Tutorial Tuesday - Sizing Image Layers

With the new format of some of our images, I thought it would be helpful to share an easy way to get the sizes of your layers to match perfectly.  Not all image layers are designed to match up perfectly in sizes.  But anytime that the layers need to match together perfectly you will find that this technique will enable that matching.

I generally print all of my images from Word.  The version of word that I use is Microsoft Office Word 2007.  If you use a different version then the directions might vary slightly.  Remember, you can click on any of the images to see a larger view.  

So, let's get started.  With your Word program open click "insert" then click "picture".  Choose the first layer of the image that you want to work with.  Today I am using our "Corn Harvest" image for demonstration. I am also working with the .png versions.  This screen shot shows the husk layer inserted.  Notice the selection box around the image.  The red arrow points to the control corner.  Just click the corner and drag to size the image to the perfect size for your project.

 We are now ready to insert our second layer.  **Important** Be sure that you click somewhere in the open area of the screen so that you "de-select" the husk layer.  In other words, we don't want a box around the husk layer when we insert the 2nd layer.  Click "insert" and then click "picture" and choose the second layer you want to work with.  Here we are working with the corn layer of the "Corn Harvest" image.  Now to make the image easy to move and work with we need to right click inside the image box.  Now click "Text Wrapping" and then click "Tight".  With the corn layer selected drag it to the side so that you can see both layers.

 Now we are ready to size the layers so they will fit together perfectly.  Click inside the husk layer to get the selection box.  Right click inside the box and then click "size".  A pop up box will appear that will show you the exact height and width of your husk layer.  **Note**You can also see the size in the upper right hand corner.  Write down the size of the husk layer.

 Click the image of the 2nd layer so that you have the selection box around it.  Right click within the box and then click "size".  Highlight the measurement in the box marked Height and type in the correct measurement.  In my case my husk layer measured 5.22" for the height.  So I will change the height measurement of my corn layer to 5.22".  Now change the width measurement.  My husk width was 4.4" so I will change my corn image to be 4.4" in width too.

 Voila!  Perfectly sized layers for creating your projects.  **Hint** Before printing be sure to check the Print Preview to be sure that all of your image fits inside the margins of your page.  This will save lots of wasted paper.  Yep...the voice of experience again.  If you would like to print the layers on two different sheets or colors just insert the second layer onto Page 2 of your document.

Ok....so maybe your thinking "why does this work?"  Obviously the corn and the husk in our example aren't the same size.  Well...when designing the layers I place them in files that are exactly the same size.  So even though the husk and corn are different sizes, the "canvas" that I draw them on is the same size.  So we can make the image size match in any format that we work with and the image sizes will match perfectly.

And with every good thing comes a drawback.  The drawback to making the "canvas" size match is that some of the layers will have alot of unused space around the image.  Don't forget that you can crop an image in Word if you are trying to save paper.  You can also overlap .png files.  After you size the images using the steps above you can crop the image to remove the blank space around the image.  The crop tool in Word is located in the top right corner on the format tab.

We hope you enjoy the new layers we are adding to some of our images.  Give this a try and let us know if you have any questions.