WordPress certainlly isn’t the only blogging platform available. Thousands of people are tusing blogger for its simplicity and most importantly it is completely free.
Here I found some very useful links for you.
How To Create Your Own Blogger Template Theme *Updated*
Blog Theme Design tutorial
How I copy widget
Getting Started Designing Blogger Templates
After reading some of the articles I tried it myself, here is how I customize blogger theme.
First, get a simple free theme closest to what you desire.

Change the theme
In the XML file, the first thing you will see are many variables. Please enlarge the following image to see the codes.
Change the colors to the ones you would like to have and remember their names, cause you ganna use those variables later.
Change the CSS with some help from firebug .

css codes
There is no need to change any of the layout structure code unless you want to add some complication like costume widget area ect.

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Your topic isnot really new for me but thank for your contribution to the community +1
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