Photoshop :: How To Outline Images?

ive been tryin to figure this out for a while now ive read and tried a whole bunch of different tutorials and downloaded numerous programs photoshop corel etc and still cant get what i want the tutorials are most times too advanced and go above and beyond what i actually want to achieve i slimply want to be able to outline a simple or free form shape and pull the outline away from the image or have it appear in a separate window

i used the candy cane i am talking about is on this page of this website listed in step ten of how to draw a candy cane its positioned vertically and is all red (describing the image on the website) i simply want to place a black outline around this image which i can move around as a separate "shell" i can copy and paste at will which would be a shape in its simplest form i guess and example of what im describing would be a circle drawn using the ellipse tool in paint using black on a white background thats the type of outline im trying to achieve that same circle filled with red and removing the black lines is the type of image im working with now as you can see on the website

somethings i have tried using tutorials and suggestions from experiences users i added the candy cane shape to a blank document in photoshop selected it and then clicked the small flash icon which said add layer style and chose stroke and all that happens was two vertical red lines appear at the sides of the image window which as far as i could tell had nothing to do with the candy cane and produce no outline around the image.