Nutcracker - The seventeenth door

Definitely one of the cutest Christmas ornaments (which you could also turn into a charm, a pendant, or earrings) that I found on YouTube is a little nutcracker by Juliet Erskine Jules and Rose.

I have to admit that the video tested my patience. You know that I have the attention span of a gnat when it comes to videos and this one was an hour long, but I was so intrigued not only by the cuteness of this little fellow, but also the generosity, which Juliet is sharing these instructions for free with, that I couldn't do anything but pull it through, right?
And that's what I did although I got confused a few times which was not Juliet's fault at all.

She shows and explains every step, but I did get distracted by a (not so) little cat every, now and then who insisted on climbing the hills that are me. It was never a problem to save the project, though, by just going round once more to find the right bead to come out of, for example.
Another thing was that I had to improvise on the hat as the pearl I used seemed to be a little bigger. This is an intermediate beader's project, however, so I had been ready to improvise. The hat is a bit different now, but I think it still turned out nicely for my dark green haired nutcracker. Yes, he's ready to work at the Emerald City with his green hair and coat now.
Seriously, though, didn't he turn out cute?

Now I wondered if I could also make a slightly bigger nutcracker, adapted to my personal skills, meaning mostly using my beloved Herringbone and a bit of Peyote stitch.
Turns out I could, not without flaws of course and with some trial and error.
What bugs me most is that Magatamas fooled me once again. This is a kind of bead that I will never get along with, and the only reason to use two of them for the shoes was that the last surprise bead order had contained a tube. I had turned them this way and that way several times and still managed to get the wrong side up on one of the shoes. Now I can't stop looking at it. How is it possible that I only noticed when I was already up at the chest?? Ripping everything out again was not an option for me at that point.

I changed a few small things in the design as well, like the medal on the nutcracker's chest, for bravery, no doubt, because he was very brave to let me work on him ;-) I also gave him white hair and a beard. His coat is either very long or his legs are a little short, but that's okay, I'll keep that in mind in case I make another one (actually I did start one and messed it up royally).

What I want to make clear is that I would not have been able to make this version without Juliet's pattern.
Without it I wouldn't even have thought of making a nutcracker, and if I had, I wouldn't have known where and how to start. Thank you, Juliet!