If you'd like to make your own tokens for whatever games you play this might be of use to you. I wrote this a while back so hopefully the steps are still good. The tokens can be as simple or complex as you like, but the instructions below produce only rudimentary ones. I don't use GIMP to make mine (Photoshop, instead) but here's a quick and dirty way to make them using this free software.
After printing out the tokens, you can glue them onto tiles with a simple glue stick. I use 0.75" x 0.75" tiles that can be purchased here.
Good luck!
1) Download and install the latest version of GIMP here.
2) Fire it up.
3) Once it opens (may take a minute, be patient) you'll be presented with three windows. The tall one on the left contains the toolbox, the one in the middle is where you'll see images, and the tall one on the right contains your layers (images stacked on top of one another). You'll use all three while making your tokens.
4) On the middle window, click File->New. You'll see a box that says "pixels". Change it to "inches". Change the width and height to 0.75 since the scrabble tiles are 0.75" on a side. Click the Advanced Options plus-sign and set X Resolution and Y Resolution to 300. Click OK.
You should have a blank token like this:
5) On the toolbox, select the Fuzzy Select tool:
Click inside the blank token. A dashed line should appear around the outside indicating it's been selected. Right click, select Edit->Stroke Selection...
The Stroke Selection dialog will pop up:
Choose 12 for the line width and click Stroke. Your blank token is now outlined in black.
6) If you want your tokens to have a background image, select one (a good one can be found here) and save it to your computer.
Click File->Open as Layers...
A dialog titled Open Image will appear:
Use the directory path at the top navigate to your image. Select your image and click Open. The image will appear as a new layer (see the list of layers on the tall righthand window).
7) If your image is too small or large, scale it using the Scale Layer dialog:
8) If your image needs to be more transparent so that text can show over it, lower its opacity on the tall righthand window. Select the image layer and use the slider:
9) Click File->Save As... and when the save dialog appears type "token.jpg" in the Name field near the top of the window. Click Save.
Click Export and Save if/when prompted.
10) Close the window displaying your token.
11) Click File->New. Set the dimensions to 8.5x11 inches and 300 pixels per inch (see step 4). Click OK and a new blank window will appear.
14) Click File->Open as Layers... and open the token.jpg image you saved in step 9. The token will appear as a new layer (see the layer stack on the righthand window). It will also appear in the middle of your page.
15) Select the token layer on the layer stack in the righthand window to make sure the token is selected. Click Edit->Copy to put the token on the clipboard.
16) On the toolbox, click the paint bucket. On the bottom half of the screen you'll see an option for "Fill type". Select "Pattern fill".
At the bottom of the layer window you'll see a bunch of patterns.
Scroll up to the top of the pattern list and click the Clipboard pattern.
17) On the layer window select the background layer.
18) On the main window with your blank page, click on the page. Give it a second and it should fill the background with the token you copied in step 15.
19) On the layer window, click the eyeball next to the token layer (to make the layer invisible). Or select the token layer and then click the trashcan on that window (to delete the layer).
20) To add text over your tokens, select the text tool in the toolbox.
Click over a token and the GIMP Text Editor will appear:
Type in some text and click Close. Use the lower half of the toolbox window to alter font, etc.
21) Repeat step 20 to add text for whichever tokens you want. Save often and print out your tokens.
