>I've tried repeatedly to get a container to show up within a container, but maybe it's really not within it. Anyway, I wanted to use 3-D to make it look kind of cool, but the 2nd container disappears into the other one. Is there a way around this?

You don't need a second container to get 3-D effects -- set the SpecialEffect property. For containers, you can set to raised or sunken. For shapes, you can set to 3D for a 3D outline effect.