How do you animate a still shot of an object?

See these free tutorials on Pan and Zoom and keyframing:
<http://muvipix.com/products.php?subcat_id=42>

I have been sent Emails at Christmas time where there is an elf dancing and you can replace the elf's head with the heads/faces of friends and then forward it on to them. It gave me an idea for the senior video that I work on every year.
I wanted to take a picture of some of our seniors holding letters spelling our mascot's name, and then make them look animated on the frames that separate the segments of the video. If this doesn't make sense, I have a Christmas card that I can scan and send to you to give you a better idea of what I'm trying to achieve.
Thanks for any help you can offer.

Most of these types of animation are animated GIFs (produced by the pro version of Photoshop).

You may be able to use Flash video from Premiere Elements, if you've got video or a series of photos that you can use as animation frames, but then I think you'll also need to embed a Flash player in your e-mails -- but someone else will need to chime in with how you do that.

What are you planning to create your animation from? Do you have a series of still photos that you can use as frames for your animation sequence?

I have scanned the Christmas card, but I don't see a place for me to add it as an attachment to this message. How do I send you the card with an explanation of what I want to do?

Scanned? Isn't this an animated card? It's the animation we need to see in order to advise you.

Molly, can you link us to a place online that shows a card similar to what you're trying to accomplish?