Golden Text

1) As soon as you open up Photoshop Elements 7, go to File - New - Blank File (Ctrl + N). You can use any settings you want, but below are the settings that I used.

 

2) Select the "Horizontal Type Tool". Select which options you want. I am using Century Gothic, 72pt, Bold. The color does not matter.

3) Now in your "effects" palette click on the "layer styles" icon. Now click on "Wow Chrome Dark".

4) Hold down the "ctrl" key on your keyboard and click on the layer thumbnail in the layers palette.
5) Now right click the text layer in the layers palette and select "Simplify Layer". Do it once again.
6) Go to Select - Inverse. Press "delete" on your keyboard.  Go to Select - Deselect.

4) Now go to Layer - New Fill Layer - Gradient. A window will pop up, make sure to check "Group with Previous Layer".

5) Where it says "Gradient", click so the gradient editor will come up. Match your settings to mine. 

6) After you finish with the Gradient Editor, set the angle of the gradient to 0 degrees and make sure Linear is selected. The scale should be 100%. The only thing that should be checked is "Align With Layer".
7) Set the blend mode on the gradient fill layer to "color".

That is pretty much it for this tutorial. By trying different chrome layer styles and gradients you can get a variety of different text effects.

Halftone

1) Create a new document. My settings are below.

2) Go to Edit - Fill Layer. Set your settings to mine.

3) Click on the 'Custom Shape Tool'. I am using a heart.

4) Set the color to black and draw your shape.

5) Go to Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur. Set the radius to 20 pixels.

6) Go to Layer - Merge Visible.

7) Go to Filter - Pixelate - Color Halftone. Set your settings to mine.

If you want to make your halftone pattern into a brush follow the steps below.

8) Use your 'Rectangular Marquee Tool' (M) to select the pattern.

9) Go to Edit - Define Brush from Selection.

10) Name your brush and now you are ready to use it!

Rainbow Text Tutorial

1) Create a new document. My settings are below.

2) Go to Edit - Fill Layer and use the settings below.

3) Click on the 'Horizontal Type Tool' and type some text, make sure the color is white.

4) In your effects palette, click on layer style, go to the layer styles category and click on 'blue ghost'.

5) Go to Layer - New Fill Layer - Gradient. Set the angle to 0 and click in the area that I outlined in black to edit the gradient.

6) Click on the small arrow next to 'more' and select 'spectrums'. Now click on the gradient that I outlined in black.

7) Set the blend mode of the gradient fill layer to 'overlay'.

8) Select the text layer (the one in the middle). Go to Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur and set the radius to 1 pixel.

9) Go to Layer - Merge Visible.

10) You finished making rainbow text!

Glitter Animation

The animating feature is a bit hidden in Photoshop Elements. In this tutorial I will teach you how to work with animation in Photoshop Elements.
1) Create a new file. The settings I used are below.

2) Click on the 'Horizontal Type Tool' and type some text. The settings I used are below.

3) Now go to Layer - Duplicate Layer 2 times. Now you should have 3 layers.

4) Now select the top layer and go to Filter - Texture - Grain. The settings I used are below.

5) Now select the middle layer, apply the 'grain' filter again and this time set the intensity a bit higher. I am using an intensity of '40'.

6) Now select the bottom layer and once again apply the 'grain' filter, now set the intensity to higher again, I am using an intensity of '45'.
7) Now go to File - Save For Web...
8) The settings I used are below.

9) Good job! You have finished the your animation.

 

By playing around with different texture filters (expecially the texturizer), you can achieve a variety of differenet text effects.