There are many ways to create 3-D like buttons. The tutorial below is a simple example that you can build
on to create your own translucent objects.
Our sample document is 400x250 pixels. Start by choosing a bright color (your choice of color) and create the oval shape on a new layer
(rasterize the layer).
Next, make a selection of your shape by control-clicking on your new layer. Now reduce the selection in Select/Modify/Contract... by 10 pixels. Apply a feather (Control-Alt-D) of 10 pixels. Invert the selection Control-Shift-I and than click on the layer of the oval while holding Control-Alt-Shift to intersect your actual selection and the selection of your oval. Now that you have a feathered selection of the edges of the oval you can apply an adjustment layer Brightness/Contrast and lower the brightness to -100. This gives a slight three dimensional effect to our oval.
Reduce feather back to 0. Now, repeat the selection of the oval layer and contract the selection (Next, make a selection of your shape by control-clicking on your new layer. Now reduce the selection in Select/Modify/Contract... by 10 pixels). Select the Oval selection tool and press Alt while drawing another oval selection over the existing one that will cut off most of the selection, but leave a slice. This will be our primary reflection. Fill up this selection with the white background color on a new layer (Apple-Alt-Shift-N & Apple-Backspace). Make this layer opacity 80% (Just press 8).
Now make a duplicate of your layer (Control-J). Rotate your new layer by 180 degrees by selecting Edit/Transform/Rotate 180 and place it symmetrically on the bottom of the button.
Blur this new layer (Filter/Blur/Gaussian blur 5 pixels) to get a diffused look, which is supposed to be a reflection of a reflection on the top. Make it only 50% opacity (Press 5). Now Control-click the oval layer to make a selection of it again and go inside the selection with your cursor to move the selection down. Apply a feather (Control-Alt-D) of just 5 pixels.
Now create a layer between the background layer and the oval's layer and fill the selection with the foreground color (Alt-Backspace). Set this new shadow layer to 60% opacity (Press 6). The shadow is colored since our object is translucent and the light goes through it, so the shadow will also have a color cast. Save this will be your button before adding words to it, save to myweb folder.
As a final step add the text- Family, Friends, Hobbies, Music, Home
on the top of your button with a slight shadow and you are done. Save each lettered button separately.