diff --git a/panda/src/gui/guiLabel.cxx b/panda/src/gui/guiLabel.cxx
index a974e7de15..a374b733a7 100644
--- a/panda/src/gui/guiLabel.cxx
+++ b/panda/src/gui/guiLabel.cxx
@@ -138,15 +138,19 @@ GuiLabel* GuiLabel::make_simple_texture_label(Texture* texture) {
   return ret;
 }
 
-GuiLabel* GuiLabel::make_simple_text_label(const string& text, Node* font) {
+GuiLabel* GuiLabel::make_simple_text_label(const string& text, Node* font,
+					   Texture* tex) {
   GuiLabel* ret = new GuiLabel();
   ret->_type = SIMPLE_TEXT;
   TextNode* n = new TextNode("GUI label");
   ret->_geom = n;
+  ret->_tex = tex;
   n->set_font(font);
   n->set_align(TM_ALIGN_CENTER);
   n->set_text_color(ret->get_foreground_color());
   n->set_text(text);
+  if (tex != (Texture*)0L)
+    n->set_card_texture(tex);
   ret->set_scale(1.);
   ret->set_pos(LVector3f(0., 0., 0.));
   ret->recompute_transform();
diff --git a/panda/src/gui/guiLabel.h b/panda/src/gui/guiLabel.h
index 3db87f9b33..2d7b842868 100644
--- a/panda/src/gui/guiLabel.h
+++ b/panda/src/gui/guiLabel.h
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ public:
   virtual ~GuiLabel(void);
 
   static GuiLabel* make_simple_texture_label(Texture*);
-  static GuiLabel* make_simple_text_label(const string&, Node*);
+  static GuiLabel* make_simple_text_label(const string&, Node*,
+					  Texture* = (Texture*)0L);
 
   void get_extents(float&, float&, float&, float&);
   float get_width(void);