Welcome Rita!
I'm relatively new here, as well, and I can assure you that the people on this forum are friendly and incredibly creative and helpful. And the wealth of information they have is priceless. I, too, got my feet wet a few years ago by donating to a charity, and that experience was encouraging enough for me to do more.
Although I've sold a number of pieces, I haven't yet turned it into a profitable business (I buy way more beads, etc. than I sell), but I really love what I'm doing. And I get tremendous inspiration from the range of work on the sites here. So welcome, and have fun!
Cindy