WordPress as CMS

I’m designing a site and using wordpress as the CMS. What I’m trying to do is I have a “Projects” section on the website and on the main page (www.site.com) I want it to self update showing the 3 most recent Projects.. how would I do this? and would it also be possible to display a small image next to the project?

And also is there a site that gives a good tutorial/description on using wordpress as a CMS?