First of all, I'm new at this and I'm trying my best; therefore, any help would be great.

I look at some of the logos that are created here and they seem like there not made from scratch. Many, such as the Google ones and others seem to be copied and then manipulated in GIMP or some other program. I'm currently trying to do the same; however, I'm having some major issues. I've looked all over the place for help and I've found some good stuff on using GIMP; but, this particular issue is never covered. I've copied and pasted several logos from Google Images. When I begin trying to manipulate in GIMP I run into a series of problems...

First off, I'm unable to increase the workable area. I can increase the size of the logo; however, my purpose is to increase the background so that I have more room to work with the text.

Second, I can't change the background color of the preexisting logo by itself.

Thirdly, when I try to duplicate it duplicates the entire picture and not the text. How do I make the text its own layer?

I imagine the fact that the text is not its own layer is the overarching problem here.

Thank you for any help