Christmas or Halloween Block?

Sometimes I get carried away with staining and when I use the Java, I have to be more careful. The first time, it came out too dark, all over. So, I rinsed it out and redried it and this is what happened, a bit spooky for a nativity piece, lol. Guess I need to rinse it out more and add walnut this time, the black tends to pull in as it dries and leaves splotches, which is nice on some pieces, but not what I planned for this one;) As you can see, with java, which is a black stain, it leaves green marks too, which gives it a more aged look. Would like to leave the dark on the rest, but try and get rid of the skeleton marks, which happened totally by accident.

Bible Block

I wanted to make something creative and different, so I tried a block from one of Harriet Powers bible quilts. I kept some of the colors similar and added my own ideas to make it brighter, since this is the nativity scene and I will use it as a christmas piece. I want to add a saying to go with it, so I have to decide how I want to do it, then I plan on antiquing it heavily so it will look old and not so bright. Not the best photo, the flash makes it look like it is all standing out and really emphasizes my bad stitching, lol.