Mini-Purse Making

My gym has keychain membership cards. Most of my clothing choices work at the gym -- except I have to switch out my sandals for sneakers -- or my Vibrams. Which means that all I have to worry about is bringing music. After forgetting that simple addition several times, I started looking for a way to carry music with me all the time -- which ended up being a mini-purse attached to my keychain.

The first one was the tiny container bag for those re-usable shopping bags -- like this, but I picked mine up locally. The little one that's made to hold the big one was just the right size for my nano and headphones. I clipped it to my keychain and it was nearly perfect. The problem was that it's a snap closure -- and hung on a keychain, the snap dangles on the bottom, catching easily on things and dropping my nano -- usually at the grocery store. Possibly because that's where I shop the most.

Anyway, I started looking for a zipper pouch about the same size and I found one, but it wasn't very well made and fell apart within a month of me getting it. It was mass produced and vinyl (since I'm cheap), so I thought I'd look on Etsy for a new one and found this! It was adorable, and for a good cause, and I was so tempted.... but it's vinyl and I'm being a little distrusting of the durability of that material right now.

So I went into the craft room and dug out the leather scraps I'd picked up at a garage sale a few years ago. (It was a giant envelope of upholstery samples.)

This was my first try, but the eyes are a bit bulky and it ended up being a bit tight for the nano.

Second attempt. Smaller eyes means smaller eye-stems in the back. It fits much better, but I didn't think he was as cute as the first try. So....

Dragon! He might have too many protruding bits though. We'll see.

Then, I had an idea for a simple vampire face. So I made another.

And then, thinking of Kim Harrison's Halloween Costume Contest, I decided to make a burning bunny and learned that I should have cut into the white and put the red behind it. I'm not sure it even looks like a bunny. (The red zipper mouth probably doesn't help. And I wish I'd had red eyes. I may try this one again with the pink eyes like the first guy.)

So when I made the Wolfman, I put the teeth behind the mouth. I think it works better, though I don't know if he looks like a Wolfman as much as a somewhat frightened dog. (But here's where I think that creating these things could be addicting.)

And my sewing machine considered dying when I tried to sew those ears.

But now I'm out of ideas. At least for a few minutes. And I have to figure out what to do with all these mini-purses. Christmas presents, anyone?