HELP NOW ! Getting red box with X in it...

[Nancy Moran G]

I am trying to make the Christmas bulb and don't know what I hit but this is the message I am getting and it won't let me do anything!!
"Could not transform because the initial bounding rectangle is empty"
What the heck is that and how do I fix it?
Help....
Nancy

[Nancy Moran G]

Ok, I may see my problem. I thought I was to make a new layer to work with, but I really needed a duplicate layer..
But any thoughts are appreciated.
N