Adding Graphics to Labels Using Libreoffice

Adding Graphics to Your Labels

When people think of labels, the first thing that comes to mind is lines of text like addresses or tab markers. But these are just the simplest uses for labels. Photos, greeting cards, business cards, inserts for CD jewel cases — all of these can be created with a color printer and a package of labels. And with thermal transfer technologies, the possibilities expand to include everything from printed T-shirts to buttons for political campaigns and causes. All of these and more can be created using LibreOffice to create your own graphics.

LibreOffice is a complete office suite that is free for the download on Linux, MacOS, and Windows. You can create designs to add to any label in LibreOffice Draw application. You can edit images in LibreOffice’s Draw application, or create your own using Draw’s “primitives” — basic shapes ranging from circles and squares to stars and crosses. Another useful tool is Insert| Fontworks, in which you can arrange text in creative ways, substituting your letters for those in the templates:

A painless way to learn how to design your images is Robin William’s The Non-Designer’s Design Book. Williams (No, not that one) suggests keeping in mind four basic principles for arranging different aspects of your design: alignment, contrast, proximity, and repetition. More than one of these principles can be used at the same time. For example, in the business card below, the lines with contact information are all right aligned, while the company logo and the contact information have contrasting backgrounds:

If your design skills are not up to the task, you can download royalty free images and free fonts from hundreds of Internet sites. Another useful tool to download are dingbat fonts — fonts in which typing a character prints an image instead of a letter or symbol. For example, here is a small image created with a dingbat that consists of whimsical, nursery rhyme characters use with Fontworks:

 

 

 

When you design the images for labels, keep in mind the size of the labels. While it is easier to design at a much larger size than the label itself will use, if you have to shrink down an image, it is going to lose much of the detail. In addition, too much color could reduce the image to a few blobs of color. You should always experiment, but when working with smaller labels, think in terms of simple designs and a few bold colors.

Similarly, remember the background on which the image will be displayed — either its own, or the color of the label. The basic rule for legibility is light colors on a dark background, and dark colors on a background. Most of the time, a background of many different colors will be confusing.

 

Preparing the Label Sheet

In LibreOffice, a label sheet is created by producing a file for the Writer application with outlines that are equal to the dimension of the label. If your label is a thermal transfer or an unusual size, you will need to measure the size of the label carefully, and then select File | New | Writer Document. Set the page to the same size as the label sheet using Insert | Page. Then add Insert | Frame | Frame and set the frame so that it is the same size as your label(s), and positioned in the same way on the page.

With any luck, LibreOffice may support the manufacturer and type of label you are using. To check, To start preparing labels, start LibreOffice’s Writer word processor and select File | New | Labels. From this window, you can select the label type and how it is fed into your printer. You can also enter any text for your labels, either manual in the empty pane provided, or else from a database (check the online help for how to create and connect to a database.) You do not need to add text, and images will have to be added later, when the label sheet is prepared.

 

If your label sheet is not supported, you can set Writer to use it on the Options page, where you can enter the size of each label (if each page has more than one) and the spaces between the labels. You can also create a custom label sheet manually from an empty Writer document by measuring the label sheet and by using Insert | Frame | Frame and setting frames so that each the same size as your label(s), and positioned in the same way on the page. Probably, too, you will want to select the frame and right-click on it to make the borders of each frame invisible when you print.

The last step in preparing the label is to select Synchronize contents on the window’s Option tag. This feature sets the resulting file you create so that all changes to the first label on a page can be duplicated on the other labels with a single click.

When you are ready, click the New Document button. Writer will open a new file, showing frames for each label on the sheet and a floating Synchronize Contents button. This button is especially useful for adding images.

 

Adding Images to Your Labels

If your label is big enough, you can create your image using the Draw toolbar in the file created for printing by LibreOffice. Even then, though, you may find using Draw easier.

If you are using Draw, your last step should be to select all the separate elements by running the mouse cursor around all of them so that their frames and selective points show. By selecting Shape | Group, you can move and resize all the elements as if they were only one.

Then click on the grouped elements and select Position and Size from the right-click menu to reduce the size of the image so that it fits on the label. This step is necessary because if the image is too large for the label, adjusting it can be difficult. When you are ready, you copy and paste the image to the first label on the page. Clicking Synchronize Contents will replicate the first label on all the other labels. You are then ready to print.

A Matter of Practice

Adding images to a label may seem awkward at first, but it is really a matter of practice. After a few tries, you will start to see that LibreOffice’s tools are actually designed to save you effort and frustration. Once you are comfortable with the steps, you will find that, when you go beyond text, labels actually have more possibilities than you originally suspected.

By Bruce Byfield, author of Designing with LibreOffice.org – visit and download the book here

Over 250 New Thermal Label products Released by Labelsontime

Labelsontime.com the newly formed division of label convertor Worldlabel Holdings, is pleased to announce the addition over 245 popular sizes of thermal printer barcode labels for both thermal transfer and Direct thermal label printing. These sizes will be stock items at 4 warehouse distribution locations nationwide.

Labelsontime offers Thermal LabelsLabelsontime now manufactures and offers their customers an additional 245 Thermal label products and sizes in roll and fan-folded label configurations in either paper direct thermal printable labels or for thermal transfer label printing. Customers can be confident that everything is in-stock and ships the same day from one of 4 locations nationwide. Additionally, new configurations are available on ¾ core sizes for mobile printers, both the 1” and 3” cores for use in heavy industrial printers, as well as mini desktop printers such as Zebra, Eltron, Sato, Intermec and Datamax. A large selection of color thermal labels are also introduced. More Zebra Labels sizes also.

