Attached Link: Brushes on the Adobe Studio Exchange Thing

Welcome to Photoshop & Forums. You can learn a lot this way, I promise. The difference is enormous, actually. The simplest description: brushes is what you paint/draw with, layers are what you paint on. Look at layers as transparent paper you can stack on top of each other. So products that come in layers are like that. Most of the visual elements you see can be handled apart from each other. The layers with images can have different blend modes and transparancy (which determines how they interact with each other). You can add your own elements, or text or throw away layers, mirror them or do all kinds of wacky stuff with them. Brushes are another league. There are lot of free brushes around the net (do a google search for 'free PS brushes' and you will find them, they are also on the Adobe Exchange site (see link). There is lot of information there, if you are looking for starting points. Tutorials, actions, everything. You can easily make your own brushes, but a lot of people have done that for you already. Brushes can be used to build collages (they act like 'stamps' then), to add 'grunge' to borders (irregular 'dirty' stuff, dust, scratches) or artwork, or to simulate natural media. This kind of material is good to learn from. But it is also smart to learn how to use the software yourself (the internet is almost bursting with PS tutorials) before spending a lot of money on things you can create yourself. Feel free to ask anything you want!