Adding Textbox with backgroundcolor in Gimp

duplicate the text layer (Create a textbox. It will end up being a layer) and, on the original layer, performing a "Layer->Discard Text Information" followed by a bucket fill ("Edit->Fill with FG Color"). 


Found at: http://www.gimptalk.com/index.php?/topic/36694-adding-a-background-color-to-a-text-box/

Um dann noch eine verwaschene Border dazuzutun:
Neues Bild, gerade so gross , wie es sein muss für die Textbox. Border kreieren, kopieren und ins Original einfügen.

Using Torn paper brushes

Select the brush from the toolbox
Set the correct size! (beyond 100px)
Set gradient either as FG to BG or FG to Transparent.
Click multiple times to "tear" the edge off.

Importing Photoshop Brushes into Gimp

Download brushes (maybe unzip)
Move file into <gimpDirectory>\Share\gimp\2.0\brushes 

Found on: http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/gimptutorials/ss/install-photoshop-brushes.htm

How to add a transparent background to an image in gimp

I would need to make it a little more watermark like before I could use it as a background image otherwise it could make it hard to discern any text on the page. To turn the image into a “watermark” I’d need to make it partially transparent by altering the image’s opacitysetting in GIMP. Here’s how to do that:

• open the image with GIMP,
• use the top menu bar to browse the Windows menu and move your cursor downwards to Dockable Dialogues then select Layers. Alternatively, press Ctrl+L,
• the Layers dialogue box has an Opacity slider control. Ensure your image is highlighted then move the slider to your desired opacity level (50% is generally good enough),
• next we flatten the image by right-clicking over the image, moving the cursor to Image then selecting Flatten Image. We do this to ensure that the opacity is preserved when we save the image as a jpeg, gif or png etc.
• Voila! Save the image.

Taken from http://journalxtra.com/easyguides/how-to-make-a-semi-transparent-image-using-gimp/#Make-a-Complete-Image-Semi-Transparent