Oooh... tricky one... can I make a teensy suggestion on the new one, if you save it as a .gif you can make the bit's on the outside of the pic transparent then when it's not on the white background it'll still look cooly awry, which I think would be neat.
*bashful grin* I actually just joined an icon making community as well - already posted a couple of entries to this week's challenge! (which, once the voting's over, I'll also post here!)