I want to make a "deal" or "hot" sticker that is effectively a glossy-looking circle with spikey edges and some text inside like "Great Deal!". I'm not very skilled at Photoshop, so specifically:
How can I make the circle have spikey edges?
How can I give it a glossy finish?
Is there anything else I should do for the sticker effect?
Each of those would be quite a long explanation if you've never worked with Photoshop. It'd be good to know what you've tried already, and if you are facing any particular challenges in the process.
The spiky edge needs to either be drawn manually or done using a shape like this one, that you can download and install to use in the program.
The glossy effect is a combination of drop shadow, inner shadow and bevel & emboss. You can follow a good tutorial here.
What you can do too is grab one of the many free PSD badges around the internet (this Illustrator file is very similar to what you are describing), open it in Photoshop and see how it's constructed, what effects are being applied, etc.
There's a star shape already made for Photoshop. Just click on your canvas with the polygon shape tool selected and it will ask you how many points you want the star to have.
For a gloss type effect, you can add a gradient to the shape.
If you want a less pointy star, you can adjust the Indent Sides By option in that dialog. If you want smoother sides, you can check the Smooth Corners tick or Smooth Indents tick. Play with it to get some varying shapes.
To create a spikey image
open custom shape tool( shortcut U - windows) and select the spikey or star like figure from the list and draw it .
right click the layer and rasterize it .
using paint bucket add color to the figure.
to add glossy effect or shining effect, goto layers menu => layer style => Bevel and emboss .
play around with the bevel and emboss options to get the best results .
