Banners

So, as I was sitting at home this Friday night attempting to learn about Photoshop and design a new banner.  I came up with this:

Then I decided to change my entire layout, and I'm pretty pleased with the end result... what do you all think?

The Orange is not for Halloween, although the timing seems like it should be.  I'm in an Orange phase... 

I also feel like I should be posting the banners so I can look back on them; thats what this post is for.
Here is the first banner I made:

I love that one, and may try to focus my future designs this way.

The second banner I made, which I did in about 15 minutes just playing around with a tutorial I found online, wasn't my favorite.  It turned out okay (and NOTHING like what the tutorial was showing) so I did decide to put it up for a bit:

I have a few other thoughts in mind, but I'm just not smart enough in Photoshop to do them... oh well, one day at a time :)