I’ve been making keychains inspired by the genius Jenny Komenda of Little Green Notebook — a Mesa girl and now a big deal NYC blogger. I suppose “inspired by” is a generous term. I’ve been copying her tutorial outright and with glee.

This is a 15-minute craft that costs little and provides infinite gratification. I gathered leather scraps from fabric shops, the internet, and Lynne’s house and made a pile of keychains that I’ve been passing out as birthday gifts/Mom’s Day presents/hostess favors for weeks.

Locally, you can find scrap leather for $1-$2 next to nothing at Fabric Depot and SAS. Fabric Depot also sells fun leather-look vinyls to experiment with. You want bright colors for the accents, though, and those are best found online.

I found the keychains at ACE Hardware (silver) and on amazon.com (gold).

If you are my friend, and your birthday is approaching, it is possible you are staring at your gift right now. Please avert your eyes.

The best part: your keys really are easier to find in your purse. Plus, you can clip them in awesome places and easily point them out to the valet when you lose your claim check. (I am going on record: I haaaaate giving my car to a valet.)

The Hermes keychain that I believe inspired this craze is below — pretty, isn’t it?

This one I’ve had for weeks, and it’s holding up excellently.

What do you think? Would you be excited to open one of these on your birthday?

I’m on the hunt for metallic gold and silver leather now. Tell me if you find any! (And Jenny’s original tutorial is here — no reason for me to pretend like I thought of a speck of this myself.)