I have used Photoshop Elements 6 for these instructions, but this technique should work in older versions as well. If you are using an older version, your palettes may be arranged a little differently than what is shown here.
Let's begin:
Open Photoshop Elements in Full Edit Mode.
Open the photo or image you'd like to use as the fill for your text. For simplicity, I am using one of the free patterns offered on this site.
For this effect, we need to convert the background to a layer, because we will be adding a new layer to be the background.
To convert the background to a layer, double click on the background layer in the layer's palette. (Window > Layers if your layers palette is not already open.) Name the layer "Fill Layer" then click OK.
Note: It is not necessary to name the layer, but as you start working more with layers it helps to keep them organized if you add descriptive names.
