Dona - you have to be careful about wetting wafer paper. Too much water and it will dissolve. Best to start working with it dry if you're beginning. You can stamp on it like normal paper, cut it or punch it with paper punches. Some brands are more brittle than others when dry (Icing Images has some new relatively flexible wafer paper), but if handled carefully, they all work pretty much the same way. Best of luck with it.
Icing Images link: http://www.icingimages.com/wafer-paper