Hello
minimd! Welcome to DD!
So glad to hear you have jumped in! That's really the only way to do it. The tutorials, challenges and chats here really help to keep your creative juices flowing and will help you develop your "digi skills". The gallery is an amazing place to go to for inspiration as well!
I agree with Susie, start to collect your "favorites" in the gallery, because you will learn alot about what styles you like and gain a lot of inspiration and ideas by looking thru them from time to time.
I was a lurker to this site for a long time before I actually joined and became involved. Let me tell you, I am a much much much better scrapper thanks to this place!