Put Text On Any Desktop Background!

I use this for affirmations, but you could use it for any text you want! Here's how to prepare the text to go over any picture for your desktop background. ^_^

First you have to make your text ready.

Step 1: open your favorite word-type editor. (If you need a free one, I recommend KingSoft Office for this project. It's a lot like Microsoft word from just before they changed to the tabs. LibreOffice is also free, and it's more like word was back in 1998.)

Step 2: type out the text you want.

Step 3: (optional, good if you have a wide-screen and want just the text) go to file, page setup, and make your paper be landscape.

Step 4: go to format text, and make your text big, bold, and "outline" or "border". Choose whatever font you want, just make sure you can read it. The important thing here is that you want your text to be white with a black border around it. Why? Because that way you can put it over any background you want, and it will still be readable. Some colors, dark text won't be readable. No problem, your text is white! But some backgrounds, white will fade into the background, no problem, your text has a black border! This lets you do the work on the text once, without having to change it for every background, unless you want to change the text itself.

Step 5: take a screen shot, or use microsoft's snipping tool to get a screen shot of the text you wish to use. Save as PNG. (this will prevent paint from warping the picture.)

Then, you need to do a bit of editing of the text. This bit is really tedious, but it's important. If you wish, I can do this and the putting it on the background for you. I just ask for a $10 amazon gift-card, or $10 on Streamate, or 100 tokens on MFC. Send the money with a note like "please help with desktop text!" then send the picture of the text and the desktop background you wish to use to eve_matteo@hotmail.com. Make sure you put in the subject of the email "to LadyLuna for backgrounds", and in the body of the email you include the name you sent the money under and how you sent it. Or, you can continue following the instructions:

Step 1: Open it in paint.

Step 2: using the spill paint tool, spill any color that isn't white or black onto the background. The letters should stay white. If they do, skip step 3.

Step 3: zoom in on any letter that is no longer white. Use the pencil tool with black to fix the border, then spill-paint white in the letter to make it white again. Repeat until all letters are white, and don't change when you spill-paint in the background anymore.

Step 4: next, make all the holes in the letters the color you made the background. This will help you identify which bits to delete later. This will also make sure those borders are good. (by holes in the letters, I mean in the a's, e's, o's, b's, d's, g's, and so on.)

Step 5: save your work.

Congrats, your lettering is now ready for the next bit!

Next, make the text ready to copy-paste over the background. 

Step 1: open the picture of the text file with Gimp.

Step 2: use the "select by color" tool, and select the background of the picture.

Step 3: press delete with the background still highlighted. You should see a gray-and-darker-gray checkered pattern. This means that those bits are now invisible, so they will show whatever you put the current picture over.

Step 4: save AS A GIMP FILE. This will preserve the invisible bits so you don't have to redo it every time you wish to put it over a picture.

One last step!

In gimp, open what will be the background of your desktop, the file you want to put your letters over. I recommend having a few different ones, to help your mood. I use a rainbow set (one for each color) which you can download in a zip from my google docs. I like to add pictures next to the text, if you wish some ideas for what to do beyond the standard. If you want to add pictures, you can do that in the paint stage, before you take it to gimp.

Copy the text bit, and paste it over the background bit. Export it as a png or jpg (give it a new name, so you have the original). Voila! You have your background. Repeat this last step with a different background whenever you want to change. Since you saved your work as a gimp file, you won't have to do anything but this last step, unless you decide to change your text (or lose the gimp file). Two years later, you want to change your background but still like the text, you still don't have to do all the work again!

If you sent me the stuff to make it for you, I will send both the background and the text image. Later, if you send me another background for the same text, along with the gimp pic of the text that I originally sent you, then I'll do it for free.