My image has a nose which is a separate .png and I want it to stick to a fixed position on my other image unless I move it to animate it. How can I do this because I am new to Synfig.
Hi and welcome here 
Did you try to put your 2 images in a group layer?
i tried but the image i add to the group layer image disappears
You have to put the nose image above the other one in the group.
Check the Blend and Amount parameters.
i successfully found out how to put an image over the other in a group layer, how do i do what i originally asked for?
Once in a group, the 2 layers can be animated separately.
Select the “nose” only and do your animation.
If you select the group instead, it will be both layers who will be animated.
And of course if the group is animated, the nose will follow the other layer 
You can check the Wiki or Youtube for basic and advanced tutorials