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Wow, I haven't done this in awhile. And this is gonna take quite some time, considering how many contestants there are now compared to PPTTG1, which didn't even end. o___o
Anyway, here goes. I'm gonna try not to be too nice. :P
Adam loves Hilary Duff: It looks decent as a whole as a graphic (contrary to moogie's opinion, I like the blue tone), but there are quite a few bits which I find could use a little fixing. First off, the corner on the top right is really annoying me. I understand that it's part of the original picture, but since you're using PS7, surely you could use at least the Clone Stamp to get rid of it. Also, the dots you placed on the picture seem more detrimental than beneficial- it makes the image look of a lower quality, to be honest. Also, the blog area needs to be more opaque- I can't think of a specific colour that would show up well in there. Good size choice though.
watericesage: As nice as the background is, and how you fixed up the violin, there's really one large thing I notice about the blog that detracts me from it. The blog area. The colour seems too light- I suspect you used an offwhite and made it translucent? Sure, text would definitely show on it, but perhaps a brown would have done the job better. Also, the text area is small and makes the blog looks disproportional as a whole.
Dawn2: Your created background is simple (to the point where I don't see much effort, contrary to what you say yourself about not using brushes), but unique. Colours suit each other, and the blog area is a good colour and size to be usable. The font for "wintery," however, doesn't really seem to fit- it's also the dominant element, which really makes this blog a lot less than it could have been. Perhaps you could have added more wintery elements and summery elements to create a "clash"- I'm sure you could do that from scratch on PSP. Forgive me if I'm being vague, but that's all I can put into words.
Sunnie: Very nice. Your colour adjustments and addition of stars onto the picture are very very fitting. My only real criticisms are that the colour of the text area is a little too bright, and the text area is also a tad on the small side.
Scholastic: Excellent work there- I'm a little curious though, are those flowers and the motif bordering the text area brushes, backgrounds, or something you made yourself? Regardless, the colours are vibrant and all elements fit your sixties theme. One thing I might have done myself though would be to carry the colours you have on the right to a small portion of the left, or just "tone up" the tan of the text area to something brighter.
_jaye_: As off-the-wall as this idea is, I'm not too fond of what you've got there... I like your crystal ball theme idea, but it's not looking like one to me. The glitter and stars work out nicely, but the ball isn't three-dimensional enough. Other than that, the text area's pretty nice, although the rectangle looks a tad awkward in there- perhaps some rounded fading would work. After all, text may only code to arrange in rectangles, but that doesn't mean your text area can't be larger and have an irregular shape.
jellyoflight: Hmm. First of all, the image looks fine- even though you only really just put a sepia tone over it. I like your 3D-ish text effect, and the colours pretty much fit altogether, but it's really the text area that seems problematic. I like your colour offsetting and the light border you added to it- but really, that kinda working belongs in anything but a blog (it'd look excellent on a set if you utilised it well). With Bono looking so dark and the rest of the background so much lighter, there's really no text colour that would show up completely, and defeats the purpose of a blog.
Amethyst: Eep, a little too bright. The "glow" (in other words, slight more contrast) you added is a good touch, but too much. The bottom's also rather busy- you could fade the grid there and perhaps the brightness of the image to allow for the text to show better (maybe a translucent rectangle with a gradient mask?). I like your text area design, it allows for customisable headers, I guess. The swirls seem to show up a bit too much though.
Jasujo: Nice and elegant! A few issues I see though- the pattern you have in your text area, especially on the top left of it, kinda runs into the image and jumbles it. If you made the edges of the text area more opaque/white (use a layer mask), it'd make things cleaner. You could also have made your name a little more clear and the border of the text area more gold- use the Dodge and Burn tools slightly to adjust that.
Goldfish Lover: Mm...as neat as those many patterns you added in the background are, there hasn't been much done. The borders could have been in shades of blue rather than just plain black, for starters- and in turn, the image should have been adjusted accordingly. This image also isn't the best to make a blog with- there aren't very many places to put a proper text area. Yours is running into the Snowbunny- text would be hard to read and the image wouldn't look so nice. The text choice for "welcome" also doesn't seem to fit very well.
