leather pouch

 

my dad comes over to see Leo and I once a week and he usually has change for Leo to put in his coin banks.  the last time he was over he mentioned that he wanted to get a leather bag to keep the coins in that he brings over (he had them in a sock because he'd collected so many to bring) so I thought I'd try to see if I could make one for him.

I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but thought I'd Google it and see what other ideas there were before I settled on a design, and I'm glad I did because I love this one:

 

I have a bag of saddle scraps so I just used that, but I think I'd try it with suede next time.  the piece I had that was big enough had a cheap looking finish, so I sanded it off and used some old walnuts I had to oil it and make it soft and dark.  a good way to get the most oil out of the nut was to squeeze them through my garlic press to make a paste.

 

I cut two half circles out of a softer leather for the sides so they gathered easy, and measured around the curved side to figure out how long to make the rectangle then sewed the round side of the half circle to the edge of the rectangle.  after I did both sides I punched holes along the sides and put two on the front and back to lace a piece of cord through.

it holds quite a bit of change but it's still pretty small.  I like how it came out, but I think my favorite part of it is the smell!

more fun with a dapping block

I found a round box clasp with green acrylic gemstone in it. I thought it'd be perfect for a domed bottle cap... and I was right! I used a Henry Weinhard's soda cap for the clasp insert and some recycled saddle leather for the band.

I'm really pleased with how it came out :)

leaf bracelet

CRAFT magazine posted a link on facebook to maya*made's how-to for a cute leather leaf cuff and I just had to make one for myself.

I didn't have green leather, but I had a beige colored scrap that was sorta ugly on the finished side but super soft and shiny on the other. I've been wanting to use it for something for a while, but I just couldn't get over the color :P I finally decided to try staining it with some green food coloring... and it worked! it's exactly the green I wanted :)

I sewed the leaves together on my sewing machine since the leather wasn't too heavy.

I think next time I'll put a faux button on and use a snap so I don't wear the button hole out.