LOL Kelly, exactly as you said, use the selection tool to select the one alpha you want to use and then copy/paste into your Layout. You can then also use your RIGHT mouse button to move your marching ants to the next letter that you would like to copy/paste.
We have a wonderful store right here at SBB with wonderful kits and elements to buy, just look for the store link above on any page.
You can also obtain numerous freebie samples at the crop/chats if you look at the calender you can find the dates and times.
Yes we use very little of the actually items that come with PSP such as tubes and patterns as they are/were usually created at 72ppi and as such will not print out well at all, but they will look fine on your monitor.
The one thing I would suggest for a newcomer is to start now organizing your kits and freebies with designer names and to read the Terms of Use that they come with. Very, very soon you will be overcome with digital items that are so many you yourself will become lost in all of them. If you have Photo Album 5-6 you can organize through that or another free program Picasa 2 which you can google for download.
We also have a huge selection of tutorials here for PSP under the tutorial link, also found on any page here at SBB.
Also doing a search of the forums for Fonts will bring up tons of post on the subject, how to use them and where to get them!!
Have fun and please let us know of any other questions you might still have.