I started with a selection of my hand-painted papers, picking them up and feeling them, sorting through them until I found one that said "Hi. I'm the one". And then I put the rest away. :)

The next step is to make my overall pattern. Since I already know that I'm going  to mount this piece, I need a 6 x 6 inch square, plus one inch overlap for folding over the substrate. 

Having made 12 birds in this 6 x 6" range, I now know that while working, unless you're constantly measuring, you sometimes have elements that stray off the edges. Sometimes that's okay - but for this particular piece, I needed the focal point to be exactly centered

But even if that weren't the case, as odd as it seems, I always draw this out, so that I have a translucent "pattern" to hold over the piece as I'm working.

And then, to cut out my batting to pattern as well. Depending on the size of the piece, I will either cut my batting to the same size as the overall piece - or - in this case, I cut it to the display size (in other words, 6 x 6 rather than 7 x 7), because in pieces this small, that batting will be very bulky, and make it more difficult to mount at the end.