Learning to create with Photoshop Elements

My daughter, Megan, has a Nikon DSLR camera.  I  have no clue how to use it.  I'm playing around with it and trying to learn.  I think I'm going to have to read and actually do some work on this one.  Bummer!  I probably took around 50 pictures of my Christmas pillows and out of those 50 about 6 weren't out of focus.  Thankfully Megan was around and could help me jazz them up with Photoshop Elements.  Unfortunately, she is busy with college and work so she isn't always around to help me with my photo needs.  So, last night I attempted to edit some pictures myself.  I found this site that had some very helpful tutorials: Essential Photoshop Elements.  After several hours I had a picture edited that I thought I would share with you.
First of all, let me tell you a little about the picture.  I went back to school on Wednesday after being on Christmas vacation for two weeks.  While I was gone, my orchid had bloomed.  Now this orchid I purchased last February and all its flowers fell off in two days.  For the past eleven months it has been nothing but some leaves and a bunch of green sticks.  All of a sudden this orchid has gone crazy!  It now has 30 plus buds on it. I really wanted to get some great pictures, but I struggled getting any good ones.  First of all, in a classroom it is difficult to get a picture without desks, chairs, tables, posters, etc. in the background.  Secondly, I only had my cannon point and shoot and my phone camera with me.  Well, at least I only spent a few minutes taking pictures instead of a few hours. 
My main objective with these pictures was to blur out all the distracting background.  So, here you have it.

Before: (Apparently I didn't save my original, but this is very similar)

After:

I'm not sure what I think about the altered photo actually.  I'll keep working on my skills.  I'd love to look back on these photo in a few months and say "Wow, look how far I've come!".