Well, if a tut is hard to follow, do as what I do in cases like that. Add your own little twists to it. Just focus on the things in the tut what makes it different from others. There are lots of tuts that have a great example in it, but when I do em with my own stocks I get nothing anywhere near the example. Either you have get the right stocks n brushes, or you have to improvise some steps. And the only reason I check tuts lately is only to pick up a few nifty tricks, so I never really have completed a whole tut nowadays. And about yer sig, it would look a lot better if ya would add some brushed layers on^lowered opacity, soft light or overlay underneath the stock n sparkles. ^^
...download CS3? lol It's not really SO bad, either. It's very strange in the case that the stock appears further back than the effects. Light source looks odd in the corner as well. O_O; I don't blame you though. I'd be dissatisfied with Elements as well.
Well I guess if you get rid of some effects on the focal point so it stands out more, that'll help. And maybe some real text :p. It isnt too bad though, but I never used elements so im not sure what you're limited too.
