Whether you have a small point and shoot or a DSLR, the main things you need to watch in order to get a good picture are
1. Lighting - Halogen work lights, scoop lights, lamps, it doesn't matter too much as long as you take the time to set it up. By set it up, I mean move the lights around until it looks interesting, add and take away lights until it's bright enough for your cam, etc.
If you're having issues with harsh unflattering light, either diffuse the hard light with something like parchment paper (you'll find it in the baking section of most markets) or bounce the light off a wall/ceiling. I've never had issues with parchment paper (had it on halogens which get about as hot as any lights you'll deal with and never had a fire issue - still use at your own risk, which is why I also suggest bouncing the light to soften it)
Avoid the flash whenever you can, but if you have to use it, diffuse it. Diffusion on the flash can really do wonders to keep the overall image from having the usual awkward hot spot.
2. Stabilize - tripod, beanbag, anything you can put the camera on or attach it to (so long as you can still set it up to frame the picture how you want it). If you can get the cam stable, you have alot more leeway to slow down your shutter speed if you don't have enough light - plus you just plain avoid the issues and frustrations you can get from camera shake softening an otherwise nice shot.
3. Composure - A well lit and perfectly stable shot can still be boring. So try to adjust lighting to get some cool shadows, contrast the subject from the background, angle things. Really just take a bunch of pictures in totally different setups until you get a feel for what you like and how you want your pics to look.
4. Settings - If the cam is stable, there's light on the subject and your shot is actually setup in an interesting way (prop in this case) your main worry left is how the settings are going to affect your picture.
ISO - keep it as low as you possibly can. In darker settings, the ISO will go up to brighten the picture, but it will add grain/noise which can trash an otherwise decent picture. For most digitals anything over 400ish is starting to push the limit of where the noise will become too noticeable - for DSLR's you can usually push a little farther toward 600 or 800. You're still better off not chancing it, as all cams introduce noise differently and in different quantities - so just add more light and keep the ISO low.
Aperture - If you stabilized the cam, focus more on aperture than shutter speed (so if you don't have a manual mode, but you have an aperture priority and shutter priority mode, go with aperture). Your aperture will both brighten/darken the picture as well as chance the depth of field. If your cam is stable, you'll focus on using it for depth of field. Basically, close the aperture more (higher numbers) to increase the depth of field (more stuff is in focus) and open the aperture up (lower numbers) to decrease the depth of field (shallow - much less stuff in focus).
Shutter Speed - If you focus on the aperture and stabilize the cam, you just need to change the shutter speed until the picture is properly exposed. You shouldn't be getting motion blur with stationary props, so I won't go into balancing shutter speed and aperture for a moving subject.
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