It is just personal taste really, some people (like me) don't really like bright icons, while others do, if you like them this way then there's no reason you should stop using whatever technique it is you're using. ^^
Ugh, I both love and hate text brushes. Have you tried doing the text yourself? A lot of the text brushes are very easy to emulate once you at least know the basics, the brushes in 2-5 in particular would be very easy, it would just be a matter of finding a similar font (or the same one if you're lucky).
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