This is a GIMP beginner tutorial and/or a Gimp basics tutorial. It has an introduction to the GIMP interface and a beginners exercise to get started with GIMP.
Follow the steps and you will learn how layers work in GIMP, how to make a basic gradient in GIMP. How to use the text tool in GIMP, how to change the font color in GIMP, how to make a border around text in GIMP, how to make a drop shadow in GIMP, how to make a border around an image in GIMP, learn the basics about selections in GIMP and layers in GIMP.