Orchid collage using Paint

This collage is my first attempt at using 'Paint' to make a collage. Someone who has seen my collages, but hasn't got Photoshop software, wanted help in using Paint to create collages. I have used sections of a couple of original photos, without any 'improvements', and made selections, cropped and pasted them, adding text and a coloured background.
If anyone has experience of using other free software that has more functions than Paint, I am sure that information would be appreciated.