If you do want to fabricate printed circuit boards, the way it works is that instead of connecting pins with wires, you use 'traces' which are thin lines of copper.
Instead of creating traces, when you etch a PCB you are removing what isn't a trace.
Like trimming the bonsai tree--cut away whatever doesn't look like a tree.
The PCB blank has a thin coating of copper on it. You apply some material to protect where you want traces to be left behind. The whole thin is dipped in Ferric Chloride (or something else) which eats away at the copper it can get to. When it removes all the copper you haven't covered, it's done, and you rinse it, and remove the material that you originally applied. What is left behind are traces.
You can draw on PCBs using Sharpie(tm) permanent markers. You can also use adhesive stickers designed for creating PCBs, or you can iron on a pattern printed by a laser printer onto magazine paper, or you can use a more sophisticated laser printer iron / transfer method.
That's how to fabricate a PCB to a design. Designing the PCB involves first designing the circuit, then designing the PCB, placing components as needed and designing where the traces are supposed to go. I like to use Eagle from CadSoft as it has integrated the circuit design and PCB design steps.
Michael