Difficulty with simple clipping mask project

I'm just learning Illustrator (CS3) and have a simple project that I'm having trouble with. I'm hoping someone can give me a brief step-by-step.
Basically, I'm making a cube and want to "insert" a photo into the front side of the cube using a clipping mask. I made the cube, which is slightly offset from "front facing" to give it a 3-D look, using the rectangle tool and some lines drawn with the pen tool. But when I went to add a clipping mask to the front panel, it wouldn't let me, saying something about you can't do that when the selected path is part of a group.
Any ideas. This seems simple, but there's something I'm not getting, apparently.
Thanks,
Steve

Assuming your cube is a cube and your photo is square, and the photo is embedded:
1. RectangleTool: Click (dont drag). Enter 1 for both height and width. Click OK.
2. DoubleClick the Rotate Tool. Enter 45°. Click OK.
3. DoubleClick the Scale Tool. Enter 58% vertical, 100% horizontal.
4. RotateTool: AltClick the bottom anchorPoint of the trapezoid. In the resulting dialog, enter 120°. Click Copy.
5. Object>Transform>TransformAgain (Ctrl D).
Now you have an isometric cube.
6. Select the raster image and the face of the cube that you want the image on. Object>EnvelopeDistort>MakeWithTopObject.
Or:
1. Select the raster image.
2. Effect>3D>Extrude&Bevel. In the resulting dialog, turn on Preview. Rotate the proxy cube, adjust extrusion depth as desired.
Or:
1. Drag the raster image to the Symbols Palette.
2. Rectangle Tool: ShiftDrag to draw a square. Solid fill, no stroke.
3. Effect>3D>Extrude&Bevel. In the resulting dialog, turn on Preview. Rotate the proxy cube, adjust extrusion depth as desired.
4. Click the Map Art button. In the resulting dialog, navigate to the surface onto which you want to map the image and select the Symbol from the popup menu.
JET

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Hi Oompal
Simple, let´s see if I´ve understood your problem
Create any shape and position where you like. Now go to layers pallete and click create clipping layer button (bottom of the layer, the first left buttom). That´s it
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Am I right?
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Difficulty with simple clipping mask project

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