DX is very powerful and worth looking into (though it can take quite a bit of effort setting up the graphics device in your code). If you just want to load from Bitmaps like you said (rather than have to start again and work out DirectX in such little time), then take a look at this page.
http://www.mvps.org/user32/gditutorial.html
The first example is a very simple program that demonstrates Blitting (drawing) bitmaps. Just change parameters 2 and 3 in the BitBlt() call to change the X,y positions of the image.
Have you ever tried working with XNA? It can really speed up the game development process (ideal for quick projects).