using imported accesories

[mommyofthree]

Ok, I know I'll find help here. I am working on my first layout and I tried to use a flower that I imported from a kit. However, when I went to place it on the page it had a background attatched to it. The flower was orange and behind it was a 2 by 2 square of solid gray. All I wanted was to put the flower on the page. How do I make this work? I also tried to use some imported rick rack and it kept telling me to place the photo in a frame? I was trying to place the rick rack where two pieces of paper meet. But it would not let me. I know there is an easy explaination to all this. I just don't know what it is.

Tanya

[Diana]

Hi Tanya,

Regarding the flower you tried to use from a kit, what was the file extension for that file (the 3 letters after the dot in the filename)? If it is .PNG, it should have a transparent background when you add it to your layout.

If it's .JPG, you'll have to do some work on it first. After opening the flower image in your workspace, Alt-double-click on the background layer in the layers palette to make it a regular layer. Get the Magic Wand tool and in the options bar at the top of the workspace, set the tolerance to about 10 and make sure contiguous is checked. Then click on the gray background, which should select all of the gray background. If it only selects parts of it, indicating the gray area may not be all the same color, then raise the tolerance somewhat and click with the Magic Wand tool again until all the gray is selected. Then press the delete key to delete the background.

To copy it to your layout, first press Ctrl-A to select all, then Ctrl-C to copy. Next, make your layout image active in the workspace, and press Ctrl-V to paste it. You should then have the flower on your layout with no gray background. Use your Move tool to move and/or resize it as desired.

You can use the Copy & Paste method with your rick-rack to add it to your layout as well. That should get around Elements asking you to place it in a frame.

Hope this helps.

Diana