You have the creativity, but the application you're using (I'm guessing) is letting you down. I would recommend
http://paint.net/ - it's like a basic photoshop, and it's also free. In there you can have much more freedom and experiment with transparency, gradients, depth/angles, renders.. oh so much.
If you want any paint.net tips then feel free to PM me - I use it a lot for whenever I need to draw something up, weather it be for a science write up, or an abstract desktop background.