I'm in the middle of creating my own LS theme. I have all the features I want displayed on the screen. What I need to do now is fill in the gaps between elements with graphics. What's the best module to do this with? I can see it's possible to do using shortcut2.dll and label.dll but what is the best method?

Also would it be best to fill in just the gaps between the elements or have a single graphic that spans all the elements but is behind them?

I think it would be better to have a single "back graphic".

Use Layercut to take benefit of the true transparency (if you're under Win2K/XP)
A single "back image" is simplier to use, but doesn't match all screen resolutions... it's up to you to decide...

shortcut2 is very good if you don't need antialiasing and/or transparency. if you do need them, layercut is the best solution imho. sadly it supports only 2k/xp like smurth already wrote.

I've started using label. I don't need transparency. I thought this would be the most appropriate tool. Though using it to create a single "back image" and putting things like VWM, winamp and so-on on top of the back image isn't a good idea. Simply because I can't set the back image to be always on top and if a window over laps this area it looks odd. I'm thinking it is probably a better practice to create a label for each gap.

If at one point you decide that you do need transparency put your labels into a box and use the transparency features of lsbox. You can use the same trick to make taskbar3 transparent. And probably some other modules.