Desigining & Coding A Blog Layout?

First, I’m sorry. I know I asked this before, But I still Have No Idea. (Please Don’t Delete)
So I been reading tutorials on designing a blog, & I found this one, & I really want to start designing my layout & use it.

http://www.designyourway.net/blog/tutorials/photoshop-tutorials/premium-wordpress-theme-photoshop-tutorial/

It’s a Wordpress theme, But it’s perfect, with the calender date, & the icons, then the right. (I won’t make mine exactly like it though!)
Btw; I have a Tumblr.

My first question is, what do I design In Photoshop & What’s the rest do I code?

Like The icons, I know I can’t just design it on the layout and expect it too repeat each post, I gotta code it so it does, Making the icons separately, right?
Like the footer, & the links.
Plus I read that using links, Instead of slicing images & turning them into links, my blog will do better in search engines, right?

I been researching a lot, & really want to figure this out. So please give me your best answers.