Great thread! I'm glad you took the time to put your work up to see what others think. Here's my thoughts...
1. I like the idea of using a lanyard also as a friction saver. It's one of those, "huh...why didn't I think of that" sort of things!
2. What folks are saying about you "losing your eye" when you take out the biner is correct. Be careful! Two ways around it that I can think of off the top of my head are A) Use a thimble, B) dip the eye in a coating so that it keeps it form when you remove the biner
3. The splice you used seem structurally fine, but rather than just the standard "fold over and start tucking" splice, consider incorporating the crown knot. It has a much neater finished appearance and it stresses all three strands evenly. You can see directions here:
http://www.ropeworks.biz/reader/crown.pdf
4. Ditch the electrical tape on the three strand rope. It won't last in the trees and it becomes a mess when it starts peeling. I say leave little tails hanging out. After a while, they fluff sorta settles in and you don't notice it.
5. Why is there tape on the blue eye-eye? It shouldn't be there.
6. Bounce is right about that snap. It's gonna stink when it snaps itself to a small limb. I only use something locking there. A screwlink would be better. Or if you want to stay with something fast (screw links ARE tedious), try something like a scissor snap
Either way, all in all, it looks good. I'd climb on it! (but I'm not climbing up to retrieve it!)
love
nick
Can you do a close up of all the splices?