Desparately seeking Help

Okay - I have recieved many emails from people with advice for photos and layout photographing. I also recieved alot of questions - which DUH - you would need the answer to give me suggestions.

First of all - I am not NOT not a photographer. My hubby is taking the classes, reading the articles et al. But many times he is not available to take the pictures I want.

So - that said - I have a pretty nice (I think) CannonPower Shot A85 5.0 megapixel digital camera with zoom 3x lens.

I had PhotoImpressions (factory installed with) I was using to edit my photos et store. I have recently acquired the all important and much raved about Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0. My hubby took a class two months ago on it (intro class at my fav scrapin place - YES he takes classes there - he has even taken a CARD MAKING CLASS!!) but is still learning the finer points.

I try to take photos of my layouts with and without photo. I have tried lying them on the floor and standing them up. I've tried daylight and artifical light.
Sometimes they look ok on camera then I upload them to Adobe and they are blurry.

I use Flickr to upload most of my photos - occasionally (for a no hassle, no frills upload) I use Picasso.

Okay - welcoming suggestions and advice!!! Throw it at me!!!!