Joey: sometimes you can select the object you want, using the Magic Wand tool, and get a better grip on it by changing the "tolerance" or "similarity" checkboxes, to a higher or lower number depending on the colour level of the background. A higher value will select more colours; a lower value will select fewer. So, if you have a red object on a pink background, setting the values higher will also tend to select pink. Setting it lower will force it select more red.

The new PhotoShop Elements has a very good magic wand "snap to" control, too, which allows even closer masking. But careful use of the Snap in most programs, and always remembering to click often on the edge of the object to anchor the mask you are creating, will work very well.

And of course you can buy masking plug-ins from people like Extensis. These can be pretty expensive, but check the web for trial versions of plug-ins. Even if you don't have PhotoShop, Plug-ins work with a number of programs, like Corel PhotoPaint and ULead PhotoImpact.

Another trick is to select the object and then paste it onto a clean image with a backgroun that is coloured similarly to the object (or its edges). Then merge the image and reselect with the wand. You will be able to get a much closer mask outline.

Even after all that, you could easily have an edge still showing. You can zoom in to the edge, though, and change the colour to more closely resemble the object's colour: magic-wand select the edge itself, and use the eyedropper tool to select colour from the object and fill the edge selection with that colour.

Finally, the white-edge problem crops up most often when adding shadows, which tends to show the stray colour left around the edge of the object.

But since you are doing original artwork, creating your images on a plain background should alleviate moste of the problems before they start, no? ... Mike