Mud

If you loved making mud pies as a kid then this text effect is just for you. Don't get too messy now! Choose an image that has the right mud or sand background. Now add a new channel (click on the new channel button at the bottom of the Channels Palette and #4 will be added.) and select the type tool. Make sure you have white as your foreground colour and add your text. A loose, handwriting style font is best for this effect. Drop the selection. (Ctrl D).

Once you have your new channel, copy it (drag channel 4 to the new channel icon at the bottom of the Channels Palette to copy it). With the new channel active it's time to distress the edges of the type. Go to Filters>Stylise>Diffuse and choose Lighten Only. Now repeat the filter 3 or 4 times to increase the effect (Ctrl F will repeat the last filter). Now the edges of the type should be nice and feathery.

With channel 5 still the active channel load channel 4 as a selection (Ctrl click on channel 4 in the Channels Palette). Now to apply blur to the center of the letters. Go to Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set it to about 3 pixels. Invert the contents of the selection (Ctrl I) and the inside of the letters will go black. To bring back some detail in them go to Image>Adjust>Brightness/Contrast and turn the brightness up to about 60 and the contrast up to about 25. Drop the selection. (Ctrl D).

Now to add the lighting effects that will bring the mud to life. Select the RGB channel and your image will return to your background. Go to Filter>Render>Lighting Effects and adjust your lighting settings to match these.

Light type: Omni, intensity 18, Gloss 100, Material 11, Exposure 10, Ambience 2 and set the Texture Channel to #5. Set the Height to around 30-40. Position the light by clicking on the central circle and dragging it to where you want it to be.Click and drag on the side dots to resize the light. Once you're happy with it click OK and there's the finished image.