Thanks for the link, good info here. I read the link and it's the exact same process I'm using. The only difference I can see after a quick reading is that I'm not verifying the merge field is actually an image. With what I'm doing, I know that every merge field is occupied and contains a picture, so the verification is unnecessary.

I'll dig more into it later but for now, business dictates that I keep pushing forward. Thanks for your help!