Hi. I want to create this simple text edge effect in the Gimp. Is it possible?
Select letters or words using selection tools, covert selection to edge and then fill. You may grow or shrink selection to get desired area. I don’t remember the exact terms but that is the basic strategy.
If you have the letters as a text layer, the cleanest result (and the only one that can produce sharp corners) is:
Layer > Text to path-
Edit > Stroke path(in “Line” mode, and use a reasonable miter limit, such as 3, if you use miter joins), on a new layer, above or under the text layer.
There is also my ofn-outline-layer script for the general case of something on a transparent background.
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Here’s one approach.
Untitled.xcf (89.4 KB)
Using the Text tool, type out the text in the size and color you want for the body of the letters.
Duplicate the layer. Turn off that layer’s visibility. On the first(lower) layer, use select by color. Grow the selection.
Use the Bucket fill tool to add the edge color. Turn off the selection(Select None). Blur that layer if you wish. Turn on the visibility of the top layer.
Hope this helps.
Much cleaner selection if you use Layer > Transparency > Alpha to selection instead of select by color.
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Yes, and actually you can do an exact copy (anti-aliasing of the edges included) of something by doing alpha-to-selection the source layer, adding a new layer, and bucket-filling the selection on the new layer (selection and alpha are somewhat related: when there is a selection, you edition is applied as if it were done in full to a layer where the alpha was the selection, and then merged).
Thanks all. This is what I ended up doing.
Create the text
Alpha to Selection
Select Border (1 px)
Bucket Fill
Default Gaussian Blur
Looks pretty close to me! I’m happy.
Glad you’re happy! Just a suggestion, playing with words/text/colors/etc is much easier in Inkscape. Type a text, choose font color, choose line color, choose line width, that’s all.
Thanks Paul. I installed Inkscape but having never used it, didn’t have a clue where to start. I’ll Google up some basic tutorials and see how I go. Many thanks.
I would also recommend Inkscape. When the workplace forced me to use Illustrator, which I am proficient at as well, my productivity and creativity went way down. 
You can do much better than what @paulmatth demonstrated. (I am sure it was in a rush to give you an example.)
Thanks afre. No rushing needed here, I’m doing this just for fun! After a couple of Googles I was able to create the text and add a different color border (stroke). The actual project is to modify an existing jpeg (A4 printed flyer) by removing and replacing existing text while leaving the background and replacing an embedded image. For me, this is dead easy with the Gimp!
Whatever works for you is the right choice. 
Hi afre. You inspired me to make a completely new document using Inkscape. Not bad I think after seeing Inkscape yesterday for the first time. I love it!!!. Many thanks.
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Looks like a lot of fun!
Inkscape has a great manual and series of books if you are interested in learning more about it.
@borebonn, well done John for your first Inkscape project! This software is very powerful and you can do lots of crazy/amazing/beautiful things with it.
I agree that Inkscape has a certain learning curve, but it’s really worth to spend some time to understand how things work. The tutorials in the help menu are already a very good starting point and the funny thing is that they run within Inkscape itself, so you can alter shapes and fonts and other things just in the tutorial! Have fun with this great piece of open source software.