I've always liked the idea of making my own graphics, the first proper MSN Messenger skin I made was AeroMSN which was meant to be based off vista. I made that skin when I was still new to graphics and everything.
Looking back on it now the graphics I did were pretty bad and only partially resembled vistas ones
But the skin still did well, people didn't seem to mind. The point is don't be scared to try and make your own resources even if you don't think you have the skill. You have to start somewhere.
I really wish all the vista skin makers wouldn't resort to just throwing in some random vista wallpaper in and calling it a skin, there is very little creativity involved in that. Especially now with scenes.
Nothing personal against the skin makers that do this, that is just the way I feel.