Mouse hover-over animations

I’ve found a rudimentary solution to animating something when the mouse hovers over a page link (by making two overlapping sets of images and making one set .show(SlideIn) and the other hide.(). This is a little bit dodgy sometimes but it just about does the trick. However, I was wondering how I can make them slide in the direction I choose? (SlideInRight) doesn’t seem to work. Also please let me know if there is an easier solution.

Thanks!