if you don't want the bounding boxes on all the time, you can click the move tool and then tick the "show transform controls" and then resize to your heart's content, when you're done click the check mark and then untick the show transform if you want it gone.
Back to brushes for a moment. I've found, when creating clouds or making a photo brush, that just selecting the square will give you hard edges that you may not want. I've had far better results by selecting the back ground with the magic wand tool, then go to select/inverse then edit/define brush preset. I also found out the hard way that white is seen as transparent so make sure the parts of the brushes you create that you want to be "positive" are black, colored, or something other than white.
on another note, if you go to the brush drop down (upper left hand of the control bar) there is a small arrow pointing to the right (I think you've found this menu already) choose a set, you can then either append or replace. I generally append until i've got so many that I can't find the one I want anymore. With the exception of custom brushes, you, can for the most part, change the hardness and size of any brush. You can of course then save that brush with a different name so that if you find that you use one particular setting that isn' t a default, you don't have to mess with it constantly.
AND I've also discovered that you can dump every brush in your drop down list except your custom brushes, and then save the custom brushes only so that you don't have to load what ever set you had active at the time you saved your brush. This doesn't change the default brushes.
And thank you for your thoughts on my stuff... and for looking!
Hopefully soon I'll finish them. I've been very frustrated at the demise of my tablet's usb connector. I got a replacement... now I just have to face the soldering of tiny tiny wires.... ugh!
Love is the only important thing... everything else is just details.
E