I imported this image of a poppy and saved it as an svg.
http://parenting.leehansen.com/download ... poster.htm

I would now like to separate the two center circles so I can cut them in different colored papers and maybe merge the poppy leaf petals so they will cut
in one piece. I would also like to be able to connect the words so they will cut in one piece.

I've tried clicking on ungroup and nothing happens.

And I'm new to using Inkscape. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Use this Col http://www.inkscape.org/doc/tracing/tut ... acing.html , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHn8Vw4q ... re=related or Bezier tool to trace the parts you require.

Charlie I did the path trace bitmap and now I still cannot select the individual parts of the image. I've tried clicking on ungroup and nothing. This is what I have after tracing the bitmap.

your svg does not include the image b/c you linked it.
1. Select the image
2. With the image selected, do Path>Trace Bitmap.
3. Select the original image and delete.
4. Select the tracing path.
5. With the path selected to Path>Break Apart.
6. Select the paths that represent your text and do Path>Combine.
7. Select the paths that represent your petals and do Path>Combine.
8. Your inner circles should be separate paths already.

NOTE: Sometimes the paths generated from Trace Bitmap don't follow the expected form, so if this does not work, you will need to manually trace every element with the Bezier tool .

EDITED: I just did the above and it works. The text is a little clunky but perhaps a different setting on the trace will work better. I used edge detection. Also, for whatever reason the inside circle was originally to thin paths that had to be combined. Last quirk I noticed was that the petal paths appear to fill black when fill is set to "no fill" or "unset", but if you set the fill to white it looks correct.

When I get to step #5 and hit path break apart it turned my image completely black and it did the same thing to my verbiage. I think this program
is just too complicated for me after all. I am not a graphic artist and I really wish there was a better help manual.

Col wrote:When I get to step #5 and hit path break apart it turned my image completely black and it did the same thing to my verbiage. I think this program
is just too complicated for me after all. I am not a graphic artist and I really wish there was a better help manual.

That is because of the "inside/outside" model of vector graphics.

If you graw a small solid circle in the middle of a large solid circle then combine them, it will "cut" a hole from the larger one. when you break the path apart, you end up with a small circle on the large circle, which you will not be able to see if your stroke and fill are the same colour.

-Rob A>

Col wrote:When I get to step #5 and hit path break apart it turned my image completely black and it did the same thing to my verbiage. I think this program
is just too complicated for me after all. I am not a graphic artist and I really wish there was a better help manual.

It doesn't matter that it turned it all black. It does for me too. When you select all the little paths that make up each letter or each flower petal then do path>combine, it will look right once you set the fill to white and the stroke to black.