Hey Scott, the jerky looks really good. And the house decorations are nice. Did you use a meat slicer to cut the beef prior to seasoning it. Also I might suggest using high mountain jerky seasoning as they have different flavors and the curing salt. Also I purchased a really nice slicer from web restaurant. It is the Berkel 823e model the only problem I see is that if it is not used in a restaurant the warranty is no longer good. But, the slicer itself is of good quality and has a 9 inch blade.