You're using PS, so I'm not sure all the commands, but here's a general concept: First you might want to do a buttonize filter on the background to make it stand out more. Then select your text and do a cutout filter. I tried that in PSP and it looked like what you're describing. Sorry I can't help with PS though.
And I have a PS question: Every time I start up my PS it tells me that my moniter's colors are wrong. So I run Adobe Gamma, set it right, and save the settings. When I restart my computer though it reverts back to the old settings. Any way to fix that?