Brian Livingston's CoolText.Com-a FREE service that enables you to make customizable logos and buttons for your webpage or email. I used this site to create all the banners you see at the top of all my pages. :)
"WebFX" allows you to change the way an image that you find online looks. You can do lots and lots of stuff to images, and then transload them. This tool is really great when you find a jpg or gif that you would like to use for a background, but you find it to be too dark or bright. You can just go here-and fade it a bit, and VOILA! a nice background, and you can actually see the text. LoL