Experiment in graphic design textures

I was inspired by Path's iPhone app to dabble in textures tonight. Here is the part of the iPhone app that I thought looked very pleasing to the eye:

And after downloading a few of the packs from http://tileabl.es/ and using a technique from Game Artist to colorize the texture, I ended up with this:

The rounded rectangle is intentionally different from Path's. Path's shadows give the impression that the profile picture appears at a layer in between the frontmost beige and the background brown texture. I thought this introduction of three separate planes was unnecessary and chose instead to have my rectangle float above both. While writing I realized I had also created three planes and so made another version with only two.

Overall, I think my attempts look pretty good although the texture I'm using still isn't great. Path's looks more refined, sanded, smooth, polished, solid, slick, and less gritty, noticeable, and intrusive.