Umm... I'd say drop either the embossing or the glow on the title. Other than that it looks fine. I'm not a big fan of the font, but I don't know which I'd use to fit with the feel you have going. If I were getting paid for my opinion, I'd definitely find one for you. As it is, I'd say to look for something with less fatness in the middle of the strokes. The glowy graphics and pen on the sides distract a bit, extending the lines across the entire photo and possibly continuing them on the background would be good if you want them there. Maybe if you separated the themes by link subject, having the quill floating above the word "Blog", the digital-looking stuff with "Coding", an edit/crop of a photo you took for "Photos", and dragons/rune stuff with "Writing". Four seasons style. Then again, the runes could be the overarching link in the background if you want to go that way.
What I'm trying to say is that, while there's only one (or maybe two) thing(s) "wrong with it", there are several things that could be done to make it better.
As for your site, Silk, it's very retro. And retro is cool. Don't let anyone tell you differently. Personally, if I were making a site and being lazy about it, I'd use something like
this.
But! People like lumpy, interactive buttons nowadays. Apparently. I had a tiff (no, not a .tif) with some coders about their obsession with some of KDE's blobby UIs a while back (different site, different lifetime
), and I'm afraid that I came down a bit too hard on gradients. Gradients are fine, cool, etc., just not in excess.
I can do design, I just don't like to for the not money. You know, that four letter word. The "F" one.
