone else use Photoshop Elements 8?  I just got it for my birthday and there is literally nothing in the way of a tutorial for editing in the booklet, so I'm kind of flying blind.  Any tips or tricks?