Kaci,

Well, first and foremost, WELCOME TO KNITTING! :):)

And mass kudos on a) finishing your first projects and b) making your first design. My first design was a script Cal logo, which was probably about the same level of difficulty as a skull and crossbones. The first one's the hardest. At least, well, after that, they may not get any easier, but it's not *quite* so daunting ;)

OK, binding off. Here's how I would explain it to someone who couldn't see what I was doing:

1) get to the end of your scarf ;)
2) knit two stitches (some say to bind off in pattern, i.e., knit the knits and purl the purls, but I find that doing all knits or all purls looks cleaner; it's up to you)
3) using your left knitting needle (assuming you're right-handed), take the *first* stitch on the right needle (the one toward the back, non-pointy end of the needle), lift it over the second stitch, and drop it off of that right needle. You now have one stitch on the right needle
4) knit another stitch
5) repeat steps three and four until you're down to one stitch on the right needle and none on the left (I guess you'll end on three, actually, not four)
6) pull the yarn through that last stitch, pull tight (but still pretty). Cut, weave in, etc.

If you know crocheting, you can think of it as crocheting a border using your knitting loops instead of only feed yarn. But that's sort of confusing, too.

One big hint is to bind off loosely. Try trading up a size or two with your needles. I regularly do that for both casting on and binding off. It appears to be the only way I can get both edges to be the right tension. :)

Hope this helps!

Lots of luck.