Template Builder Problems

Currently I’m trying to place a newsletter registration form next to the layer slider on the home page of the site we are creating – the problem I am running into is that within the template builder I can not place an Advanced Layer Slider within a layout element. Wen need the sign up box to float left of the slider – for some reason we can not do this within the template builder. So we tried to add the sign up box using a standard div in the HTML of the page avoiding the use of the short codes. When I do this and update the page the whole page gets deleted. Is there a work around for this problem or do you have a suggestion on another way we can get this sign up to float next to the slider?