Kandice: Very nice- I like how you stuck to black and white, but mostly black- I hate to go against moogie again, but I find that this works out for the better, as it'd be easier to decide on a text colour. Nice blending of images. Text area is a good size, but I think in order for the text to work better, the text area should be more contrasted than the rest of the blog.
JellyFish72: It really doesn't seem like you've done anything other than add a border, text, and a text area. I'm frankly at a loss at why you had to use three programs to achieve this. Nevertheless, it's usable as the text area can definitely make things readable. "Rub-a-dub-dub!" could be brought out more, it's getting lost in that towel, heh.
Twisted Sanity: Very nice. The scanlines and mosiac effect work very well together to portray the theme you've got, as well as all that text (illegible too, which is good for things like this) you have over the radioactive symbol. Your blog area is a good size- I like the erratic effect that came out, with the border and the scanlines, but most of all, I'm glad you went against the flow and used something that isn't just a plain rectangular shape. It's those little things that make me like this one.
jasminech: Hmmm. This one could have been nice, but it's the colours that throw it off. The plum background you used really doesn't suit it, and the purples and pinks used inside really don't match, as well as that orangey colour inside the text area. The inner border is a neat idea, but not pulled off too well- first, either go with more white, or scrap the white and go with a darker colour; second, the edges, especially on the right, show up terribly pixelly. Your text could have a few adjustments- perhaps rasterise "blossom" and get rid of some of that overlapping between the "b" and "l". Otherwise, it's an interesting take- the falling cherry blossoms are quite neat, but could stand out more if they were more in your colour scheme.
Apricus: Very nice, but some parts are too busy. The star(s) (I can't tell if there are more than one) you added in the corner are unnecessary. The part where the flowers cover the house in the original picture seem vastly different and confusing in your blog- I'm not entirely sure what you did there. It's also really busy where "happily ever after" is- tone down the background there. However, all in all, this is excellent- I like the faint flower pattern/motif you put in places, and the text area works well and has good creative touches- the border's great (no need for those slightly crooked edges though), and I'm a fan of those different shaded rectangles.
Adoration: Neat, but too simple (again, to the point where I don't see the effort that may have gone into it). First off, the image isn't very clean- there's white around the glasses and hair, and remnants of a purple shadow on the right side. Text and text area are clean (although "let's run together" gets a little messy and could have been moved slightly lower), but only because the background's plain- it really just seems like a Clouds filter. The pattern inside the text area does make the difference, though.
Lauren: Hmm, it looks okay, but it doesn't seem like you've done much with the image other than echo it on the left. I see that you tried a 3D effect on "welcome", but it doesn't seem to work too well- there aren't enough shadows and highlights, and the "stickiness" of New Romantics really takes away from it. The text inside is distracting- if you want to include it, perhaps a different place on the picture would be more suitable. The sparkles are a nice touch, but you used too many of the same one, which makes it look redundant in places. If you had it in different sizes and shapes, it would definitely work.
DM was on fire!: Pretty decent, although it seems awfully like Adoration's in that it's too simple, with that clouds background. The saturated look is creative in that you placed the clouds over Jeremy Camp and set as some kinda overlay, but really too much, and could be toned down with a layer mask (or if PSP doesn't have that, just the eraser tool on half opacity or something like that). The text also could be more clear and standout. I do like how you placed Jeremy over the text area, though.
Fizzy: Looks clean and nice. Changing the colour scheme to pink was a good choice, and the various different grids you added in the background work and blend fairly well (there are spots in the lower left corner where it doesn't). The text area is fairly usable (could be bigger, if the picture placement was rearranged), but it really needs to be more defined, otherwise text would look out of place if placed on there.
Izzi: Because of the direct linking, I can't tell if you've done anything to the image other than make it greyscale- and that's what I'll have to assume. "Welcome" is a little too dark and sticks out of the picture, and "to my sanctuary" could have been bigger and all in lowercase. The text area is a little thin, but the real problem with it is that it varies from grey to black too much- text won't show up very clearly.
