Hi guys, like the title says, I’m new to Blender and have just grasped the basics of making models. This is my first original piece, so what do you think? I’d really appreciate some feedback. 
Welcome to Blender! I have some thoughts on your project:
- This appears to be Blender Internal render. I would recommend learning cycles–you won’t go back to BI!
- Not sure what is happening with the shading on the stapler–is that “smooth” or “flat”? Since it doesn’t have much in the way of curved geometry, you might want to try “flat.” If you want curves, start playing with subsurf, edge crease settings, edge split, etc.
- Blender is a long learning process. Don’t get discouraged and keep trying to learn new things!
When I was new to Blender I could just make strange shapes :()
Pretty good job there. Like pleskinen said, flat shading should work better with stapler since it got obvious edges and corners. And Cycles Renderer is pretty cool !