Can we use free design layout manager in my customized panel?

Hi gurus,

I am trying to extends JPanel and customizing it so that I can render 
its back ground with a picture. But when I added my panel to the pallete 
and use it in a frame builded by Mattise GUI builder, I cannot set its 
layout to freedesign. What's worse, I cannot add any components such as 
button and textfield to my customized panel! Do you have any idea how we 
can achieve this?

-William