So are there any specific utilities that y'all can suggest to make creating my very own sig banner possible?

I used gimp

Same here. Gimp is awesome . However there are a few online tools for something a little less original. Like http://cooltext.com/ or http://www.userbars.com/

thanks all.. now I just gotta learn Gimp... lol

You will be very happy you did learn GIMP. It seems complicated and difficult at first, but as you play with it, you will pick up tricks quickly.
Cheers,
John