Bittbox has produced another great Illustrator tutorial this time on Improve Your Illustrator Workflow with Layer Masking .

Using Layer Masks will save you time by avoiding tedious un-grouping, grouping, releasing, and applying clipping masks with the ease of a simple toggle button. Attention the hierarchy of your layers and sub/shape layers is essential in order to get the most out of this feature, but once you get the hang of it, it should definitely speed up your work flow!

While there check out and download the Free Hi-Res Floral Photoshop Brushes and for Illustrator the Free Vectors - Part 7: Flowers