I think your problem is going to be lighting. Natural light is pretty inconsistent, so you probably could do with artificial light. You can either use flash or filament lamps, if you use flourescents or energy savers then the colours won’t be right – although this is a tricky subject anyway even with the correct type of light.
If you are in a room it is hard to get even lighting. You can use high powered lamps if you have them, or flashes, but flash is trickier to set up and you need a camera with a hot shoe. SLRs and better compacts have them. You also must not point the light directly at the picture cos it won’t be evenly lit. You can either bounce the light around the room (although this can introduce a colour cast depending on what’s on the walls or in the room) or use a diffuser or reflector.. Did someone mention a bed sheet above?
Try photographing a blank white piece of paper first, you will be able to see how even the lighting is and if there is a colour cast much more easily.
As for the camera – I would go for an slr personally. My wife got a mint condition Olympus E-420 and lens £120 from ebay. Like new. The excellent 35mm macro if it’s ever needed goes for about £120 too. There are bargains out there.