The flowers were created by loading a digital photo into Corel PhotoPaint. I then cropped the image to create a close-up of the flower heads. I added a blank layer to the image. The flowers were then painted by adding dabs of semi transparent colour until I was happy with the effect, and the original photograph layer was removed.

The frame and drop shadow were done using PhotoImpact 4.2. Basically, pick a frame style and click a button, the program does the rest. I always use PhotoImpact to frame my images.