Neopets Addict: A tad too simple- it seems mostly brushwork. You could have tied in the colours of the Faerie Pteri a little more- those purples, reds, and oranges look too nice to not be included. Your magic wand seems to be a little too strong- the Pteri's being cut into and parts look fuzzy. Text area works, but the size could be adjusted- it's too close to the border and makes the outer border look as though it's awfully thick.
mazil: Very cool- you made additions to the image that really make it look better than the original, and those additions also fit fine into a blog. The streaks of "wind," you could say, are really nice. You've got a neat text area there which looks of a good size- but I think it would have been better if it was set at a lesser angle (text room would not be compromised). Another thing I might change would be to add a darker border on the outside of the one you already have- some parts of it seem a little too light.
Neko: It was definitely a good idea, in my opinion, to fade away unnecessary parts of the image rather than attempt erasing- it looks good. The various patterns and colours you added in the background are nice and complementing, although not too busy imagewise. The stars, however, seem a little out of place- you could make them gleam a little more with the Dodge tool, change the colour, or fade them. Anyway, it does get a tad too busy in the text area- I'd suggest to make that text area more opaque and more pink, as I'm not entirely sure how text would show up in what you have right now.
rachel: Heh, this one makes me laugh. You could have done a little more to the image- perhaps making it of one colour scheme would have been better than just leaving it in its original colours. The grid (squares) pattern could be smaller, and it also looks a tad awkward on the hand. Text area is usable, although I'd fade the mouse a little more. Also, I'd move "Has anybody seen my mouse?" over to the right more as it seems to be sticking to that border.
Koku: I really like how you make this one less in colour and more in white, then changing the colour of those lines to a more rainbow fashion. Greyscaling the text area is creative, but it doesn't seem to be very feasible to use- the lines really need to be toned down in there so text can go in. "Garden of Eden" could also be more standout, although I understand the style and context you're using it in.
LAQ: As much as I like the colours, it seems a little awkward to me. The text area's fine and all, but it's really the text "loved in life" and "mourned in death" that throw things off. I couldn't tell there was a girl there until I saw your original image. The text should be smaller and less dominanting- "mourned in death" is also making things a little too busy with the folds in the girl's clothing. "Loved in life" could have been in another font- Violation doesn't seem to fit too well.
Kitten Medli: Very creative of you to keep the background of the original image and continue it on- the result looks very nice and different. It does get a little wavy at times though, but nevertheless, works in the text area. The text is very fitting. The only thing I'm not as fond of is the woman- the black stands out in a kind of weird way. A way to remedy that would be to either change the colour scheme of everything else to a darker brown, or to colourise her in the brown. Not so sure if that would work though...but it seems you did the best you could.
timkhj: A little overambitious, but nonetheless a good blog. I like how you decided to use your second image as a backdrop- however, there are parts which need a little work where it seems more obvious that two images were combined. It still took me quite awhile to figure that out though, so you did a decent job. "Race on" is at a great angle, but very pixelly- since I'm assuming that you're using PS 7 like Jasujo, did you use the Perspective function? Whenever that doesn't work out very well, you should go in there manually to do the touchups. Your text area is dark and a good size- very functional.
InsanePlushie: I like how you made the image more blue than the original. The text area is good in size and functionable (I like your text- how you made it as though there was a beginning and an end), but far too light. "Welcome to my story" and "the end" could be in a different font- the one you have is a little plain and doesn't suit it very well. But otherwise, it seems a little plain to me- you could add more than just the diagonal line pattern. Perhaps a bit of brushwork would be nice.
First, this round I'd like to commend Sunnie, Scholastic, Twisted Sanity, and Apricus for blogs that I just find awesome and outstanding.
Oh, now comes the part I hate... >_< *sigh* For the four I find not so fortunate this round- perhaps it's maybe you had an off day and you could be an excellent graphician, but hey, I can only judge based on what you have here and now, and only that. Sorry.
Dawn2, Goldfish Lover, JellyFish72, jasminech. (Slight warnings to Adam loves Hilary Duff and Lauren.)
 
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