Also, we pleased to launch a Knowledge Base and the Labelsontime Thermal Labels Blog: hoping to bring you all the information and tips you need for printing barcode labels, shipments and more.

Read more here

Free Decorative Border Pack Graphics By Cathe Holden

The Decorative Border Pack for designers by Cathe Holden of InspiredBarn features 48 different FREE vintage-themed vector borders for use as-is or incorporating into your custom graphics and packaging design. The free files are in PDF format with each border sized to fit the WL-525 rounded-corner labels, however art can be re-sized and color-changed as desired in vector editing software.

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New Face :) Say Hi to the New Worldlabel & Coupons Galore

Sparks, fireworks and explosions! We happy to announce a new face 🙂 Visit WORLDLABEL.COM and say hi.

The new site is mobile friendly in addition to added modernized shopping functions to make things convenient for our customers. Built on Open Source Drupal, the site offers a much better user experience for users on all types of computers and devices especially smart phones and tablets. We totally focused on the needs of our customers as they peruse through our site trying to make it as intuitive and as easy to shop as possible.


 COUPONS:

A) FREE SHIPPING COUPON  Valid for orders of $50 or more

Get Free Shipping use coupon: WLNEWSHIP
Coupon Expires: 1 time use

Notice: Free shipping only for lower 48 states via UPS ground

B) $10 Off $50 ORDERS

Save $10.00 Use Coupon: WL10offnow
and get $10 dollars off your next purchase of $50 and more

Visit Worldlabel and start shopping for blank labels on sheets


 

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Printable Refrigerator Organizing Labels By Lia Griffith

Our friends over at Lia Griffith Media designed a gorgeous new set of printable food labels for us. They are excellent for organizing your Refrigerator or Freezer. These labels are as pretty as they are practical… and so easy to make! Especially surrounding the holiday season, labeling your frozen and/or refrigerated goods is a life-saving trick. With the editable Mellony Dry Brush font, personalize your labels accordingly. Lia’s team created three sizes of title labels and a sheet of detail labels for noting the contents and dates. They used our 8.5×11″ frosted clear matte labels. If printing on a laser printer, the material item number of these labels is full sheet labels WL-175CX. If printing on an inkjet — WL-175CJ. To download your own personal set of labels, see the download link below!

Also included are white freezer storage labels to help you keep track of when and what is in the freezer.

Download Your Free Freezer and Fridge label Template


Connect with LiaGriffith.com – sign up for membership to start crafting with her and her team. Follow Lia Griffith on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Preparing Labels With Libreoffice Video By Bruce Byfield

How to Prepare Labels with Libreoffice.org by Bruce Byfield.

This tutorial covers using templates, how to import images and use text, in-depth instructions on using mailmerge and more.

For more reading on using labels with Libreoffice:

Creating fancy labels with Libreoffice

Mail merge address labels with Libreoffice

Working with Barcode with Libreoffice/Openoffice

Have more questions about using labels, feel free to visit the forums and engage the community in helping you

Free Festive Holiday Label Kits by Cathe Holden

Download these festive patterns, borders and label designs by Cathe Holden of InspiredBarn.com and print to WorldLabel.com label stock for decorating and labeling handmade and all holiday gifts! Customize smaller labels with your own text, handwritten or typed into the PDF files prior to printing. Round labels can be printed to WL-350 sheets or cut out with a 2.5” circle craft punch. We suggest printing on our one page sheet label.

These Festive Holiday PDF Templates are editable: To Change Font: Make sure you download the Calendar to your computer, then open it in Adobe Reader. On a PC press Control + E and on a Mac Command + E  > a font properties window will open up

Enjoy, Happy Festive Holidays 🙂

 

KIT A

DOWNLOAD PDF

KIT B

DOWNLOAD PDF

In the Label Kits plus paper textures:

Handdrawn Jam Styled Labels by Valerie McKeehan of Lily & Val

handdrawn jam labels
This adorable set of 2.5″ round jam labels has been hand-drawn by Valerie of Lilly and Val includes an array of fruit preserves plus apple and pumpkin butter. Each one was drawn with black pen and ink lettering and illustrations for a clean, modern, simple look, but still with a hint of rustic charm.
jam labels printed on label sheets
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These labels are sure to make your homemade gifts just a little more special. Simply download the PDFs onto your desktop and print!

DOWNLOAD PDFs:

Peach Jam_

Pumpkin Butter

Raspberry Jam

Apple Butter_

Strawberry Jam

Grape Jam

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Free 2017 PDF Editable Fillable Calendar Pro from Worldlabel

Here is our 2017 calendar PDF Pro. We keep getting requests for our PDF Filable Editable Calendars. It is a free download and the PDF template is developed by Alex Pavlovich. This year we have 2 versions, a Chalkboard version and a white version with a handrawn pencil illustration as font and logo. Enjoy 🙂

2017 PDF calendar

2017-calendar-fillable

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Thanksgiving Leftover Labels By Valerie McKeehan

Thanksgiving Labels

 

What’s better than Thanksgiving dinner? Answer: Thanksgiving Leftovers! This adorable set of chalk art labels has been hand-drawn by Valerie of Lily And Val! Your Thanksgiving guests will feel extra special leaving with leftovers wrapped with a pretty touch. The set includes “thankful for leftover” seals, 2.5 inch rounds to mark what’s inside the box, and of course, labels for pie! Simply download the PDFs onto your desktop and print! Enjoy!

hand-drawn thanksgiving labels

 

DOWNLOAD FILES:

WL-150_leftovers_download – same size as Avery 5164

 WL-375_Morepieplease – 3.33″ circle or use full sheet and cut out

Worldlabel_leftovers – 2.5 circle or use full sheet and cut out

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